Swine Flu – The Travel Insurance Industry Position
Last week, the Department of Health launched the National Pandemic Flu Service for patients who may have swine flu. The Service was launched to reduce the burden on GPs’ surgeries by the thousands of people worried they have swine flu and to limit the spread of the virus. Those people concerned that they have swine flu can visit the National Pandemic Flu Service website which will – after several questions have been answered – assess the patient’s symptoms and, if required, provide an authorisation number, which can be used to collect antivirals from a local Antiviral Collection Point.
As the National Pandemic Flu Service goes live, the travel insurance industry has confirmed that, in the absence of written documentation from a GP or other medical practitioner, it will accept as medical certification of swine flu diagnosis the unique authorisation number generated by the Service website, together with the label on prescribed antiviral drugs which will include an individual’s name and date of issue, for purposes of validating a related travel insurance cancellation claim.
This agreement about how travel insurance claims involving swine flu should be dealt with was made between the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which represents 90% of the UK insurance market, and the Department of Health.
The ABI said that those holidaymakers with travel insurance provided by one of its members will be covered for any costs resulting from swine flu diagnosis. This means that if the policyholder has to cancel their holiday or flights, or if they receive medical treatment abroad, they should be covered for any costs under the terms of their travel insurance policy. However, this is subject to specific terms and conditions. If policyholders have any questions about this they should speak with their travel insurance company direct before travelling.
The ABI’s Director of General Insurance and Health, Nick Starling, said it was important that its members applied a consistent approach when dealing with any travel insurance claims involving swine flu. He said:
“Travel insurance is there to help people who are too ill to travel or who become ill on holiday. We understand that the National Pandemic Flu Service will only authorise an anti-flu prescription to people who are genuinely displaying symptoms of swine flu. On that basis, travel insurers will accept an individual’s unique ID number generated by the National Flu Service, together with the label on their anti-flu drugs which states their name and date of issue, as proof of diagnosis to validate a travel insurance cancellation claim.”
In light of this, consumers who use the National Pandemic Flu Service to obtain antiviral drugs and who may need to make a claim under their travel insurance policy should keep all the documentation they receive, including the label from their medication, as their travel insurance provider will need this information to validate any such claim.
