Asthma Travel Insurance

Why do I need travel insurance to cover my asthma?

You may be thinking about whether you need to declare your asthma on your travel insurance. After all, it’s a pretty standard medical condition isn’t it?

If you have asthma, you should declare it on your holiday insurance policy as a pre-existing condition.

It’ll mean that if you have an asthma-related medical emergency while you’re away, or if you need to cancel your holiday – then you’ll be covered.

What’s better is that you’ll be covered for things like lost baggage and emergency dental treatment too.

With 1 in 20 people claiming on their Annual Travel Insurance in 2017**, it’s worth making sure that you’re properly protected.

Declaring your asthma as a pre-existing medical condition

If you’ve had any symptoms, treatment or medical appointments in the past two years in relation to your asthma, then you’ll need to tell us about it.

If you haven’t had asthma symptoms in over two years, then you wont need to declare it with us.

If you have a medical emergency, we’ll compare your declared and covered pre-existing medical conditions against your medical records from the past two years.

So it’s really important that you make sure that if you need to claim, that you have the confidence to know you’re covered.

What does our travel insurance cover?

What will I be asked during the screening process?

We ask a few questions about your pre-existing conditions which we call a medical screening.

There’s no invasive medical examinations, just a few simple questions. You can either complete the questionnaire online or over the phone with our friendly team.

For asthma, we ask these types of question as part of the medical screening:

How old were you when asthma was diagnosed?

• How many (if any) medicines are prescribed for your asthma? Count each inhaler as one medicine
• Do you use nebulisers?
  Have you been diagnosed with of COPD, chronic bronchitis or emphysema?
• How many (if any) hospital admissions have you had for asthma in the last year?
• Have you ever been prescribed oxygen other than when you are in hospital?
• Have you ever been a smoker?

Do I need travel insurance to cover asthma if I have an EHIC?

It’s really important that if you’re travelling to Europe, that you take your free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) with you.

In fact, it’s a condition of our insurance that you take it with you for European holidays.

It’ll entitle you to free, or subsidised healthcare in most European countries. It can even help you with asthma-related incidents.

But it’s not a substitute for travel insurance.

It won’t help you if you need to cancel your holiday, or if you need to be flown home with a medical escort. But travel insurance will.

Tips for travelling with asthma

• Asthma UK provides a free Asthma Attack Card, which helps people recognise an asthma attack and explains what to do in an emergency. Carry information with you at all times so that, should you have an asthma attack, people know what to do and when
• If you have a tendency for severe asthma, ask your GP or nurse what length of journey would be safest for you, as they may be required by the airline to declare you ‘fit to fly’
• Be well aware of your triggers and avoid them as much as possible when you choose your destination
• Bring enough inhalers and tablets with you to last the holiday, plus extra for any unexpected delays
• If you use a nebuliser, make sure it is properly serviced and ready for use in the country you are visiting. Bring a travel plug if required. You may consider bringing a battery operated device for use when flying with asthma if necessary