Travel insurance for advanced prostate cancer

User

Posted 16 Feb 2022 at 18:23

Thank you for heads up with Insurancewith.com. At last a company that asks loads of relevant questions to identify risk associated with travel and quote £75 for 9 days in Spain. Compare that to the silly quotes from other companies (£1,000 - £3,000). It took me less than 10 minutes to complete the form.

User

Posted 16 Feb 2022 at 21:26

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Yes, we are with Insurewith

My mistake, when J was first diagnosed we were with insurewith but then Insureandgo ... looking at my paperwork, I guess that insurewith was taken over or incorporated with insureandgo?

We have just changed to Eversure; their covid cover seemed more comprehensive.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 17 Feb 2022 at 17:57

I was recently looking for insurance and stumbled across payingtoomuch.com they were by far the cheapest. I will consider using them as reviews seem great but unfortunately my husband is under investigation again so cannot yet insure until we have a clear picture and treatment plan.

User

Posted 17 Feb 2022 at 20:01

I'm with staysure but after updating my medical details to include RT later in the summer, I was told they wouldn't cover my condition and I was welcome to try and get cover for my cancer with another company. After an online search I found a company called insure and escape (through moneysupermarket) who would do a single trip cover for between £65 - £150 depending on level of cover.

User

Posted 03 May 2022 at 20:58

Hi I am terminal but got 12 months insurance with insurancewith for £208 everything covered

User

Posted 03 May 2022 at 21:07

That’s quite a scoop Dave. I just got charged £210 via Insurancewith for a one week cruise in Norway. I have multiple bone mets and 4 enlarged lymph nodes. It’s all a gamble but at least I got cover at last

User

Posted 04 May 2022 at 09:47

Useful to learn that Chris. We're off on another cruise next week out of Rome. Insurance quote I got cost more than the cruise holiday so I've decided to wing it again and exclude cover for my PCA.

Insurance for PCA is tons harder and much more expensive to get than before Covid, it's a double whammy.

User

Posted 04 May 2022 at 18:24

I just got annual worldwide cover for me and the missus for about £470 with ‘insurancewith’. I now have incurable PCa with many lymph nodes involved but she has no issues and she’s also 8 years younger than me. That was for the lowest level cover. I could have saved a couple of £s by getting separate cover for both of us but couldn’t be ars*d to faff about.

Phil

User

Posted 04 May 2022 at 22:07

I've got a terminal diagnosis of PCa and had no luck with AllClear. I have tried numerous places including some that had quoted me last year and now are out of play (bust?!). I phoned InsureCancer and they were sympathetic but would only insure a trip at a time, 4-5 weeks out, and following a testimonial from my oncologist. I was more ambitious than this because i want to book my trip(s), including to the USA.

The helpful person at InsureCancer suggested i try the government-sponsored site Money Helper

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/insurance/use-our-travel-insurance-directory

I phoned WorldWide Travel Insurance (they were at the top of the list that day) and got an ANNUAL FAMILY insurance INCLUDING USA! OK not cheap (three figures) but much much more affordable than i had feared, and it cuts out worry and hassle about insurance totally for a whole year... we can go on a booking spree. (Well, if we could afford it of course.) I was so pleased. I even phoned back the next day to double-check. The cover was possible because although the oncologist has said it is terminal she has not (yet) given me a specific 'deadline' to check out.

Another good thing about WorldWide was that their questions were fairly open and flexible - i had previously found some other companies to follow a rather extensive 'tree' of questions which sometimes did not make a lot of sense. Worldwide did it on the basis of my answers and no contact with oncologist needed.

I am very happy about this, after some disappointing insurance hunting in the past, hence the long email ....

DON'T GIVE UP!! AND GOOD LUCK

sorry for the long post.

User

Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 17:26

Just tried to extend insurance cover with our nationwide flex+ account for Robs cancer and they declined to cover him for ANY declared medical conditions even though they have done so quite happily since 2018. Is the £13 per month fee worth it now - perhaps not. What is questionable is why they made that decision as they know we are going to Australia where there is a reciprocal arrangement for health care - they even mention it in their policy document - go figure. Now we have to trawl through insurance companies who will cover him without asking for an exorbitant premium or make the decision not to have any cover. Going to try some of the companies you kind chaps have mentioned on here. Not so much for the duration we are there but ‘what if scenario’ if anything were to happen en route, although you have to ask yourself what can happen with his cancer on a plane trip!

Merilyn

User

Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 20:36

Some useful leads and info in this thread - suggest worth noting or bookmarking.

