Travel health insurance: Cancer patients

The insurance industry must change its policies towards people affected by cancer, Cancerbackup has said.

 

Its call for change has been made in support of claims by Macmillan Cancer Support that many cancer patients are treated unfairly by travel insurance providers.

 

The charity was distinctly unimpressed by the attempts by trade association ABI to justify current policies on price and acceptance, with the rather weak argument that travel insurance has to concentrate on offering cheap policies for the masses.

 

“MCS research reinforces what Cancerbackup found last year- many cancer patients are unfairly discriminated against by insurance providers. The insurance industry must act now and start listening to people with a history of cancer and the assurances of their doctors. By taking people's individual circumstances into account when assessing risk, travel insurance companies could open themselves up to a huge growing market of potential customers." says Joanne Rule, Cancerbackup's chief executive.

 

Cancerbackup's report Travel and Cancer Uncovered found that sales staff were insensitive and 70 per cent of people found the experience of trying to obtain travel insurance distressing.