Compare & Buy Online

In today's fast-paced world, obtaining travel insurance has become a crucial task for any globetrotter. As traditional high street insurance brokers gradually disappear, innovative methods of acquiring insurance have emerged, offering a quick and efficient solution through online searches.

This guide aims to make the process of purchasing travel insurance online as straightforward and stress-free as possible. With numerous options available at your fingertips, it's crucial to understand the various features and benefits each policy offers.

We will walk you through the key considerations for choosing the right cover, ensuring you feel protected and at ease during your adventures. Whether you are planning a short city break or a long-haul adventure, our comprehensive guide is designed to help you make informed decisions and find the best deals available online.

How to Get Travel Insurance Online

If the idea of applying for travel insurance and having to discuss your medical history with a stranger is off-putting, then the solution lies with online medical screening. Not only is buying travel insurance online quick and convenient but with Medical Travel Compared it could be cheaper too!

Today, in this digital age, the process of finding and purchasing travel insurance online has become incredibly easy and hassle-free. There are numerous outlets to choose from, including travel insurance comparison sites or directly from the insurers themselves. With just a few clicks, you can access a wide range of options tailored to your specific needs.

At Medical Travel Compared, we have designed our website to be user-friendly, ensuring that you can easily navigate through the entire process. We provide clear and concise explanations, leaving no room for confusion. Rest assured; we have your best interests in mind.

To get started, all you need to do is click the big green button that says ‘Get a quote’ at the top of the page. This will lead you to a straightforward form that you can fill out to obtain a free quote from multiple insurance providers. We understand that having choices is important, so we ensure that you are presented with quotes only from reputable companies.

Remember, at Medical Travel Compared, we are a comparison website. While we don't offer policies ourselves, we serve as a reliable platform to help you find the best options available.

Where to Buy Travel Insurance Online

You can buy travel insurance online from a number of outlets, including:

• Travel insurance comparison sites.
• Direct from travel insurers.
• As part of a package holiday.
• As part of your fight reservation.

It is crucial to opt for a reputable company that you are familiar with or have heard positive feedback about. Taking the time to conduct thorough research before finalising your purchase is highly recommended. The internet provides a wealth of information through reviews and customer experiences, allowing you to make an informed decision.

Being a specialist travel insurance comparison site ourselves, we believe comparing policy benefits and prices is the best way to buy your insurance online.

One of the many great things about Medical Travel Compared is the convenience it offers. With our site, you can effortlessly compare multiple quotes all at once, allowing you to not only find the most affordable deal but also the policy that provides the most comprehensive cover tailored to your needs. By using this service, you save valuable time and effort, eliminating the need to search through each insurance website individually. Instead, you can focus on just one site that simplifies the entire process for you.

When you fill out our form, we take all your information and search for quotes from many reputable insurance providers across the country.

We don’t deal with any company we don’t consider to be trustworthy. So, you can be sure that all your information is safe and secure. Click the button below to get started!

When to Purchase Travel Insurance

Once you have booked a holiday, it’s a good idea to get some travel insurance in place to protect the money you have spent, whether it be a deposit or perhaps the cost of flights.

Your cover will become active from the moment you pay for it and provided you have cancellation cover; you will be able to claim should you have to cancel the trip.

You can read more in our guide on when to buy your travel insurance.

READ MORE: When to Buy Travel Insurance

How to Save Money on Your Travel Insurance

When going directly to travel insurers, they may offer you a quote, but it's important to note that it may not necessarily be the best available price on the market. Accepting the first quote you receive or purchasing through your travel agent can often lead to higher costs.

In order to save money and find the most suitable cover, it is highly recommended to compare quotes from a variety of companies. However, this process can be time-consuming, especially if you have pre-existing medical conditions that need to be declared.

This is where Medical Travel Compared comes in to assist. With access to a panel of over 30 leading travel insurance specialists, our free independent service is designed to provide you with multiple quotes in just minutes, ultimately saving you both time and money.

By using our site, you can have peace of mind knowing that you have explored a wide range of options and found the most appropriate travel insurance for your needs.

Declaring Your Medical Conditions Online

Disclosing your medical history online is a simple and user-friendly process. To begin, you just need to enter the name(s) of your pre-existing conditions. From there, you'll be prompted with a series of relevant questions that will assist providers in thoroughly evaluating your current health status.

We have a comprehensive guide available that provides a detailed explanation of the entire process. It's definitely worth reading to gain a better understanding and obtain all the necessary information you may need.

How to Choose the Right Travel Insurance Policy

Apart from making sure your policy includes protection for your pre-existing medical conditions and provides a suitable level of cover – here are a few benefits usually included in a travel insurance policy.

