You’ve probably seen stories of people who went on holiday without travel insurance. Usually this becomes an issue if they get ill or have an accident, leaving them stranded in an overseas hospital or left with expensive medical bills to pay.
On rare occasions, these news reports highlight people who have taken out travel insurance and made a claim on their emergency medical cover. Medical details provided to the underwriter then reveal the patient has underlying health conditions, often relatively minor, that were not disclosed on the policy application. This results in the policyholder’s claim getting rejected. You can imagine the rest.
When you get your travel insurance policy you’ll be asked some straightforward questions. These questions are the same, whichever provider you get your quote from. They’ll first ask if you’ve had any health conditions in the last 12 months.
Things like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol are pre-existing conditions and are generally accepted. If you live with these issues, you’re used to listing them. But the antibiotics for a sinus infection last winter? That needs to be included on the quote too.
Anything that you take regular medication for should be listed. It may not have any bearing on your policy premium, but it could affect any claim you make for emergency medical treatment.
Considering we recommend that you get your travel insurance policy as soon as you’ve booked your holiday, it’s not unusual for things to change by the time you travel. This can also happen if you’ve got a year-long annual policy.
If you get any new health issue diagnosed after you’ve bought your policy, you need to let us know. If there’s any change in your health it’s vital you contact us, so your policy remains valid. Please call us on 0800 056 9200 – the team can help Monday to Friday 8.30am-7pm and Saturday 8.30am-5pm.
Out of all the reasons people claim on their travel insurance, emergency medical treatment and care is the number one cause.
According to the ABI, 34% of all travel claims made by UK holiday makers was for medical expenses with a total value of £262 million. If your cover isn’t valid because of undisclosed medical conditions, it’s essentially useless for medical care, leaving you to cover costs if you get ill or hurt on holiday.
Because of the UK’s healthcare system, we rarely equate medical care with the exchange of money. This is not the case in most countries, where treatment needs to be paid for at the time you get it.
Everything, from a plaster to ambulances, is chargeable – and at a cost we in the UK are unprepared for.
The government website lists examples of the cost of care without travel insurance, such as a broken leg in Spain with possible medical transport home which would be at least £25,000. And if you’re travelling outside of Europe, treatment would be considerably more.
The Global Health Insurance Card, which replaced the old EHIC, will help you get emergency medical treatment in some countries. It will be the basic public healthcare, and you still may have to pay in advance and wait to get reimbursed. It might also only cover a percentage of the total treatment cost.
The GHIC won’t get you private care, nor will it get you back home in a medically safe manner if you need to travel as a patient.
If you’ve got Saga Travel Insurance, you should call us immediately. If it’s not urgent or life-threatening you can call the travel helpline where our claims handlers can pinpoint your nearest medical centre and advise exactly what you need to do. If you’ve been taken to hospital you, a travelling companion or medical staff should call once you have been admitted.
The Saga GP Service is also available while you’re away where you can make an appointment to speak to a UK-based GP for advice.
Buy your new Saga Travel Insurance policy by the end of 11 June 2026 and get 20% off the total cost. T&Cs apply.
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