Hi
This is very interesting.. We have a travel insurance policy through our bank account with Lloyds TSB which is with AXA. When my husband was diagnosed with leukaemia in June 2005 we obviously declared it, and they stated that they would still cover us, but not the leukeamia, this was fine as my husband was then on Glivec and the response was good. We booked a cruise in the October, as all was going well, for the following May. However, he stopped responding to the Glivec, and was placed on the AMN107 trial at the Hammersmith in April 2006 (the cruise was paid for in full by this time). We asked Dr David Marin if we could go on the cruise, but he thought it better not to, because Maurice may need a blood transfusion, (which he did) and it was better not to be onboard a ship, or indeed in the Canaries, if this was the case. We duly cancelled the cruise, at a loss of circa £2000 and notified the insurers of the circumstances. They of course declined the claim, despite our own GP saying that Maurice was fit to travel, and it was deemed necessary to cancel in case he needed a transfusion. We appealed, but it was turned down. We are now in the process of appealing through the Financial Ombudsman - we will wait and see. What makes me cross though is that Lloyds/AXA advertise this wonderful perk that we have through our bank account, as being worth in the region of £160.00 per year. Well if we had bought an insurance policy for this value, it would have covered everything, indeed my husband obtained a one off policy for us to travel to Greece last year via the Post Office for less that £40.00.
Sue when you say there were no questions at all about the leukaemia, I am assuming of course that they know about it, will this cover you for instances such as I have described? Sorry for this essay, but we have had a roller coaster of a time, as the AMN107 trial did not work, and Maurice eventually had to have a BMT in Septemeber last year. It would be so good to get some recompense for our holiday, as any of you that have had transplants will know the recovery period is long, and money can be a major issue.
I wish everyone well.
Jacky