Cancellation & Curtailment

When evaluating insurance policies, it's crucial to ensure that your chosen policy includes both cancellation and curtailment cover. Cancellation cover is essential as it allows you to recover costs like flights, hotel bookings, and pre-booked excursions in case you need to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a sudden illness of yourself or a close family member, or unexpected redundancy.

READ MORE: Holiday Cancellation Cover

Curtailment cover, on the other hand, is equally important. It safeguards you from financial losses if you have to end your holiday early due to unforeseen events or emergencies, which demand your immediate return home.

READ MORE: What is Curtailment?

Medical Expenses & Repatriation

When choosing travel insurance, it's crucial to ensure adequate medical expense cover. This should cover potential medical costs abroad, such as hospital stays, doctor's fees, and emergency dental treatment. A good policy will also include medical repatriation expenses, allowing you to return home if necessary.

Check the policy's medical expense limits to ensure they are sufficient for your destination, as costs can vary widely. Some policies also cover travel and accommodation expenses for a companion if they need to stay with you during treatment. Always read the policy details carefully to understand what is included or excluded.

READ MORE: Repatriation Cover Explained

Baggage and Personal Belongings

Ensuring that your travel insurance policy provides cover for your baggage and personal belongings is vital, as it offers protection against loss, theft, or damage during your trip. This kind of cover typically includes items like clothing, and personal effects, providing compensation if they are lost or stolen. Some policies also offer cover for travel documents and cash.

READ MORE: Personal Belongings Cover

How is the Premium Calculated?

Contrary to popular belief, the notion that declaring more medical conditions automatically results in higher insurance premiums is a misconception. In reality, the cost of travel insurance is not solely determined by the number of medical conditions one has.

Rather, it is a combination of various factors, including the individual's current health status, the chosen travel destination, the duration of the trip, and the person's age.

These factors collectively contribute to the overall assessment of the insurance premium, ensuring a fair evaluation of the individual's specific circumstances and needs.

You can read our guide which explains more about all of the factors that contribute to calculating your insurance premium.

The Benefits of Adding Your Spouse to Your Policy

Should you and your spouse decide to head off on that long-awaited holiday, it is usually a better idea to add your spouse to your travel insurance policy. Not only do you save time by only needing to locate one travel insurance solution, but there are also other benefits to consider.

For starters, adding your spouse to your travel insurance policy will usually result in cheaper quotes, when compared to buying two separate policies - meaning you can save a few pounds by combining your policies.

Adding your spouse to your policy also means that you only have one set of policy documents to refer to and a joint set of conditions to consider. Whilst terms between providers may be similar, there may be certain aspects of your policy that may not be covered when compared to your spouse's and vice versa. Yet having a combined policy, you and your spouse only need to adhere to one set. 

Should you both need to make a claim, that’s also two separate phone calls to two different claims teams – and two different claims processes to navigate. Again, claims processes, whilst similar, do differ by provider – meaning you could have your claim paid in a few hours, whereas your spouse may need to wait a little longer, adding unnecessary disruption to your trip. 

Why You Should Add Travelling Companions to Your Policy

It is a common misconception that individuals without medical conditions can get a better deal on their travel insurance. Whether your companions have pre-existing medical conditions or not, including them in your policy protects in the event that one of you needs to make a claim due to your medical conditions causing complications before and/or during the trip.

If your companions are insured separately, there is a risk of them incurring expenses if they need to cancel the holiday or if they have to stay with you in case, you become unwell and require a later flight home.

Find out more about why you should consider adding your travel companions to a group policy.

Understanding Your Policy Documents

When buying any insurance policy, you must take a moment to review the policy documents before and after you purchase. Not only does it reassure you that the insurance policy you are purchasing is suitable to your needs, but will also help highlight key benefits, conditions and exclusions included within your purchase.

Five key documents are provided, these are Insurance Product Information Document (IPID), Policy Wording, Policy Schedule, Medical Declaration and Terms of Business.

Insurance Product Information Document

This document is provided to you before you purchase (and can be reviewed after purchase as well). This document provides you with a snapshot of the key benefits of the policy and their cover limits, any exclusions applied, and restrictions that are in place. It also provides you with information on your obligations of buying the policy, as well as details on how to cancel or make a claim. Reviewing this document is a great way of understanding the policy and can be used to compare the differences between policies.

Policy Wording

These are the full terms of the policy and are provided to you before purchase (and given to you when you purchase). This highlights every benefit, exclusion, and restriction involved with the policy as well as gives key information on how to make a claim, cancel, and details on how to make a complaint and the complaints process.

