Travel insurance and cancer

A guest blog post by Fiona Macrae from Insurancewith.

A diagnosis of womb cancer should not have any effect on your ability to travel, however many people find that after a cancer diagnosis they do have difficulty finding travel insurance to cover their cancer at an affordable premium.  It was this very problem that led me to start my own travel insurance brand Insurancewith.  

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and during a 2 month treatment break, I had my chemotherapy first and the next stage of treatment was surgery, so in order to give my body a chance to recover from the chemo and get ready for the surgery I had this 2 month window. 
I was desperate for a holiday; a break away from the hospital routine would be just the tonic I needed, then come back and have my surgery. 
I was an insurance broker so I did know that I would need to pay more than the standard cost, however was I wasn’t prepared for was to be completely turned down for cover, even from the providers who said they were specialists. 
It seemed that the problem was that I hadn’t had the cancer removed yet so on one would insure me.  This sent me running back to my oncologist terrified that I had a ticking time bomb inside me and this wonderful treatment break I had been given didn’t seem so wonderful after all. 
She quickly reassured me that the chemotherapy had done it’s job, shrunk the tumour and killed any stray cells so waiting until my body was back to a normal level after all the chemotherapy I’d had was doing me any harm at all. 
I went back to the specialist travel insurance providers with this information thinking that with my insurance broking skills that they would surely offer me cover now.  Unfortunately it was still a blanket no, I was told “it’s still cancer”. I knew that there must be a far better solution; how many more people must be in my position of being declined travel insurance cover due to lack of understanding of cancer and the rapidly changing treatments. 

This is where Insurancewith started and we have been going over three years now, offering affordable travel insurance for people with medical conditions, however due to my background with cancer, cancer is probably our specialism.  
We do try very hard to try and offer everyone a quote and we do very rarely turn the person down for cover, it may be the destination or the timing of the holiday; for example you would have to be clear of any chemotherapy or surgery for 4 weeks before we would offer cover. 
With regards destinations, an idyllic remote island may sound perfect, however they may not have suitable medical facilities should you need them, so we may suggest a more suitable destination.  Or depending on your condition a long haul flight may not be advisable.

My top tips of obtaining affordable travel insurance after a womb cancer diagnosis would be:

* Firstly ensure that you consultant or treating doctor is in full agreement with your travel plans
* Check there are good medical facilities at your chosen destination
* When looking for quotes for travel insurance, have a note of the date of your diagnosis and dates of any treatment, along with what medication you are currently taking.

http://www.insurancewith.com/