Travel insurance for a relative with dementia or a health condition

When you buy a policy, the law expects you to take reasonable care to answer the insurer's questions truthfully and fully. That duty is set out in the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012. In practice it means answering every medical question, for every person on the policy, as accurately as you can. The gov.uk guidance on foreign travel insurance says to declare existing conditions and any treatment or tests that are pending, so that your relative is covered if there are complications linked to them during the trip.

A dementia diagnosis is a medical condition in its own right, and it needs declaring even if your relative is physically well. Gov.uk warns that failing to declare something may invalidate the policy. If your relative already has a policy and is diagnosed after buying it, ring the insurer and ask what they need to know. If your relative has only just started the process, getting a dementia diagnosis explains the steps, and the tests themselves are something to declare.

MoneyHelper's guide to travel insurance with a medical condition explains what insurers count as a pre-existing condition and how the medical questions work.

Gather what you will be asked before you start the screening.

If your relative no longer has the capacity to make decisions about their money, the person they chose under a lasting power of attorney for property and financial affairs can deal with the insurer for them.

The directory rule comes from the Financial Conduct Authority. Since April 2021, an insurer that refuses or cancels cover because of a medical condition, offers a policy with a condition excluded that cannot be removed, or adds a large medical premium has had to give you the details of a directory of specialist firms. The current rules, in ICOBS 6A.4 of the FCA Handbook, set that premium at £200 or more. The MoneyHelper travel insurance directory lists firms that consider serious medical conditions.

If an insurer refuses your relative or charges much more because they have dementia, the Alzheimer's Society explains in its guide to holidays and dementia that the insurer needs to have made a reasonable assessment of the risk, and that you can ask it to explain its decision. If you are not satisfied with the answer, make a formal complaint to the insurer. If it does not resolve the complaint within eight weeks, or you disagree with its final response, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to use.

The NHS page on the GHIC explains that the card gives your relative state healthcare that cannot reasonably wait until they are home, in EEA countries and some others, on the same terms as a local resident. That includes care for a long-term condition. The NHS says plainly that the card is not a replacement for travel insurance and advises having travel and medical insurance for the whole trip.

For a holiday in the UK, your relative uses the NHS as they would at home, so the question is mostly whether you want cover for cancelling the trip or coming home early. Gov.uk also warns that if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all but essential travel to a place, an insurance policy may be invalid there, so check the FCDO travel advice before you book.

For flights, flying with dementia and flying with a wheelchair cover airport assistance. For a cruise, see should someone with dementia go on a cruise?

A family member travelling as the main help should be on a policy that would pay out if the trip has to be cancelled or cut short because your relative is taken ill. Read how each policy treats the illness of a travelling companion or a close relative, and ask the insurer if the wording is not clear.

If a paid carer is coming, the arrangement is between you and the carer. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, and PrimeCarers is an introductory service, not a care agency. Before a carer's profile appears, we check their identity and right to work, confirm an enhanced DBS check (PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and interview them online. We do not check qualifications, training or references, and reviews and references on a profile are not verified by us, so ask the carer about their experience of travelling with someone who has your relative's condition.

Can you take a carer on holiday with you? covers how families plan a trip with a carer and what to agree first, and a travel companion for an older person covers a parent travelling with a paid companion.

If you would like a carer to come on the trip, tell us about it below: the dates, where you are going and what the carer would do. The carer is paid one fixed amount for the whole trip, quoted before you book. For now this is for trips within the UK.

If your relative's condition has changed since the trip was booked, think again about whether the trip still suits them. Should someone with dementia go on holiday? and dementia-friendly holidays can help you decide, and the holiday guide sets out the other ways to plan a break.