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Planet Earth's Travel Insurance FAQs

After over 15 years of working in the travel insurance industry, we’ve just about heard every question and query you could imagine so we thought we would put some handy FAQ’s together for you all to help clarify some common misconceptions or confusions about travel insurance. 

WILL I STILL NEED TRAVEL INSURANCE IF I HAVE MY EHIC CARD?

‘EHIC’ cards are useful to take with you as they can help to mitigate the cost of medical bills in some EU countries, however it is important to remember that they don’t cover the cost of repatriation if you need to be brought back to the UK (should the worst happen). The EHIC card also doesn’t cover any private medical healthcare or costs such as mountain rescue in ski resorts, lost or stolen property or travel delay. Please also be aware the EHIC card is not valid on cruises.

WHAT IS A PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITION? 

A pre-existing medical condition is anything that you are regularly taking medication for, anything you have been treated for within the last 2 years and anything you were treated for over 2 years ago that you are still being treated for today.

For example, someone who had a heart attack 20 years ago and is still on blood thinning medication today WOULD be classed as having a pre-existing medical condition. On the other hand, someone who had a knee replacement 5 years ago and has NOT received any treatment for it within the last 2 years then this is no longer classed as a pre-existing medical condition.

It is also important to remember that taking preventative medication for conditions such as Asthma, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol and Osteoporosis must be declared to your insurer as they are all considered to be pre-existing medical conditions. If you fail to declare to them to your insurer then your claim may become invalid.

DO I NEED TO LET YOU KNOW IF I’M GOING ON A CRUISE?

Yes! It’s really important you let your insurer know if you are going on a cruise holiday as some policies don’t cover for cruise holidays automatically and may require you to pay an additional premium.

As cruise claims tend to be more expensive than non-cruise holidays, this is often reflected in the additional premiums being charged.

At Planet Earth Travel Insurance we won’t charge any additional premium to be covered whilst you’re on a cruise, but we do still need to know if you’re going on one.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE A EUROPEAN ANNUAL POLICY AND BOOK A TRIP TO THE USA?

Don’t worry, it’s really common for people to have a change of circumstances over the duration of an annual policy. All you would need to do is call us as soon as you book any holiday that does not fall into the geographical limits of your policy and we can upgrade your policy to cover you for wherever you’re travelling to, it’s that simple!

WILL I BE COVERED IF I CAN’T TRAVEL BECAUSE I’M ILL?

If you become ill before you go on holiday you should have ‘cancellation cover’ included in your policy (check your policy wording booklet for the terms and conditions). This enables you to cancel your holiday and submit a cancellation claim. Your insurer’s claims department will assess your reason for cancelling and issue a refund for your loss of money.

Again, it’s really important that you declare all pre-existing conditions when you take the policy out because if your reason for cancelling has a direct or indirect link to a pre-existing medical condition and the insurers aren’t aware of it, your cancellation claim may become invalid.

Thanks for reading our Travel Insurance FAQs. If you have any questions about travel insurance or our policies then please don’t hesitate to contact us by calling us on 0161 439 0333