According to UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, survivors of cancer are being short-changed when it comes to travel insurance and may face up to double or even triple the cost of their holiday, while others are interrogated with insensitive questions in relation to life expectancy.
Research published by Macmillan revealed that 39% of cancer patients had been quoted higher insurance premiums, 8% have resorted to going on holiday without an insurance policy and 6% have been refused travel insurance altogether.
In response to this, the UK charity has launched a campaign, Recovered But Not Covered, which is calling for all insurers to offer better travel insurance deals to those that have been affected by cancer.
The campaign aims to challenge the insurers’ attitudes to cancer and encourage them to review the insurance risk posed by the growing number of people affected by cancer who are out of active treatment and are recovering or recovered many years ago. In addition, the campaign is also seeking to improve the levels of customer service offered to all cancer patients. The charity has called for travel insurers to reassess their customer service training for sales staff to ensure that customers affected by cancer are treated respectfully and tactfully.
Macmillan is also working in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland to explore the existing customer service experience for people affected by cancer and the range of insurance products on offer to them at present.