It is advised that if there are key areas of the policy you are concerned about, or if you are seeking more information about certain aspects of the policy, you should take the time to read the relevant section of the document.

Policy Schedule

Your policy schedule is usually provided after your purchase. This document includes all the personal information you have provided, as well as the details of your trip (e.g., destination, date of departure, return home date etc.). You should take a moment to review this document as soon as you receive it to make sure that the information you provided whilst comparing quotes is correct.

Medical Declaration

This document is similar to a policy schedule; however, this record contains all of the information you have provided about your declared medical conditions and the answers you provided to the condition-specific questions. Usually, this document is only provided if you have declared a pre-existing condition – however, you may still receive a copy to confirm that you have not declared any conditions. Again, this document should be reviewed to make sure that everything is correct.

Terms of Business

This is the terms and conditions of your chosen provider and outlines the company’s regulatory information and data protection. It also includes their claims and complaints processes. This is sometimes combined and merged to be within the Policy Wording.

Finding a Solution if You Have Been Declined

Although Medical Travel Compared aims to provide a solution for every applicant, unfortunately, we can’t guarantee a quote for every circumstance. There are a variety of reasons why cover could be declined:

Awaiting Medical Investigation, Surgery, or Inpatient Treatment

If you’re awaiting diagnosis or are currently under medical investigation, insurers may be reluctant to offer you a quote. As the insurers do not know what the condition is, so they are unable to fairly assess the risk, meaning they are not able to offer you a fair quotation.

The same can apply to already diagnosed conditions that require surgery, and insurers prefer to offer cover after the surgery has been performed and your condition is stable. If you arrange cover before you receive a confirmed diagnosis or the investigation/ surgery is complete, your insurance is likely to exclude cover for anything related directly or indirectly to pre-existing medical conditions.

If we're unable to help you find cover for a pre-existing medical condition, the Money Helper Directory has listings of companies that may be able to assist you. Further details can be found on their website.

Combination of Your Medical Conditions and Travel Destination

Some countries operate a high level of private health care, which makes medical treatment and repatriation costs more expensive. Insurers will rate such areas as higher risk when it comes to insuring pre-existing medical conditions, and where some conditions will get accepted for say France, they may be declined for the USA.

Annual Cover vs Single Trip Cover

If you have been declined Annual Multi-Trip Cover try getting a quote for Single Trip. Sometimes the parameters for annual multi-trip policies can be narrower when it comes to accepting medical conditions, but a single trip can be far easier.

If you don’t fall into any of the categories above and have been declined cover, please contact us using the details on our Contact Us page and we will do our best to refer you to a suitable insurer.

Paying for Travel Insurance Online

Once you have carefully selected a policy from our comprehensive search results, simply click on the ‘Proceed to Payment’ button to begin the payment process. The providers on our panel offer convenient online payment options that accept all major credit and debit cards.

As you proceed, you will be seamlessly redirected to the insurance provider's secure payment page, where you can confidently enter your payment details. After the successful completion of your payment, you will receive a confirmation email directly from the insurer, acknowledging your purchase. This email will also include your policy documents, ensuring that you have all the necessary information at your fingertips.

If you don't receive your policy documents right away, it is worth checking your junk/spam folder just in case.

Cancelling Your Policy

After you have purchased your travel insurance policy, by law, you are entitled to a 14-day cooling-off period, which not only allows you to thoroughly review the terms and conditions of the policy but also allows you time to assess whether the policy meets your needs.

If you feel that the policy is not suitable, and provided you have not started your trip, made, or intend to make a claim, you can cancel your policy, and you will receive the full refund paid. You will need to contact your provider directly to request cancellation.

However, if you decide to cancel outside of this cooling-off period, for a Single Trip policy, you may not be entitled to any refund at all. Alternatively, you may be entitled to a pro-rata refund if you have an Annual Multi-Trip policy. Remember, terms and conditions for cancelling outside the cooling-off period may differ between providers - always make sure to review your policy documents thoroughly, before deciding to cancel.

Navigating the world of travel insurance can be complex, especially when medical conditions are part of the equation. Buying travel insurance online offers a convenient and efficient way to compare policies from multiple providers, ensuring you find the protection that suits your specific needs.

The ease of online payment and digital document delivery streamlines the purchase process, allowing you to focus on planning your travels rather than worrying about cover. By using Medical Travel Compared to help you compare your options, you can easily make informed decisions, save time, and ultimately secure peace of mind before your journey begins.

So why wait? Take advantage of the convenience and affordability offered by online travel insurance. For more articles like this, make sure you explore our blog and guides.