I am so angry and disgusted that I am finding it extremely hard to find travel insurance for Ellie.
We have booked our trip to Disneyland Paris at Christmas. With only 7 weeks to go I went online to buy our Travel Insurance.
I didn't realise it was going to be so hard.
At first I tried Tesco and they said that they couldn't insure Ellie because of her Epilepsy.
I went on to the Epilepsy Action Website and they recommend a company called ACE who deal with Travel Insurance for people with Epilepsy.
However after phoning them they said they could not provide Travel Insurance for Ellie because her Epilepsy wasn't under control.
I have been searching the net for a couple of days now and I came across a company and when the quote flashed up on my screen I nearly fell off my chair, £858.00.
The price is nearly as much as our holiday!
At the end of the day, Ellie needs insurance and there is no way I would travel with Ellie without it.
I have already got our European Health Cards, which will entitle us to FREE or discounted emergency treatment shoudl we need it. But these are not insurance and we do need insurance.
I have today found a company called Free Spirit Travel Insurance Free Spirit Travel Insurance and they will Insure Ellie. They came up with a quote for £148.00, which is a huge difference from the first company I found on the internet.
It is bad enough my 3 year old has Epilepsy that is controlling her day-to-day life, but being penalised by Travel Insurance Companies has made me so angry.
All they want to do is take people's money.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
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5 comments:
Hi - I am a neurologist from Northern Ireland and I am being asked about travel insurance a lot. I tried to obtain a quote online (pretending to be someone with really active epilepsy - 2 admissions in last year, more than 10 seizures in last year, and on 3 drugs) and the quote was more than £1200 for a two week holiday to Greece!
Are there any other companies you can reccomend?
I've put a link to your blog post on my patient information website, as your post was probably the most useful information I found
Thanks and I hope Ellie is OK.
Raeburn Forbes
http://www.forbesmedical.net
Dear Dr Raeburn Forbes
Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and post a comment it is much appreciated.
As you say it is extremely hard to find travel insurance for people who have epilepsy especially those who have been admitted to hospital regularly in the last few months and high dosage of medication.
I did find it very difficult and frustrating that these companies are cashing in on people with illness's and disabilities. Our holiday cost enough and then the quotes were coming in at the same price as our holiday.
At the end of the day we would have paid one of these companies as it is of upmost important that we had the right insurance in place incase Ellie needed treatment whilst we were travelling.
After extensive searching on the internet, numerous phone calls and talking to my health visitor and Ellie's neurologist who unfortunately were un-able to help.
I came acrossFreespirit Travel.
This was the cheapest quote I found and had suffient cover for what we needed with Ellie.
Ellie is doing very well as we have now found the right amount of medication to control Ellie's seizure's.
Thank you very much to linking to my blog.
Dee
Hello I came across your web page looking for travel insurance for my boyfriend he also has epilepsy it has been really hard to find an insurance company that will cover him for the amount of time we would like to go away for I was just wondering if there is any insurance company's that you know that will cover him to travel to australia for a year. All the insurance company's we have looked at will not cover him for more than 3 months it is really discusting that people with epilepsy are discriminated against. I would really appericiat your help as it effects so mant people. We have looked at free sprit which quoted us £701.88 for only 3 months. This is just sick as an epilepsy person is not aloud to work (depending on the type of epilipsy the person has) how are they ment to afford something as much as that when the can not go out and work for a living. Thank u for reading my comment. Yours thankful Chelsey Hough
Good Morning Chelsey
Thank you for your message.
I know what you mean you are discriminated for having a Health Condition that is completely out of your control.
You would think by now that big high street travel insurance providers would start to insure customers with pre-exsisting illnesses.
You are right, Epliepsy does prevent people from leading a normal life depending on the severity of the Epilepsy.
The money does come into the prices quoted for travel insurance with pre-exsisting illnesses could enable you to have a 2 week all inclusive holiday in the cariabean for the same price.
Last time we travelled to Disneyland Paris with my daughter Ellie her Epilepsy was out of control, up to 18 seizures a day, weekly ambulance trips to A & E, and I think for this reason we were quoted very high premiums!
We are going to Disneyland Paris again next Monday and to be honest I didn't have as much trouble getting a reasonable quote this time as before.
Obviously could not use any big High Street company and had to do an Internet Search on Google.
But this time I have used a company called AllClear Insurance Services.
They have charged me £30 for me, my daughter Ellie with Epilepsy and my younger daughter Shayni.
I always feel a little anxious using this little internet sitez as you don't know how good the company really is and what they actually provide so it is important to check the small print.
Unfortunately I can't advise on any other Insurance Companies as these are the only two I have used and again I have not travelled long distance with Ellie for a long period of time so I have not come across the barriers you are experiencing with your partner.
I do feel for you I really do, having Epilepsy you ry to live a normal life as possible but you are constantly reminded of it when it comes to things like travelling, working and doing social activities.
Sorry I couldn't be of any more help, I hope you find a Travel Insurance quote that don't try to ride off the back of your partners Epilepsy.
Please if you do find a successful company please leave another post on my blog. As you said you came across it looking for insurance and this has been set up to help all that suffer with Epilepsy and if you can help the next person it would be a great help.
Hope you have a great time in Austrailia.
All the best
Dee
Good morning
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I hope Ellie enjoys herself in disney land and your family all have a good time. I just can't understand why people with epilepsy are so different when it comes to travelling. My boyfriend was 17 when he had a bleed to the brain which he had an opp for then he got M.R.S.A which lead to him having to have a quarter of his skull removed. The doctors had to make a metal plate to fit into his head where they had removed his skull which took them six months. So he had to go around with a dent in his head. Which made him scared to leave the house so for the time he had nothing to peotect his head he didn't go out. Which lead to him getting epilepsy and having to take a large amount of tablets.
I will let you know if I find a insurance company which I hope will help meny other people with epilepsy
Your thankfully Chelsey
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