You’re 73, you’ve booked the trip you’ve been promising yourself for years, and then the doubt creeps in. Will anyone actually insure me? Will they pay out if my diabetes or my heart plays up out there? It’s a fair worry, and I’ve watched too many people either pay far too much or – worse – travel with no cover at all. So let’s sort it out properly. The right policy exists, and once you know what to look for, finding it isn’t hard. You can start a quote at InsureandGo in a couple of minutes.
Here’s my promise for this piece. No jargon, no scare tactics, just the seven things I’d check myself before handing over a penny. I’ll be honest about the catches too, because travel insurance for older travellers with a medical history has a few. Read these seven points, tick them off as you go, and you’ll buy with your eyes open. That’s the whole point.
1. Is there actually an upper age limit?
This is the first wall a lot of older travellers hit. Plenty of insurers quietly stop selling to you the moment you tick past 65, 70 or 75 – they don’t always say so until you’re halfway through the form. Frustrating, isn’t it? So check this before anything else. The good news is that some providers genuinely have no upper age limit at all, which means your birthday stops being a reason to get turned away.
InsureandGo is one of them – no upper age limit, so a 78th or 85th birthday doesn’t shut the door. That single fact saves a lot of fruitless searching. Confirm it for your own age by running a quick quote with InsureandGo before you compare on price.
2. Will it cover your pre-existing condition?
Here’s the part that matters most. A policy that excludes the very thing most likely to need treatment isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. So check the list of conditions an insurer will consider. The stronger ones cover a huge range – InsureandGo, for instance, can cover more than 1,300 medical conditions, including diabetes, cancer, heart conditions, high blood pressure and epilepsy.
That breadth is the difference between cover that’s real and cover that’s decorative. I won’t pretend every condition is accepted automatically or at the same price – it isn’t, and complex histories can cost more. But the starting point is huge. See whether your condition is on the list by checking with InsureandGo directly.
3. How high is the emergency medical cover?
This is where penny-pinching gets dangerous. A medical emergency abroad – a fall, a cardiac scare, an infection that turns serious – can run into eye-watering sums, especially outside Europe. A hospital stay in the United States can wipe out a life’s savings on its own. So the emergency medical figure isn’t a detail. It’s the headline number you should care about most.
Look for a high limit, and ideally unlimited emergency medical cover, which InsureandGo offers on the right policy. Unlimited means exactly that – the ceiling isn’t the thing keeping you awake the night before you fly. Check the medical limits on your quote at InsureandGo and don’t be tempted to trade it down to save a few pounds.
4. What happens if you have to cancel?
People forget this one until it’s too late. When you’re managing a health condition, the odds of a hospital appointment or a flare-up landing right before your departure are simply higher. If that happens and the trip is already paid for, cancellation cover is what gets your money back rather than leaving you out of pocket for the lot.
InsureandGo offers up to £10,000 of cancellation cover, which comfortably covers most older travellers’ holidays – flights, hotels, the cruise deposit, the lot. Make sure your limit is at least as high as the total you’ve spent. It’s an easy check. Confirm the cancellation figure on your quote with InsureandGo before you book the rest of the trip.
5. Have you declared every condition honestly?
I’ll be blunt here, because this is the one that catches people out. When you buy, you’ll go through a medical screening – a set of questions, a declaration of your conditions and medication. It feels tedious. Do it properly anyway. If you leave something off, even by accident, an insurer can refuse a claim later, and that’s a horrible thing to discover from a hospital bed.
So declare everything – every condition, every recent change, every tablet. Yes, declaring more can nudge the premium up. But a slightly higher premium beats a claim that gets thrown out on a technicality. Take your time over the screening when you start your quote at InsureandGo, and keep a copy of what you told them.
6. Single trip or annual cover – which suits you?
Quick one, but it saves real money. If this is your one big holiday of the year, a single-trip policy is usually the cheaper, simpler choice. But if you’re the sort who takes a couple of breaks – a spring city visit, a summer fortnight, maybe Christmas with family abroad – then annual multi-trip cover often works out far better value across the year.
InsureandGo offers both single-trip and annual multi-trip options, so you’re not forced into one shape that doesn’t fit. Do a rough tally of your year before you decide. Compare the two side by side on your own quote at InsureandGo and pick whichever costs less for the trips you’ll genuinely take.
7. Can you actually trust the insurer?
Last point, and it’s the one I’d never skip. A cheap policy from a name you’ve never heard of is a gamble at exactly the moment you can’t afford one. So look for track record and independent recognition. InsureandGo has been doing this for more than 25 years and holds a “Which? Best Buy” rating – the sort of outside tick that tells you the cover stands up when it’s tested.
Reputation won’t make a policy right for you on its own – you still need to read the wording and match the cover to your conditions. But it’s a strong filter to start with. Weigh it up alongside the price when you review your quote from InsureandGo.
Run your quote and travel with peace of mind
So there’s your checklist. No upper age limit, your condition covered, high emergency medical cover, solid cancellation, an honest declaration, the right trip type, and an insurer you can trust. Tick those seven off and you’ve done the hard part. The trip you’ve been looking forward to deserves cover that actually holds, not a cheap policy that folds the moment you need it.
One honest caveat to leave you with. Cover for older travellers with medical conditions does cost more than a basic young-and-healthy policy, and nobody can promise you a price or guarantee acceptance until you’ve been through screening. That’s just the reality. But with more than 1,300 conditions covered and 25 years behind them, the odds of getting properly insured are good. Get your personalised quote at InsureandGo and book that trip with one less thing on your mind.