Travel insurance for epilepsy.

Feel confident in your travel insurance when you have epilepsy

With travel insurance for epilepsy, you can relax on your travels knowing that should something go wrong, we’ll always aim to put things right.

Why having travel insurance can help when you need it

While John¹ was on holiday in the USA, he had a fall and needed emergency hospital treatment. After telling the hospital that he had up-to-date travel insurance, he was seen to straight away.

He contacted our 24-hour medical emergency helpline and we reassured him that we’d take care of payments directly with the hospital.

With no need to worry about the medical costs, John was able to concentrate on the most important thing — getting better.

With personalised travel insurance like John’s, you can leave the worry at home, knowing you’ll have our support day or night, whenever you need it.

Do I need to tell you about my epilepsy when I’m buying travel insurance?

It’s important you let us know about your epilepsy, and any other health conditions when getting your travel insurance. That way, if something goes wrong on your holiday, you’ll have the care you need to get you back on your feet.

If there are any changes to your health, it’s important you let us know as soon as you can, so your policy will be up-to-date to reflect your new medical conditions.

If you forget to tell us about any changes to your health, this may affect the validity of your travel insurance policy. If your policy isn’t accurate, this may mean any potential claims may not be accepted if you needed us further down the line.

I’m the only one in my family with a pre-existing medical condition. Is it better for us to have insurance together or separate policies?

Choosing between having individual policies, or having a group policy, is entirely up to you. But having family travel insurance can be more straightforward.

A big bonus? If one of you has to cancel your holiday due to a medical emergency, the whole family should be able to claim back the full cost of their holiday too (as long as it’s within your policy limits).

What questions will you ask about my epilepsy?

So we can understand the nature of your epilepsy and how it affects your daily life, we’ll take you through some questions. There’s nothing to worry about, we’ll go through the questions at a pace that suits you. We’ll never rush you.

Here are some of the questions we may ask:

• How long ago was your first fit/seizure?
• If awake, do you tend to lose consciousness during a fit/seizure?
• How many fits/seizures, causing loss of consciousness, have you had in the past four weeks?
• How many fits/seizures, causing loss of consciousness, have you had in the past six months?
• How many unplanned hospital admissions have you had for epilepsy/seizures in the last year?
• How many different medicines do you take for epilepsy/seizures?

Is my epilepsy covered by my European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)?

If you are planning a holiday to Europe, you will need to take a free EHIC as a condition of our travel insurance.

While the United Kingdom is still a member of the European Union, the EHIC gives you access to free or subsidised state healthcare in most European countries. Before you travel, you should check that your destination is covered by EHIC, so you can be prepared if you do need treatment for your epilepsy, or other conditions, during your trip.

It’s important to understand that your EHIC is not the same as having good travel insurance for your medical conditions. For example, it won’t cover you for cancellation of your holiday or pay for emergency transportation home if you needed it.

What your EHIC can do is reduce your medical costs where subsidised healthcare is available. If you can use your EHIC and have to pay a fee for your treatment, we’ll remove the excess fee for your medical emergency claims.

I’ve bought travel insurance covering my epilepsy already. Do I need to tell you if my condition changes?

Yes, it’s important that you keep us in the loop if your medical condition changes, or you’re diagnosed with something new. That way, your policy will be up-to-date when you travel, so you can go away knowing you have the protection you need.