Travel insurance
Declare type 1 every time, because an undeclared condition can void the whole policy and not just diabetes claims. Plus why a GHIC is not insurance.
Travel insurance with type 1 comes down to one rule that matters more than everything else: declare it. An undeclared pre-existing condition can void a claim entirely, and not only for something diabetes-related, which is how a broken ankle in Spain becomes a bill for thousands.
- Declare type 1, every time, on every policy. Not declaring is the single most expensive mistake available.
- An undeclared condition can invalidate the whole policy, not just diabetes claims.
- A GHIC or EHIC is not insurance. It gives access to state healthcare in some countries and covers nothing else.
- Declaring may raise the price, and it is usually less than people fear. Specialist insurers often beat comparison sites.
- Check the policy actually covers your equipment, since a pump is expensive to replace.
Why declaring matters more than the price
Insurers ask about pre-existing conditions because they price around them. If you do not declare, the policy can be treated as invalid, and the important part is that this is not limited to claims connected to diabetes. A skiing accident, a stolen bag, a cancelled flight: an insurer that discovers an undeclared condition can decline the lot.
That is the whole reason this article exists, because the temptation not to declare is understandable. It is a slightly tedious process, it usually costs more, and diabetes has nothing to do with most things you might claim for. The problem is that the insurer does not see it that way, and you find out at the point where you most need them to.
Declaring is also less dramatic than people expect. It usually means answering a short medical screening: what you have, what you take, whether you have been in hospital recently, whether your HbA1c is known. Answer honestly rather than optimistically, because an answer that does not match your records is the same problem as not declaring at all.
A GHIC is not travel insurance
The UK Global Health Insurance Card, and the European Health Insurance Card it replaced, gives access to state-provided healthcare in participating countries on the same terms as a resident. That is genuinely useful and worth having, and it is free.
What it is not is insurance. It does not cover private treatment, it does not cover repatriation if you need to be flown home, it does not replace lost or damaged equipment, and it does nothing for cancellation or belongings. It also only applies in participating countries, which is a shorter list than people assume.
So carry both. The card for state care where it applies, and a policy for everything the card does not touch, which is most of what actually goes expensively wrong.
What to check beyond the headline price
Equipment cover is the one people miss. A pump costs a great deal to replace, and standard belongings cover may cap out well below that, or exclude medical devices entirely. If you use a pump or a sensor system, checking what would happen if it were lost, stolen or damaged is worth the ten minutes.
Then check whether the policy covers you obtaining insulin abroad if yours is lost or ruined, and whether it covers the cost of an early return if you become unwell. Those are the two diabetes-shaped things most likely to actually happen, and cover for them varies far more between policies than the headline price does.
It is also worth knowing that specialist insurers who deal with medical conditions frequently price better than the big comparison sites for exactly this situation, and Diabetes UK maintains guidance on it. A policy that looked expensive on a comparison site may not be the cheapest available once you look at insurers who expect the declaration.
What affects the price and the cover
Destination matters most, because the United States and a few other countries have healthcare costs that dominate the calculation. Recent admissions or changes to treatment raise questions on screening. And activities are a common gap: a policy that covers a beach holiday may exclude the thing you are actually going to do, which is worth checking rather than assuming.
Where it goes wrong
Examples, not instructions or doses.
A broken wrist, nothing to do with diabetes, and an undeclared condition on the policy. The insurer declines the whole claim, which is the scenario the declaration exists to prevent.
A GHIC in the wallet and no policy, then a hospital stay needing a flight home. The card covered the state treatment and nothing about getting back.
Kit stolen from a hotel room, and belongings cover that caps well below what a pump costs. Worth reading before rather than after.