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Travel Insurance -
Travel insurance a problem for the over 80's |
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Research by Intune, the financial services department of help the aged, has found that the majority of travel insurance policies have upper age limits, excluding a large chunk of the market.
Research which examined almost 500 insurers found that 97 per cent of travel insurance policies had an upper age limit. A quarter of those companies studied could not offer insurance to anyone over 65, while 70 per cent did not cover travellers over 75.
This is a rather concerning trend considering that the older generation are taking more holidays than their younger counterparts due to the availability of time and money.
According to Intune's study, the over 80's took more than 121,000 holidays in the past year which lasted for over 3 months.
Intune's managing director, Stuart Castledine, said “we have found that older people holiday more widely than younger age groups and for longer at a time. Many people are electing to work until 70, leaving it even later in life to make the most of their retirement and leisure time through travel.”
However, he added “while the older generation flock to the sun or visit relatives abroad, insurance is getting harder to find.”
Insurers are reluctant to cover the older population as they claim more frequently than younger travellers. Compared with the under 35's, those aged over 85 are 8 times more likely to claim, while those over 65 are 3 times more likely to make a claim on their travel insurance.
However, Mr Castledine argues, this should not mean that older people should be prevented from purchasing insurance or discouraged from taking holidays.
“The over-80s traveller has particular requirements which may need accommodating,” he said. “But they do not want a system which writes them off at a time when they should be enjoying life to the full.”
Those insurers who did not impose an upper age limit on their customers were often specialist companies such as Intune, Saga and Age Concern, which target older customers.
There were some companies which were not specialist insurers aimed at the older population, such as Natwest and Co-operative insurance. All other insurers included in the study had upper age limits, varying from 69 at Barclays to 79 at Bupa.
Christine Payne, 89, was a faithful customer with American Express, taking out her travel insurance with them year after year. Up until last year, that is, when they wrote to her to say that they could no longer insure her as they were not accepting customers over 80.
Mrs Payne was shocked to hear the news on her arrival back from a holiday in Greece, where she was visiting her son. “I found this very upsetting and frustrating,” she said.
She found finding another insurer a struggle: “Even though my doctor was happy for me to travel, many companies refused to insure me. I called around other insurers and most were loath to accept anyone over the age of 80, and those that would accept me were very expensive - the Post Office was charging me £140 for single trip insurance and Age Concern was asking for £120.”
Eventually Mrs Payne took out multi-trip insurance for £107 with one of the specialist insurers, Intune, which allows her to travel throughout the year for up to 30 days at a time.
“This suits me just fine as I usually stay just two or three weeks with my son, or a few weeks visiting friends in Spain,” says Mrs Payne.
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