What medical conditions do I have to declare for travel insurance?

People under-declare because they are thinking about whether the condition could plausibly cause a problem on holiday. That is not the question. The insurer is pricing risk across everyone, and the legal duty is to answer their questions honestly and completely, not to filter for relevance yourself.

Safety

Step by step

1. Read the question the insurer actually asks.It is usually some version of: in the last set number of years, have you seen a doctor, taken medication, been referred, been admitted, or are you awaiting tests, treatment or results, for any condition. Note that it is not limited to serious conditions.
2. List everything before you start.Write down every condition, every medication with its dose, every consultant appointment, every scan or test, and the dates. Repeat prescriptions count even for something long-controlled. Then work through the list rather than trying to recall as you go.
3. Include conditions under investigation.An awaited result, a referral that has not happened yet or a symptom being looked into is the category people most often leave out, and it is the one insurers ask about explicitly. If something is unresolved, say so.
4. Do the medical screening properly.Most insurers use a scripted screening tool, online or by phone, which asks branching questions for each declared condition. Answer each honestly. The output is a decision: covered as standard, covered with an additional premium, covered with that condition excluded, or the trip declined.
5. Read what came back before you accept.A condition being excluded is not the same as being covered. If the exclusion covers the thing most likely to go wrong, the policy is close to worthless for you, and a specialist medical travel insurer is the right next step.
6. Keep declaring after you buy.If anything changes before you travel — a new diagnosis, a new drug, a hospital appointment, a change in dose — tell the insurer. This is a continuing duty on most policies and it is where an otherwise sound declaration goes wrong.
7. Keep the record.Save the screening confirmation, the policy schedule showing the declared conditions and any endorsement. If a claim is queried later, this is the evidence that you declared what you declared.

Tips

• If a mainstream insurer prices a condition punitively, go to a specialist medical travel insurer rather than dropping the declaration. They price serious conditions realistically because that is their whole book.
• Pregnancy is treated as a state rather than a condition by most insurers, but complications are underwritten and there are gestation limits for travel. Handle it explicitly.
• Someone else covered on the policy also has to declare — and so does a non-travelling relative whose health could cause you to cancel, if you want cancellation cover for that.

Common mistakes

• Not declaring a condition because it is well controlled — Control is irrelevant to the duty. Insurers ask about controlled conditions specifically and usually cover them without a loading. Leaving them out is what causes the problem, not having them.
• Letting a travel companion answer for you — The declaration is per person and non-disclosure by one traveller can affect the policy for all of them. Each person answers their own questions.

Questions people ask