Travel insurance complaints soar as insurers use medical ‘get-out clauses’ to withhold payments
Posted by | Posted in Insurance Help | Posted on 03-01-2012
An investigation by Which?, the consumer group, has accused insurers of changing terms after the policies are sold, often leaving British travellers without any cover.
The report found cases of people who had their medical cover removed even though their doctor said they were fit to travel, and were left travelling with no insurance.
Some then lost all medical cover because of a new minor illness.
But the Which? magazine says the Financial Ombudsman Service ruled eight years ago that it was generally not fair and reasonable for insurers to exclude from cover medical conditions that arose between the start of the policy and the start of the trip.
Chris Gray acting assistant editor of Which? Travel said: ‘Many of our members have great difficulty finding suitable travel insurance if they have pre-existing medical conditions.
‘If the customers’ medical advice is that they are fit to travel and pose no extra risk, insurers should follow that advice and allow policies to continue unchanged, not rely on an inflexible screening process.
‘These policies are also unbalanced because customers have to produce medical evidence if they want to cancel, but insurers reserve the right to cancel without medical evidence.’
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