COPD Travel Insurance

Can I get travel insurance with COPD?

Yes – once you declare Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) as a condition, you can compare a range of quotes for specialist COPD travel insurance policies.

Therefore, it’s important that you declare COPD as part of your medical history. Once you do this, you’ll need to answer a few specific questions related to your condition.

You’ll be asked how much medication you’ve been prescribed to manage your breathing condition, how many hospital admissions you’ve had in the last year, how short of breath you get after a certain distance, and previous medical screenings, if your medicines are prescribed away from the hospital if you’ve ever been a smoker, and if you’ve had pneumonia or any other chest infection in the last year.

Answering these questions as accurately as possible enables us to find policies that are more relevant to your personal circumstances.

What does COPD travel insurance cover?

A standard medical travel insurance policy for pre-existing medical conditions will usually include a number of benefits – from lost/stolen personal belongings (including medication) to cancellation.

Essentially, cover limits vary from provider to provider, but overall – you’ll be able to claim up to the policy limits for things like emergency medical expenses, for instance.

This type of thing is to be expected in a COPD travel insurance policy – given the nature of the condition and the average patient’s reliance on their medication and other emergencies that may require a medical screening process or further investigation.

Flying with COPD

Flying with COPD is perfectly fine for most passengers with the condition. With most types of COPD - consulting your GP is an important aspect of assessing your fitness to fly, as long as you feel well enough within yourself to manage a long-haul or even short-haul flight, but in most cases, flying is comfortable and safe.

A small minority of COPD patients may be putting themselves in some form of risk by flying. However, provided they can travel with supplementary oxygen, air travel is perfectly manageable for these patients too.

Can I fly with mild COPD?

As mentioned above – in most cases, it’s fine to fly with mild COPD. However, it’s also worth bearing in mind that COPD is the umbrella term for a number of different lung conditions that affect people in different ways. So, each case varies from person to person – and although the symptoms may be less mild, there is still a risk to consider.

Checking with your doctor for advice about flying, however mild your condition, is still a reasonable precaution to consider.

Can I fly with severe COPD?

Depending on which Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease condition you suffer from, whether it is bad emphysema or severe bronchitis – you need to consider the fact that this automatically puts you at a higher risk while flying.

This is because the more severe the condition is, the more likely there are to be complications. That being said, in most cases, people are fine to fly as long as they have a supplementary oxygen supply available for them on the flight itself.

Here you would need to notify the airline that you require special considerations to be made on your behalf. It’s also wise to talk all of this through with your doctor before making any definitive travel arrangements.

Can I fly long haul with COPD?

Firstly, consider whether you’re fit to fly altogether.

If you feel fit and healthy and a flight is manageable – discuss with your doctor the possibilities of flying long-haul and the risks that this may present. Again, this is all dependent on which specific lung condition you suffer with, but letting your airline know that you may need a special oxygen supply is an important consideration to make.

Emphysema travel insurance

With Medical Travel Compared, you can compare quotes from a number of leading insurance providers for emphysema travel insurance policies.

When asked about your medical history, you can declare emphysema as a broad condition, or also declare pulmonary interstitial emphysema if this is more applicable to you.

Here you’ll be asked similar questions relating to medication, hospital admissions, shortness of breath, use of supplementary oxygen, various chest infections (including pneumonia), and whether or not you smoke, or have been a smoker in the past.

You can therefore reasonably expect an emphysema travel insurance policy to provide similar protection to a specialist COPD travel insurance policy.

Bronchitis travel insurance

Like emphysema, bronchitis also sits beneath the umbrella of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – and as a result, bronchitis travel insurance will include a similar set of policy benefits to those you’d expect from specialist COPD or emphysema travel insurance policy.

As well as declaring bronchitis as the generic condition, you can also declare acute bronchitis, chronic bronchitis and eosinophilic bronchitis as separate pre-existing medical conditions.

Again, you’ll need to answer a similar set of questions so that providers can determine the nature of your condition and quote you for policies best suited to your individual needs. With a specialist bronchitis travel insurance policy, you’ll have peace of mind ahead of your trip should you need immediate protective cover as a result of your condition.

If you are concerned about travelling with COPD, this information provided by COPD Foundation may be useful.