travel insurance for over 60s

Getting travel insurance for over 60s doesn’t have to be as tedious and expensive as some travel insurance providers would have you believe.

With fast, confidential medical screening and thousands of medical conditions covered, Emerald Life offers two high quality insurance products for travellers over 60.

The age of 60 onwards is a fantastic opportunity to travel as many people find themselves with healthier bank balances and fewer obligations like work and family.

Meanwhile today people are enjoying healthier lives at later ages with their sixties much more vibrant than those of previous generations.

But travel insurance has struggled to keep up.

Over 60s travel insurance can be expensive, especially if you have medical conditions. If you’re travelling to a country with high medical costs like the USA or Carribbean then the effect is multiplied.

That’s why it pays to find a travel insurance provider that is experienced with over 60s travel insurance and understands that travel insurance for over 60s is not going to mean lots claims.

At Emerald Life we have a simple standard travel insurance policy and another travel insurance product that is more suited to older customers with serious medical conditions.

If you have serious medical conditions like diabetes, heart conditions and cancer then you will probably be better off with our medical travel insurance product.

If you are aged 60 – 75 and don’t have serious medical conditions then you should be fine with our standard travel insurance offering.

Medical Cover

The most important part of a travel insurance policy is medical cover so that if you are ill or injured abroad then your insurer can pay for your treatment.

This could extend to repatriation if you have to be transported home for further treatment.

As medical cover is the most significant cost in terms of potential claims, travel insurance providers need to know about your pre-existing medical conditions in order to price your travel insurance fairly.

Depending on what your pre-existing medical conditions are you may not have to pay a higher premium as a result. Some pre-existing medical conditions you don’t even need to declare.

However, if you have any pre-existing medical conditions that could affect your likelihood to claim, it is important that you declare them unless instructed otherwise.

What Qualifies As Pre-Existing Conditions?

The human body is an incredible work of evolution and as such there are plenty of things that can go wrong in both the short and long term.

For that reason it can often be difficult to understand what constitutes a medical condition that you have to declare to your travel insurance provider.

Have/are you or anyone in your party:

• taken any prescribed medication, or received any medical treatment in the last 2 years;

• attended a medical practitioner’s surgery, or hospital or clinic (out-patient or in-patient) in the last two years;

• awaiting medical treatment or investigation;

• been diagnosed by a medical practitioner as suffering from a terminal illness.

All medical conditions you have must be disclosed as well as any previous medical conditions if they could have an impact on your current health.

Annual And Single Trip Over 60s Travel Insurance

Our fast online quote form will ask for your destination. From that we understand what medical costs may be in that country. For that reason, European travel insurance tends to be much cheaper than USA travel insurance where medical treatment costs are much higher.

Then we get onto a single trip policy or annual multi-trip policy.

An annual policy covers an ulimited number of trips in one year, provided that each trip is no more than 31 days long.

Once your medical status has been taken into account, along with the variables of destination and duration – you will have your quote in minutes.

An annual over 60s travel insurance policy is ideal for regular travellers and can be cheaper than buying multiple single trip travel insurance policies.

Travel Insurance Emergency Medical Expenses

The most important part of any travel insurance policy is emergency medical expenses cover. Typically ranging from £5 million to £10 million – the higher in our case – this covers your costs if you become ill or injured abroad and require medical treatment.

Medical expenses often include repatriation cover so that if your condition means you have to return to the UK urgently then there is cover for transporting you along with any necessary medical equipment and staff. Unsurprisingly, these costs can be staggering.

Travel Insurance Cancellation Cover

Imagine the nightmare that you are ill or injured just before you were meant to go on holiday. All those plans and prepayments hang in the balance.

Some of the costs that may be covered by cancellation cover are:

• your portion of prepaid transport charges
• loss of accommodation
• foreign car hire
• pre-paid excursions booked before you go on your trip (up to a maximum of £250) that you have paid or have agreed to pay, that you cannot recover from any other source,

If you have to cancel your trip because you, a travelling companion or close relative is ill, injured or dies before the trip starts or your passport, or the passport of any person you were intending to travel with, is stolen during the seven days before your booked date of departure – rest assured you’re covered.

Please note that if you have to cancel because of the death or illness of a close relative, there should not have been any specific concern about that relative before you booked your travels.

Personal Possessions Cover

Good travel insurance can also provide a lot of help with your personal possessions.

In the unfortunate event that your baggage is delayed for at least 12 hours, whilst in the custody of your carrier on your outward journey, you can claim for the cost of buying replacement necessities.

There’s also cover for if your valuables are stolen or damaged, including laptops.

Excesses

While it can be tempting when buying travel insurance to just look at the final price, it is important that you check any excesses you have to pay.

That is because some cheap policies will have very high excesses which means any claims could be very expensive despite having the insurance. Sometimes excesses are so high it might not even be worth claiming. Therefore, make sure you buy a policy that balances a good price with a reasonable excess.

Most travel insurance policies will also include different excesses for different types of claim and you can find these in your policy documentation, but generally the medical excess is the most significant.