 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone
I'm writing this to provide some information to others who are looking for insurance for their holiday. I realise that this information may be known to many of you, and maybe it was me that was at fault for not knowing about it when I took out the policy. However, I'm guessing that I am probably not the only one who could be caught by this so I wanted to warn others. I'm hoping that the post doesn't come across as angry or sounding off. I was pretty annoyed at the time, but really I just want to make sure others are aware of this so they can factor it into their own decision on what insurance to take out rather than a rant that no-one should ever take out a Dogtag policy 
I took out a Dogtag insurance policy for my husband and I to cover our trip to Canada. I took out the highest level of cover that they offered, and made sure that I had the right policy to cover all of the things that we could possibly want to do (bits of park, off-piste, backcountry via snowcat etc).
Some time after taking out the policy, I was diagnosed with a medical condition. The condition has no treatment and the specialist very clearly answered my question about whether the holiday was ok by saying absolutely yes, there is no medical reason not to travel and take part in snowsports. He did however suggest I go to an appointment with another consultant who was more specialised in that area just because it was sensible although he said that it wasn't necessary.
When I got home, I called Dogtag to inform them of the new diagnosis as I knew that our policy said that I had to. When I talked to them, they took my through a questionnaire and then told me that they wouldn't cover my new condition while on holiday.
There were two reasons for this, either was which was sufficient for them to refuse cover:
1) I had an outstanding appointment, despite that appointment not being “required” and despite there being no treatment outstanding.
2) As the condition was new (i.e. less than 6-8 weeks old) they could not conclude that it was stable.
I was travelling in 4 weeks time so there was no way for them to cover me for the new condition as they would not class it as stable. However, I was told that even if I was travelling after this time (and after any outstanding appointments) I could not call back before my holiday and update the medical screening as they will only do it once for a condition. This in particular surprised me, as it seems to actively penalise someone for calling them early to notify them rather than waiting until the last minute.
As Dogtag would not cover the condition, I was given the option of
- travelling without cover for my condition,
- cancelling my holiday (and Dogtag would pay what they had to for a medical cancellation),
- cancelling the insurance (the refund would have been less than my original premium) and hopefully taking new insurance out with another company, but that would be difficult because it was a new condition!
These options were despite the fact that I had been clearly told by the appropriate medical person that there was nothing to stop me undertaking the holiday.
I also got the impression (I think I may have been told this by the customer service person but I can’t remember for sure...) that if they would have covered the condition I still would have had to pay an additional premium for the cover, just like a pre-existing condition when you take out the policy.
I was under the impression that when I took out a travel insurance policy (and informed them of pre-existing conditions) I was then covered for anything medical while on my holiday and anything new that arose would not be excluded. From my experience, this is not the case for Dogtag insurance and it is something that probably would have prevented me from taking out a policy with them had I known. Having done a bit of research, I've found that not all travel insurance companies apply this approach.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was under the impression that when I took out a travel insurance policy (and informed them of pre-existing conditions) I was then covered for anything medical while on my holiday and anything new that arose would not be excluded.
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that's a very big assumption. I would never expect any policy to include some kind of guaranteed cover for medical conditions that have yet to arise. Nor would I expect a new condition to be covered if it only arose shortly before a holiday - not with any insurer. But if you were confident after your first consultation that there was no reason for the new condition to affect your holiday plans, would it have mattered that it wasn't insured?
With a good number of medical conditions it's impossible to get cover for them at sensible cost.
Sometimes you just have to assess a risk yourself and decide whether - and how - to take it on board. My husband's heart condition was excluded from cover, for many years, but we just decided that with an EHIC card and Carte Neige for evacuation off the mountain, any other costs would be bearable.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Really sorry to hear about your travails - it sounded like you needed a holiday!
It sounds like pretty common behaviour for insurance companies - the reason why they require you to inform them is so that they can exclude cover if they feel like it. The decison is nothing to do with the medical diagnosis re your holiday, it's whether they priced the risk initially. If they cannot lay it off with their underwriter then they don't insure, it's that simple. They are effectively brokers of the insurance risks, they only bear them when they cock up.
I am afraid your impression was mistaken, if you know and don't tell them that's a breach of the conditions of insurance and insurance companies do not cover risks that they are not paid to cover. At the time you took out the insurance the condition was not pre-existing.
There is an interesting question of at what point your cover started which you might like to look into but I suspect that it was only when you actually would have left for the planned vacation or were prevented from doing so for insured reasons.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Really sorry to hear about your travails - it sounded like you needed a holiday!
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+1
best wishes for sorting something out
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We took a policy out with Insure and Go for our holiday, a few weeks later I was diagnosed with gallstones, contacted Insure and Go who advised that as the condition was diagnosed after we took the policy out that I would be covered as long as my Doctor said it was alright for me to travel. Have had holiday and glad to say I had no problems, hope you get something sorted out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
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Really sorry to hear about your travails - it sounded like you needed a holiday!
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+1
best wishes for sorting something out |
Thanks everyone! In the end I traveled without the cover as the possibility of needing any treatment was miniscule but we did spend quite a long time agonising over whether that was the right thing to do. It was a trip we had been planning for a long time and we finally decided that damned if we were going to let the insurance company stop us going despite medical advice being that it was fine!
pam w, some insurers do cover you for anything new that arises between taking the policy out and travelling. Pre-existing conditions are another matter, but they don't charge you an additional premium if something new comes up. For example, Insure and Go (who we have insurance with for another trip) didn't bat an eye when I told them - just as it sounds like they didn't for larry1950. They asked me to confirm it by email but didn't charge me anything extra as it wasn't pre-existing when I took the policy out so they had factored in things like this into their initial underwriting.
As you say, it wasn't a major problem for me as it was so highly unlikely that I would need any medical treatment. However, for someone else where there was a possibility that treatment may be needed then the options that I was given may lead to having to cancel the holiday even though medical advice was that the trip is fine. This is the reason that I wouldn't use a company with this approach again unless I absolutely had to.
RattytheSnowRat, I definitely agree that my impression was mistaken - this is simply the approach that several insurance companies take. I didn't realise that Dogtag cover only starts when you leave for your trip and any medical conditions that arise before your trip starts are treated as pre-existing and may be excluded even if they arise after you take the policy out. Before your trip they only provide cancellation cover for new medical conditions. Some other insurance companies will provide cover for medical conditions that arise after the policy was taken out (provided medical advice is that you can travel) without needing any further premium as they take this possibility into account when they price the initial policy. I had assumed that all insurance companies did this (and it is part of the reason I always take out insurance as soon as I know I am taking a trip) but I was clearly wrong. I'll know better in the future!
I definitely wouldn't advocate not telling the insurance companies about any medical condition - you absolutely have to and that was why I called as soon as I knew. What surprised me was that their system seems weighted against someone who calls immediately on diagnosis compared to someone who waits 6-8 weeks (provided that is before they travel) and then calls.
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