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I have received an offer of 3 months free Revolut Premium as a trial. Seems to come handy as I have a trip planned in a few weeks and have got no travel insurance yet. What’s your opinion on their travel insurance offered with the Premium subscription and (a moral question to the team, would appreciate your views) do you think it is okay to get the trial and a kind of use this to be covered for free and cancel the trial after the trip, or would most prefer to pay for the insurance?
I haven’t looked in detail at the Revolut offering, so this is just a general warning (but note https://www.revolut.com/help/insurance-products/insuring-my-travel/before-going-abroad/do-i-need-to-submit-or-declare-any-pre-existing-conditions )
Unless you are lucky, young, and single, you are likely to have pre-existing medical conditions – which by the insurance definition means anything you or a member of your party ever had medical treatment for. In order to…actually have insurance cover when you need it, all of these have to be declared to the insurer. Many of them add little or nothing to the premium, but if you actually had a claim and hadn’t declared, you would be stuffed.
Every “free” or “bundled” travel insurance offering I ever looked at excluded all pre-existing conditions, rendering the policy pretty useless. Honourable exception for Amex, who now publish a long list of pre-existing conditions they will cover.
As you say, all package travel insurance products always exclude pre-existing medical conditions, so no different with Revolut than it is with the likes of Nationwide etc. The exclusion list with Amex is fairly long too.
As you say, all package travel insurance products always exclude pre-existing medical conditions, so no different with Revolut than it is with the likes of Nationwide etc. The exclusion list with Amex is fairly long too.
The Amex list, like the HSBC Premier list is an inclusion list (ie pre-existing conditions it is willing to cover) not an exclusion list. Re Nationwide, one can buy out many pre-existing conditions fairly cheaply as well as extensions for older people or cruises.
The Amex list, like the HSBC Premier list is an inclusion list (ie pre-existing conditions it is willing to cover) not an exclusion list. Re Nationwide, one can buy out many pre-existing conditions fairly cheaply as well as extensions for older people or cruises.
I stand corrected.
Regarding pre-existing medical conditions, the definitions vary significantly from one insurer to another. The Revolut cover looks pretty generous:
‘Pre-existing medical conditions
Any medical condition are not covered that, within the 12 months prior to and including the booking date of the trip has either:
Caused a person to seek a medical consultation, diagnosis, care or treatment by a doctor.
Presented symptoms;
Required a person to take medication prescribed by a doctor (unless the condition or symptoms are controlled by that prescription and the prescription has not changed).’This suggests to me that someone with stable hypertension and on meds who didn’t need to seek a doctor’s advice or had reviews in the last 12 months is covered. AmEx, however, has no moratorium for heart conditions. I’m no lawyer, but this is how it reads to me.
@GenX personally, I wouldn’t derive too much comfort from the paras you have quoted. I have had stable hypertension for 10+ years and no change of meds in that time, but I still have a mini check up every year which obviously checks BP and blood to make sure kidney function unaffected by the drugs. Would that then exclude me from cover? Also, this would apply many pre-existing conditions, it’s often a good idea to check that all is OK at least annually and effectively discouraging that through that policy wording seems quite odd.
It feels a little subjective to me such that they might reject a claim if they felt like it. While Amex Plat doesn’t include hypertension as an allowable pre-existing condition, HSBC Premier does and Nationwide allows be to ‘buy it out’ for £40/year.
Thanks @JDB. It’s good to know about other options.
Never tested the pre existing condition language on insurance documents but my understanding is they try to avoid you getting treatment for an illness you are well aware of.
For instance, I may know I have high colesterol or something that could cause cardiovascular conditions. That doesn’t mean any issue that could arise from this (or not) would not be covered. (Should I report every bone I broke in my life or hospital visit?)
If I was travelling and had a heart attack while trekking the insurance would cover the emergency treatment required.
However, if I land in the US and walk into a hospital and ask for heart medicine the insurance won’t cover that as I am just trying to treat what’s indeed an existing condition
Deaths of passengers or family are also separate events. So if you have a relative with an illness you can take insurance in case they unfortunately pass away even if you are aware they may have a serious condition.
PS: after being with my mother for 3 months at an NHS hospital I can tell you that unlike the Revolut insurance the NHS will pick the tab for any person landing in the UK and requiring medical attention. Maybe that is why brits are so good at selling/getting insurance when travelling while you will rarely see that advertised in Europe or other countries.
Never tested the pre existing condition language on insurance documents but my understanding is they try to avoid you getting treatment for an illness you are well aware of
For instance, I may know I have high colesterol or something that could cause cardiovascular conditions. That doesn’t mean any issue that could arise from this (or not) would not be covered.
If I was travelling and had a heart attack while trekking the insurance would cover the emergency treatment required.
You are stating it as fact, whilst in the same post conceding you have never tested the language.
I would strongly advise that you go more than “your understanding” when it comes to ensure you have the desired cover.
Ever policy that I have ever applied for, does consider high cholesterol as a reportable pre-existing condition, in fact the wording of the related question is something along the lines of “have you ever been told you have high cholesterol”.
Given travel insurance policies quotations recognise it as reportable, I would be very concerned that an issue that arose that might be related to having high cholesterol would be excluded from any “free” travel insurance that does not include pre-existing conditions. Same applies to blood pressure etc.
Insurance is one of those things you buy that you hope you never need, but you should ensure that it’s valid for the vital situations that you might need it. Frankly I don’t overly worry about luggage lose or travel delay, I do make totally sure as best I can, that medically I’m covered.
I learned last year that if you have a condition waiting diagnosis, a lot of insurers will not offer cover at all, even for other stuff that has been previously declared. Should you travel whilst waiting for a diagnosis for a condition (who these days isn’t waiting months and months for a consultant appointment) on a multi-trip policy that you took out 9 months ago when you didn’t have this undiagnosed condition, you might well be travelling on zero health insurance coverage, as you did not declare the presence of an undiagnosed condition to your insurer.
@robkeane – we don’t agree on much, but you are spot on here. @yonasi analysis of how travel insurance works is dangerously wide of the mark.
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