This item is meant to provide some clarification as to the travel insurance cover available for persons concerned with the swine flu outbreak.

Claims relating to cancellation of holidays to destinations that the Foreign Office has advised against travelling to are not generally covered under a large proportion of travel insurance policies. This is partly because where a holiday is booked through a Tour Operator, they will usually agree to cancellation or re arranging of the holiday at no cost to the customer. The situation in Mexico and around the world is clearly very unusual and, with this in mind, if cover and travel have been booked prior to the announcement that it was unsafe to travel to Mexico, JS Insurance has decided that it will be pragmatic in its decision making and look favourably at the policies it underwrites, providing the traveller could not recover costs from other sources such as the airline, hotel or tour operator and provided the customer has purchased an AXA Superplus or AXA Annual policy.

Travellers who are now planning their trips need to be aware of potential limitations in cover and make sure they are arranging the cover they need, resisting the temptation perhaps to focus solely on price.   The problems are particularly acute where holidays have been booked independently, and for this reason JS Insurance made available an ‘Independent Traveller’ extension on its direct policies which provides additional cover in exactly these circumstances, as mentioned above this is available with the AXA Superplus Single Trip policy and the AXA Annual policy only.

Independent Traveller Cover is only valid for those who have not purchased their holidays as a package.

So for example, if they have purchased transport and accommodation from two seperate sources this would not be defined as a package and so would be covered under the Independent Traveller Cover offer by JS Insurance.

One of the most frequent questions asked is how does the medical assistance work, when you travel abroad and have purchased travel insurance.

When purchasing a policy, you are given an emergency assistance telephone number, which should be called in the event of a serious illness or accident which may lead to in-patient hospital treatment. This number should also be called if you need to arrange repatriation or curtailment (cutting short your trip) which may necessitate your early return home.

This service is available 24/7 and every day of the year.

In the case of an AXA travel insurance policy, you are connected to the nearest AXA Assistance office, rather than an expensive call back to the UK.

One service that JS Insurance offers is an text message to your mobile, with your travel insurance policy number and the Emergency Assistance Service number, so you have a quick reference if you need to call them.

The service is there to offer assistance, advice, making arrangements for hospital admission, repatriation and authorisation of medical expenses.

If for some reason you are unable to contact the emergency assistance company due to the fact that the condition requires immediate emergency treatment, you should contact them as soon as possible after the treatment has taken place or get someone to call them for you.

Private medical treatment is not covered unless authorised specifically by the Emeregency Assistance Service beforehand.

Any treatment which would be considered out patient, for example over the counter medication and doctor appointments outside of a hospital or clinic, these expenses should be claimed after you have returned to the UK. One note of warning, be careful not to sign for excessive treatment or charges, if in doubt, always contact the Emergency Assistance Service before signing any forms or agreements.

Any reciepts and health claim forms should be submitted to the Claims Department at this time, to have the money reimbursed to you.

The Emergency Assistance Service has the medical expertise, contacts and facilities to help you if you are injured or taken ill.

If you are admitted to a hospital or clinic whist abroad, the Emergency Assistance Service will arrange payment for you for medical treatment.

Travel Insurance does not automatically cover persons who have pre existing medical conditions and there is some confusion as to what constitutes a pre existing medical condition.

This post will hopefully explain the definitions and cover available for anyone who is purchasing travel insurance and wants some clarification regarding their medical history.

A standard travel insurance policy will exclude certain pre existing medical conditions known to you regarding your health, your relative, your travelling companions or anyone whose ill health may cause you to cancel or cut short your trip.

There travel insurance policies that cover pre existing medical conditions, and you should contact the medical screening phone numebr to discuss your health situation. As this constitutes an extra cover on top of the travel insurance policy provided, there is often an extra payment to be made to the medical screening company.

The best guidlines that can be given, is if a medical condition is on going and within the last 2 years, this should be declared and noted on the travel insurance certificate. If you or someone you know had a medical condition 5 years ago and is no longer receiving treatment for this condition, you do not need to declare this.

There are certain situations where cover would simply be excluded from any travel insurance policy. These include:

• Receiving, or is on a waiting list for in-patient hospital or clinical treatment.
• Travelling against the advice of a medical practitioner or for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment abroad.
• Received a terminal prognosis.

If you purchase a travel insurance policy and then are diagnosed with a medical condition, this should be noted on the certificate but would not affect the medical cover as you were not aware of this when purchasing the policy.

If at all unsure, it is always a good idea to contact the medical screening company to discuss your circumstances, as you don’t want to have a large medical bill to pay if it could have been avoided before you travelled.