gray

Travel insurance for 66 year old with existing illnesses ?
Hi everyone. My parents are coming over to visit me in Australia for ten weeks in February. I am trying to organise travel insurance cover for my Mum whom is 66 and has some controlled existing illnesses ( high blood pressure and cholesterol and angina ). If possible she only wants 3 day inbound and 3 day return cover, to cover her whilst flying and at Singapore Airport. Can any recommend any companies that may cover her. Also my Dad is healthy but has just turned 70. Are there any companies that would be best suited for him for the same sort of cover. Many thanks, Gray

Dairymilk04

Someone my parents know has used Help The Aged, they use a company called Intune which covers many pre existing medical conditions.
But i'm not sure if they will just provide cover for only the journey to/from Australia you would need to check on the help the aged website.
Good luck

FiP

My parents use Morethan, part of Royal and SunAlliance (website: morethan.com, tel: 0800 300 866), you have to ring them to go through the pre exisiting conditions but my parents are of similar age and have similar conditions and it was not problem, just a higher premium. You have to tell them what drugs they are on and how long they have had the conditions for a detailed quote.
Found them cheaper than Help the Aged and helpful. Never had to claim though.

SillyOldBag

Another company that might be worth calling is Saga as their main clientele is obviously the older generation who are more likely to have existing health issues. Here is a link.

gray

Thanks for the replies everyone. Great help Gray

smude

If possible she only wants 3 day inbound and 3 day return cover, to cover her whilst flying and at Singapore Airport.


Sorry if I am missing something here.....why only inbound and return cover- what about whilst they are staying here?

The reason I ask is that my parents visit for 10-12 weeks usually at a time and pay around £500 for the full time (sorry can't remember who they are with - will ask next time I speak to them).

Many Thanks

DadAgain

the magic of the Medicare/NHS reciprical cover agreement!!

I havent used any travel insurance when going back to the UK - we figure we can survive 24 hours of pretty much anything until we arrive in UK (and vice-versa) and just play the odds that our planes wont fall apart somewhere inbetween!

(Having said that I'm not 66 yrs old!)

gray

That's right, that's why she doesn't want to pay for insurance cover for her whole stay, seems like a waste of money when they will be covered by Medicare whilst there here. At her age though she really does want cover for the inbound and outbound journeys

jad n rich

I wonder if they are though, isnt the agreement for Emergency Treatment if you knew you had a dodgy ticker and need a couple hundred thou of treatment would medicare cover it.

Maybe they do, but might be worth double checking.

Given an aussie can walk into medicare and find plenty thats not covered, I wouldnt like to assume much at all

Edit: Emergency cover clause, not very informative, wonder if pre-existing problems are classed as emergency or not?

http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/info...asvisitors.htm

Safin

isn't a heart attack an emergency???? for $000,'s its more than indigestion thats for sure

If she needed medical repatriation would that be covered by reciprocal?

Looking at options for 72yr MIL with significant past health issues. Reasonably ok now though. Cost £400 for 6 weeks last year!!!

jad n rich

[QUOTE=Safin;7224086]

isn't a heart attack an emergency???? for $000,'s its more than indigestion thats for sure

(QUOTE]

Not debating if a heart attack is a serious issue, talking about if you have a PRE-EXISTING condition ( ie something you knew could go wrong/ history of that problem ) will medicare class it as an EMERGENCY.

Getting run over by a bus = emergency.

Having heart attack if you have heart condition = ?

Sorry just trying to point out might be worth checking out further.

Grayling

Repatriation, for a sick person, would be hugely expensive....and not covered by medicare.

not worth the risk IMO.

G

Safin

true best to be safe and check as many a person has been caught out by assuming something that turns out not to be the case.

But if I had a heart attack (previous history or not) i'd expect to be treated as an emergancy. I understood it was if the treatment needed was an emergency but i get your point.

Grayling

Difficulties arise if a person is incapacitated by illness.

If that happened on a temporary visa (457) then the employer would be responsible for repatriation costs.

In the case of a tourist they would have to pay their own repatriation costs.