The exclusion for pre-existing conditions is a standard exclusion found in all travel insurance plans. The good news is that most travel insurance plans will offer what they call a “waiver of pre-existing” provided you meet the following conditions:
- you must buy the insurance within the required time period(usually 2 weeks) following your first trip payment date;
- you must be physically able to travel when buying the insurance; and
- you must insure you trip to it’s full pre-paid value – required by most plans.
Once you have the waiver of pre-existing conditions than the insurance company can not use that exclusion as the basis to deny a claim, however, they still require that there be a “manifestation” after you buy the insurance that was not reasonably foreseeable at the time of purchase. That translates into the fact that family member’s condition must change and it is the change that causes you to cancel the trip.
Common Misconceptions about Pre-existing Conditions
Most travel insurance plans apply the definition of pre-existing to all family member regardless of whether they are traveling or not. It’s a common misconception that the exclusion only applies to family members on the trip.
Another common misconception is that the “pre-existing period” is a period that starts when you buy the insurance and goes forward in time. The truth is that the “pre-existing period” ends on the day you buy the insurance and goes backwards.