The medical conditions you must declare on travel insurance

HERE'S A LIST OF THE TOP 10 MOST COMMON MEDICAL CONDITIONS DECLARED ON TRAVEL INSURANCE POLICIES, INCLUDING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND DIABETES 11:35, 05 Jun 2025 Anyone going on holiday

needs to declare certain health conditions when taking out travel insurance, experts have warned. According to Admiral Travel Insurance, it’s important that travellers tell their insurer

about all their medical conditions, or they face having to pay huge bills themselves. Cosmin Sarbu, Admiral’s head of travel insurance, said: "For peace of mind and to ensure you are

covered, it’s always best to declare all medical conditions when taking out a travel insurance policy, before you travel. Although the chances of having to make a medical claim are slim,

illness or injuries can be both very distressing and expensive to resolve. "If you haven’t declared all medical conditions, you won’t have insurance in place to cover all of the costs.

This can mean you are responsible for paying tens of thousands to be treated and returned home safely should you try to make a claim." The cost of medical repatriation if you fall ill

could be more than £100,000. Although many UK tourists may have a GHIC or EHIC card, these only provide limited cover and therefore shouldn’t be seen as a replacement for travel insurance.

Medical repatriation (getting home) isn’t covered on this, and so should the worst happen, travel insurance could save you tens of thousands of pounds, reports LancsLive. Cosmin said:

"Generally, we need to know about all medical conditions someone currently has. With some conditions, such as heart problems, we need to know if someone has ever been diagnosed with

them, even if they’ve now recovered and are no longer being treated for these. "At Admiral, we ask about these when someone gets a travel insurance quote. It’s always best to include

all medical conditions you’ve had or check with your insurer before you take out cover, if you’re not sure. Article continues below "We prompt customers when they go through a quote

with us to remind them what medical conditions they need to tell us about. Travellers need to tell us about what even might seem like a minor visit to a doctor or GP for advice, treatment or

prescriptions, any ongoing investigation into their health or if they’re waiting for a diagnosis. "They also need to declare if they’re on a waiting list for inpatient treatment. If

you’re not sure what condition you were seen for, check with your doctor to ensure you include an accurate description when you buy your policy." Admiral’s data found that the top ten

most common conditions declared on travel insurance policies between May 2024 and March 2025 were: Ranking Condition 1 High Blood Pressure 2 High Cholesterol 3 Anxiety and/or Depression 4

Asthma 5 Diabetes 6 Osteoarthritis 7 Underactive Thyroid 8 Coronary Angioplasty 9 Hypertension 10 Heart Attack Cosmin said: "Although insurance costs vary depending on the type of

condition, how much a medical condition affects your premium also depends on other factors, like the number of people travelling on a policy, how long you’re going for and the travel

destination. While it’s not possible to say specifically how particular medical conditions can impact on premiums, Admiral has provided some examples to indicate how much a premium could

increase by when adding some common conditions." Currently, Admiral provides cover for over 3,100 different medical conditions. There are some conditions that can’t be covered, but

Admiral said it’s always worth running these past your insurer first, as it does vary case-by-case. Admiral will recommend specialist travel insurance alternatives through the MoneyHelper

directory if they’re not able to cover a medical condition. Cosmin said: “We ask our travel insurance customers to declare all medical conditions, including any ongoing treatment, when

taking out a policy. This is to ensure we can provide cover at an appropriate price for the customer based on their medical needs. Not doing so could leave someone underinsured if they make

a claim or could invalidate their insurance entirely. “If a customer requires medical treatment while abroad which is related to medical conditions that haven’t been declared to us, we may

decline their claim. Or if someone has failed to declare medical conditions which would have resulted in a higher premium, we may pay the claim on a proportional basis. This means we will

only cover the claim up to the percentage of the premium they have paid, and the customer will be responsible for any costs over and above the proportional settlement. “We never take the

decision to refuse or proportionally settle a claim lightly and we will always work with the customer to ensure they receive adequate support in these cases. However, they could end up

having to pay medical treatment fees themselves and these can run into hundreds or even thousands of pounds.” Article continues below There is one thing you don't have to declare.

Cosmin said: "We don’t consider menopause, whether requiring HRT or not, to be a medical condition and don’t require customers to declare it."