Holidaymakers Should Be Covered For Swine Flu Under Their Travel Insurance
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said that those holidaymakers who have travel insurance and are by affected by swine flu should be covered for any losses they may incur, such as cutting short or cancelling their holiday, or receiving medical treatment abroad.
It has been widely reported in the press over the past week or so that the number of new swine flu cases in the UK could reach more than 100,000 each day by the end of the summer 2009. However, most of those cases are expected to be mild.
The ABI says that so long as swine flu was not contracted before the travel insurance policy was taken out, it expects insurers to handle cases as per normal and pay out on claims for cancellation of holidays and to cover the cost of any medical treatment received abroad.
However, it warned holidaymakers advised not to travel by their GP, but still choose to do so could find their travel insurance invalidated. This is because insurers dealing with claims involving swine flu are very likely to review their customer’s GP notes and will obviously take note of any comments that the patient was advised by their GP not to go on holiday due to flu-like symptoms.
In addition to specific GP advice not to travel, the Government or the World Health Organization (WHO) could advise holidaymakers not to travel to certain countries. Again, any holidaymakers that ignore such advice and still choose to travel could find their travel insurance invalidated should they try to make a claim related to swine flu.
Holidaymakers should therefore take note of this useful advice from the ABI.
The ABI commented that if any travellers need to travel to an affected country – such as for a wedding or a funeral – they should talk to their insurer about whether they will still be covered. Insurers will consider the matter on a case-by-case basis.
If holidaymakers have booked a holiday through a tour operator who decides to cancel the trip, the operator should offer suitable alternative arrangements to its customers or a refund if that is not possible.
