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How does medical travel insurance work?

holiday insurance

For many people, a holiday is something that must be saved for and even then it can feel like quite an expensive luxury. This means that when you have finally booked your break, you can begrudge the idea of having to pay out more money for travel insurance that you might not even use. However, it’s really important to take out holiday insurance, particularly if you have an existing medical condition. To explain more, we’ve outlined below how medical travel insurance works:

Before you go on holiday

Many people book their holiday well in advance of their date of travel, which means you can’t really know what is going to happen between the time you book and the time you set off.

If you have medical travel insurance in place from the moment you book your trip and then find yourself taken ill before you go and need to cancel, you’ll be covered for cancellation*. Free Spirit provides cancellation up to £2,500 with Super cover and up to £5,000 with Super Duper cover.

What’s more, if you choose to put other people in your travelling party on your Free Spirit travel insurance, including those without medical conditions, they would also be eligible for cancellation cover**.

Having cancellation cover in place means that you might be able to get some of the money you have spent on your holiday back if you are too poorly to travel.

*Check that the policy you purchase includes cancellation cover. If you purchase an annual multi-trip policy, cancellation cover will begin on your chosen start date

When you are on holiday

If you have an existing medical condition, having specialist travel insurance in place when you go away is vital. The cost of seeking medical assistance while abroad can be extremely high (especially in places such as Spain and USA), yet with medical travel insurance, such as Free Spirit, these costs will be covered**.

In the event that you are taken ill due to your existing medical condition (or any other medical emergency) while you are away on holiday, you simply need to call the Insurer’s assistance helpline.

Free Spirit provides a medical emergency assistance helpline to help you any time, every day of the week. Our assistance service know where the very best medical facilities are in each country around the world and can advise you where to go to make sure the costs will be covered by your insurance.

In the event of an emergency, a Doctor or someone you are travelling with should call the emergency assistance helpline as soon as possible, and before treatment starts, to make sure you are covered.

Our highly experienced multi-lingual team are available to talk 24 hours a day, to advise you or your travelling companions of what steps to take. Their aim will always be to establish the best treatment available to you in the country you are visiting

If you have our Super cover, you will have up to £5,000,000 worth of emergency medical expenses, while it’s £10,000,000 with our Super Duper cover. In addition, you’ll be covered for other things you might need such as emergency dental work and even the cost of a Doctor or Nurse to accompany you if you need to be repatriated home.

What’s more, medical travel insurance isn’t just for medical expenses and cancellation. With Free Spirit, you’ll also be covered for all the usual things you would expect from quality insurance, such as lost baggage; loss of passport; flight delay or cancellation, extended journey disruption (Super Duper only); loss of medical aids and prescribed medications.

Click here to see our summary of cover

** subject to policy terms & conditions

Providing cover for existing medical conditions

Most standard travel insurance won’t cover an existing medical condition. However, if you are someone who does have an existing condition, you know that’s what is most likely to cause you issues while away on holiday. At Free Spirit, we offer medical travel insurance to people suffering from a wide variety of medical conditions.

To obtain travel insurance with Free Spirit, there’s no medical involved – we simply ask a short series of questions to understand your condition and then find you the ideal policy. As long as you have told us about your medical condition, you’ll be covered should anything happen both before you travel and while you are away – subject to policy terms and conditions, of course!

Getting medical travel insurance is simple and easy to do. Our telephone lines are open Monday – Friday, on freephone 02392 419 080 or if you would prefer you can complete the process online.

If you have any questions about our specialist insurance, click here.

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