Barry

User

Posted 23 Jun 2022 at 22:46

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Not so much for the duration we are there but ‘what if scenario’ if anything were to happen en route, although you have to ask yourself what can happen with his cancer on a plane trip!

Merilyn

The risk for insurers isn't so much the flight, Merilyn - the big risk you are asking them to cover is you having to cancel before you go due to progression of the disease, change of treatment plan, etc. With advanced prostate cancer, that is a real risk and can be very expensive for the insurer. You are also asking them to cover the risk of him dying while away - as you say, there is a reciprocal agreement in place for accident and illness but not for cost of morgue, pathology, flying a body home, etc. My brother died suddenly in Greece at the age of 27 and without insurance. From memory it cost us about £10k for a Greek undertaker, post mortem, special body bag for the plane ... and the flight company & airport charge fees for getting the body through security and into the hold. Of course the chance of someone dying of PCa while on holiday is tiny but from the insurer's point of view, more likely with advanced cancer than without. The last time we took my mother-in-law to Australia the insurance cost us £4.5k which was far more than her business class seat (we had to slum it in the cheap seats 🙄) but she did have a lot of medical problems by then and we felt it was worth the cost to have peace of mind

Edited by member 24 Jun 2022 at 00:53 | Reason: typos

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 24 Jun 2022 at 00:15

Hi Lyn, having just read your reply I can now understand why they refused and the cost of premiums of those companies who will cover cancer cases.

Robs tumour has started to raise its head again so the onco is changing his meds from bicutamide to enzalutamide as his numbers are rising but are still very low having jumped from 0.12 to 0.99. They were worried about the rate of increase as every time they tested his PSA it had risen again. A recent MRI showed the tumour was moving plus another cancer was detected in one of the lymph glands in his neck, albeit very small - approx 1mm which they said they weren’t concerned about. So as things are on the move it’ll probably be wise for us to search around for cover which isn’t going to cost an arm and leg and like you say it’ll give me peace of mind even though Rob said not to bother!

User

Posted 24 Jun 2022 at 00:54

It's about weighing up the risks, isn't it. If the cost of cancellation is less than the cost of insurance, getting cover that excludes pre-existing medical conditions instead seems like a reasonable way forward.

I have noticed that Dad's insurance is getting more expensive but we have to cover him and his partner as a pair - if something happened to him, she wouldn't go on the trip by herself. When his previous partner died, he lost all the money he had paid for their cruise because they had each got their own (separate) insurance so he wasn't covered for cancelling due to her death.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 24 Jun 2022 at 08:28

Ah, didn’t cross my mind that if we got separate insurance then we wouldn’t both be covered if one had to cancel. So on the insurance quest I’d best get a quote for both of us. The cancellation charges are quite high on the tickets so like you say I’ll have to weigh up the pros and cons if Rob thinks insurance is stupid price and goes without. Oh well another few hours in the day on lengthy phone calls.....

User

Posted 01 Aug 2022 at 23:31

Sorry. Insurancewith.

User

Posted 02 Aug 2022 at 11:54

Quick update re travel insurance. Afraid I drew a blank with majority of the many I phoned so took the option of the travel insurance with our nationwide bank account but Rob will not be covered for anything related to his cancer. However they will insure him for the ‘usual’ plus anything covid related.
Regarding his latest MRI and now being prescribed Enzal. He’s been on it three weeks now, so far so good. Very few side effects and numbers now down to 0.89 which is incredible plus he’s in a much more positive frame of mind. Tickets to Aus have been booked but one more question here please - if anyone can help - we are going for 7 weeks. Onco says no probs, they will ensure he has enough meds to last the duration. We are transiting through Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I’m wondering if we may encounter a problem with carrying 2 months of Enzal. Has anyone had any problems carrying a large amount through customs etc?

Edited by member 02 Aug 2022 at 12:21 | Reason: Additional text

User

Posted 02 Aug 2022 at 18:03

Hi ,not sure if this helps but when we went to Japan I contacted the embassy ,we had some forms to fill in. We were told just because it’s legal here it may not be there .

Have a lovely trip

Debby

User

Posted 04 Aug 2022 at 12:21

Thanks Debby. Can I ask, were you staying in Japan or just transitting for a few hours waiting for next flight? I’ve done a bit of research on the net and see that Enzalutimide is available in Malaysia so hoping it’s not going to be a problem if we’re just changing planes as we have a 3 hour wait and staying in the airport.

Merilyn

User

Posted 04 Aug 2022 at 20:30

Hi ,yes we did stay so I would imagine it would be different.

I remember worrying for weeks before hand 😩

Hopefully you get the answers you're hoping for .

Debby

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