Travel Insurance With Pre-Existing Conditions, Over 70 or Cancer

Finding travel insurance gets harder with age and with a medical history, and harder again if you are travelling for treatment. This guide covers how insurers treat pre-existing conditions, what changes after 70, where people with cancer find cover, and what no ordinary policy will pay for on a treatment trip to China. The rules quoted are as of October 2026; the wording of your own policy is what counts.

Does travel insurance cover pre-existing medical conditions?

Sometimes, but only if you declare them and the insurer accepts them. Smartraveller, the Australian government's travel advice service, describes three kinds of insurer: some do not cover pre-existing conditions at all, some cover them for an extra fee and sometimes a medical assessment, and some automatically cover conditions listed in their policy wording. It adds that minor conditions such as asthma, high blood pressure or diabetes are usually covered if the condition has been stable for more than 12 months, there is no planned surgery, and you have not had treatment in the past 12 months.

The rule everyone agrees on is to declare everything. GOV.UK (updated August 2024) tells travellers to "declare existing conditions or pending treatment or tests" and warns that "failing to declare something may invalidate your travel insurance." Smartraveller says the same: declare your condition "no matter how mild."

The upside is that declaring often works. Specialist insurers exist precisely to price conditions that mainstream policies turn down.

Will travel insurance cover the treatment you are travelling for?

No. Ordinary travel insurance is built for unexpected events, and planned treatment is the opposite. The NHS says that "most travel insurance policies will not cover you for planned treatment abroad," and Smartraveller says basic policies "rarely cover medical tourism." One large Australian insurer's general exclusions rule out claims from travel booked "to seek, or obtain, medical or dental advice, treatment or review," and complications of elective treatment during the trip.

What a policy can still do is cover unrelated emergencies while you are away, such as a fall or an infection that has nothing to do with your procedure, provided you declared your conditions. For complications of the treatment itself you need a specialist medical travel policy. Our guide to travel insurance for a medical trip explains what those policies cover.

Which travel medical insurance covers people aged 70 and older?

Cover is available, but it usually costs more and comes with conditions. Smartraveller notes that most policies have an age limit, that insurers often charge older travellers more, and that conditions can apply above a certain age: "subject to medical assessment," "reduced medical cover limits," "reduced travel time" and "policy to be purchased 6 months in advance."

Where to look depends on where you live:

• UK: under FCA rules, if an insurer refuses to quote because of a medical condition, or adds a medical premium of £200 or more (the threshold since 1 January 2026), it must point you to a directory of specialist insurers. The MoneyHelper travel insurance directory and the BIBA travel medical directory are the two in use.
• Australia: Smartraveller points to findaninsurer.com.au for insurers that may cover pre-existing conditions.
• US: Medicare offers little abroad. Most Medigap plans cover emergencies only, at 80% after a $250 deductible, up to a $50,000 lifetime limit (Medicare.gov, April 2026). Our Medicare guide covers Advantage plans too.
• Canada: provincial plans pay little abroad. Ontario's OHIP, for example, pays up to CAD 400 a day for emergency inpatient care in intensive care or an operating room, and CAD 200 otherwise (Ontario.ca, January 2026), so private travel cover fills most of the gap.

Can you get travel insurance with cancer, or during treatment?

Usually yes, through specialist insurers, but the cancer itself may be excluded or priced separately. The same rules apply as for any condition: declare the diagnosis, any treatment you are having, and any tests or results still pending. Expect questions about your stage of treatment, your most recent scans and whether your oncologist is happy for you to travel.

If you are travelling to China for cancer care itself, such as a second opinion or a scan, travel insurance will not pay for that care, for the same reason it does not pay for any planned treatment. Its value is cover for an unrelated emergency, and for cancellation if your health changes before you leave.

How do you plan a treatment trip to China around these limits?

Treat the treatment and the trip as two separate budgets. The treatment is self-pay: foreign patients at the general departments of Chinese public hospitals pay the hospital's listed price, by card, mobile payment or cash, and inpatients pay a deposit before admission. The trip is what insurance covers: an emergency unrelated to your treatment, and getting you home.

It helps to have the hospital's plan in writing before you buy a policy, because insurers ask what you are going for and for how long. A doctor's letter stating your fitness to travel is useful for both the insurer and the airline.