101 Things to do When You Survive Update: Greig’s Great American Adventure

If you’re new to our blog, we started sponsoring Greig in 2013 for his incredible ‘anti-bucket list’ 101 Things to do When You Survive . Since then, he’s travelled around Costa Rica, Ecuador,Bolivia, the Galapagos, Argentina and most of the rest of South America.

FACT visit

On 13^th May I visited Joanne Smith in Newcastle. Joanne is the founder and CEO of FACT (Fighting All Cancers Together), one of the charities supported by Insurancewith. The visit was for a talk and advice session for FACT service users. I shared advice on travel insurance for people diagnosed with cancer.

Winners! Insurance Times Broker Innovation of the Year 2013

Insurancewith are proud to announce that Insurance Times have presented us with the Broker Innovation of the Year 2013 award! Below is a video interview of us. It was filmed shortly after winning the award.

What is 1-2-1 Medical Screening?

If you have taken out an Insurancewith policy for cancer travel insurance this year, you may have come across the term 1-2-1 medical screening.

You may have wondered what exactly this is. Like most products on the market, we use a bespoke medical screening programme driven by a computer. This offers travel insurance for those with pre-existing medical conditions. However, experience tells us that many of our customers do not fit neatly into little tick boxes. The outcome may not always be a fair reflection of the risk presented for cover.

Why do we offer 1-2-1 medical screening?

We have given this careful thought and set up a new method of assessing the risks related to travelling. This is for those who are living with a life limiting medical condition. There will always be some combinations of duration, destination and medical risk which are regrettably unacceptable to our underwriting team. However, there are also those who are currently stable despite a serious illness. They may be finding it difficult or very expensive to obtain travel insurance for that all important holiday.

When might you need 1-2-1 screening?

Now when they are screened certain questions instead of just saying “No” to cover, will suggest a 1-2-1 referral to a medical underwriter instead.

Also if you feel that the questions you have been asked are not apt for your particular condition then you can ask if you can speak to a medical underwriter.

How does 1-2-1 medical screening work?

How does this work? Well, whether you have asked for a quote online or via a call centre, you may be advised that you need a 1-2-1 screening. This may happen if your situation does not quite fit the tick-boxes. All you need to do is give us a contact telephone number. You can also provide some preferred dates and times. A medical underwriter can then call you to discuss your medical history with a view to offering a quote.

Is there a cost for 1-2-1 screening?

There is no obligation to take up this offer of an individual quote if you would prefer not to talk about your medical history. We understand that some may find it distressing. Often, a little more detail can help. This may include what treatment you have had recently, any test or scan results and your lifestyle. Underwriters will then have more information about your health during the planned trip. They may be happy to cover you. We do not charge you an additional fee for this unique individual service. So far, most of our clients have been positive about the process and pleased with the outcome.

Thank you to Tricia Pearson-Tietema our Head of Medical Underwriting for this blog.

Don’t Get Done In The Sun

I was really pleased to be asked to take part in the above BBC program which was shown yesterday. The episode I was asked to take part in was about medical conditions travel insurance.  The program featured a case study of ours from the Daily Mail. It featuring one of our customers, Rita.