The survey received a significant number of responses across a spectrum of IMD’s which has proved so useful in moving forward and starting the conversation with leaders of travel insurance providers.
What were the findings?:
Please find a summary of the findings HERE, where we discovered that:
- 60% have experienced difficulties in getting travel insurance to cover the IMD they are living with.
- 73% worry about getting travel insurance to cover the IMD they are living with.
- 59% who have looked for travel insurance in past 2 years have said it’s either become more difficult to find cover or they can’t find cover at all
What has been done since?
Meetings have been held with leaders at two travel insurers (StaySure and Just Travel Cover) who specialise in cover for pre-existing medical conditions. A meeting has also taken place with Verisk, the market leader in medical screening who supply risk analytics for much of the travel insurance market.
From these conversations, it has been revealed that:
- The market has consolidated: The disruption caused by Covid and Brexit has led to a significant number of insurers withdrawing entirely from the travel insurance market, which is contributing to our communities to experience seeing either a lack of cover, increased premiums and/or more intense screening.
- There’s been an increased reliance on privatised healthcare for claims: With state healthcare resources concentrated towards Covid across the world, there have been an increased share of travel insurance claims made where more expensive privatised medical care has been required for reimbursement. This has resulted in an increase in price premiums.
- Recent regulatory change is still playing out: travel insurers must now signpost certain consumers with pre-existing medical conditions where obtaining cover is difficult to a directory of specialist providers that have the appetite and capability to cover consumers with these conditions. Two directories are now in place:
1) MoneyHelper:
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/insurance/use-our-travel-insurance-directory
2) BIBA (British Insurance Brokers’ Association):
https://insurance.biba.org.uk/find-insurance
To be placed on the directory, these travel insurers have been authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) following a rigorous selection process to prove their specialism. This means that there is an increased onus on the consumer to go to individual firms to get a quote, which we recognise as a burden on the already stretched time and demands of a person or family living with an IMD - however BIBA have links to brokers who can do this shopping around on a user’s behalf.
What is being done next?
Metabolic Support UK are pursuing several lines of enquiry with the goal of boosting travel insurance coverage for people living with IMD’s:
- Further discussions with Verisk’s technical teams - one key question is to what level of data and insight do medical screeners have about IMD’s. Evidence is often lacking in the world of rare disease; does that mean the risk presented to travel insurers when they make their decisions is potentially unnecessarily higher than the reality of the condition?
- Continued dialogue with travel insurers – ultimately, insurers offer products based on their appetite for the risk presented to them. Insurers will be encouraged to be flexible and thorough in how they make decisions for people with rare disease, urging them to go beyond the risk rating and to truly understand the individual scenario at hand.
- Educating our communities – Metabolic Support UK are planning to conduct an educational piece for the IMD community, to give them a stronger understanding of the travel insurance process along with hints and tips to help them navigate getting cover. We will share this with you all once complete.
Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey and is involved in making travel insurance more obtainable for those with IMD's.