Back to Front Travel Insurance Quotation for over 68's.

My wife and I are going on a holiday in Europe next month and I went to obtain travel insurance.

We have passed the magic age of 66 at which point the insurance goes up.

The insurance companies that I approached, worked in a back to front manner.

You obtain a price, pay the money, and then phone up their health screening number, at which point they add a further fee to your insurance if your problems are not on their Waver List.

They will not quote you the full amount first. For 2 weeks it was €56 for both of us and then they added a further €40 because I was taking a tablet for Season Affective Disorder, SADs (last winter started it) SADs is no problem for going on holiday, it’s not as if I am going to require emergency treatment, the sunshine may clear it.

There are a lot of much more serious complaints on the waver list that require no fee. Some companies have a large waver list, and of course the companies that have the small waver list catch you for a bit more money.

They did say that you can obtain a refund if you did not agree, but why should you have to pay upfront. They did not make it very clear what they were doing so I am waiting for the documents in the post.

I think that this should be looked in to by the insurance Ombudsman.

Hi Roker,

Have you "googled" for travel insurance?

I put in your basic info into just one of the many sites( ) that would quote online and I got cover (for 2 weeks,Europe,over 65) ranging from 25.42 upto 40.36 total.
Even cheaper if you have private medical insurance.

Have a look.

NB: No affiliation with any insurance company.

As a travel agent till recently i 've sold thousands of travel insurance policies . Very profitable - actually a rip-off but I alleviated my guilt somewhat by ensuring the staff talked to each client for several minutes about the pros and cons policies that we sold.(plus we'd always heklp when clients had difficulty with a claim)

One of the nasty hidden things is that "mental" illnesses are not covered.

We'd be very clear to clients that this covered a multitude of illnesses -depression , insomnia, even fear of flying panic attacks where clients refused at the last moment to fly. I've had all those claims and they were never allowed by the insurance companies. So, we laboured the point about mental problems.

And SAD would , I thought, be considered a mental ailment. (yes, I know that most so-called mental illnesses including SAD have a physical basis -chemical imbalance etc but insurance companies have their own very old-fashioned description of what constitutes a mental illness -basically anything not overtly physical).

So I'm puzzled why they would charge more - unless there is something in those XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX that have been known to cause physical side-effects.

It would be interesting to know if OP's insurance did cover SAD (or to be more exact any problem which had its basis in SAD and caused a disruption to travel plans before or during travel).

To be honest , as OP can get a refund if he wants I can't see much basis in complaining. And at least OP now knows the approximate cost of that will be added to his policy no matter where he goes, though I repeat my surprise at adding extra for anti-SAD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Thanks SparkRight and oldnick, but how would you feel if you had to pay €50 up front to every insurance company if you were obtaining a quote for car insurance etc, why does it apply to travel insurance?

They did not know which tablets I am taking. I told them that I did not need cover for this complaint because it does not worry me on holiday, saving me the extra €40, presumably they cover all of the other complaints. I still have my European Medical Card

O.K., though this is labouring the point a bit..

You evidently presented something that was hitherto unknown to most insurance people.

There are maybe thousands of different medicines and depending on age,gender and other existing conditions of the traveller the risk basis would be different.
There are just so many variables that the ordinary guy on the counter (or at the end of a phone line) has to pass a strange or new enquiry on to a small group of experts.

And these experts -a combination of acturial and medical specialists - make a decision. (In your case it's one that makes no sense to me. I can't see how it would affect your travel, and even if it did then ,as I said before, the insurance company would claim it was not a physical problem).

It takes time and money to analyse a new situation. i suspect that the SAD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX threw them a bit and they are covering themselves , though ,I repeat, i dont know why in your case.

After they spend that time investigating the pros-and-cons of your case and get back to you , then - if you dont like the quote - you can get your money back.

They- the insurance company or their agent- have made nothing for the time they spent.

roker said:

Thanks SparkRight and oldnick, but how would you feal if you had to pay €50 up front to every insurance company if you were obtaining a quote for car insurance etc, why does it apply to travel insurance?

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Roker, I just would not deal with a company that demanded money up front.
What would they be like if they had to pay out on a claim?

IMHO I would advise that you get your money back and go elsewhere.

No shortage of insurers out there just waiting to take your money and as Oldnick said travel insurance is very lucrative.

As far as I can see, all travel insurance works this way, getting you to phone up for medical problems after paying the basic insurance.