Before your trip, check the latest government advice for any travel alerts for your destination.
What happens if I don’t meet the criteria to be covered for an existing condition?
What if I have an existing condition that isn’t automatically covered?
What if I choose not to get cover for an existing medical condition?
If you suffer from an existing health condition, our travel plans can offer cover for more than 40 common conditions. However, it’s important to be aware of what conditions are attached to each medical condition that you will need to meet in order for them to be covered.
An existing condition a medical condition that, at the time you bought the travel insurance policy, you or a reasonable person in your situation should have known existed. This includes conditions that are:
Chronic; or
Under investigation; or
Pending follow-up consultation, treatment or surgery, or these are recommended or planned; or
Metastatic; or
Terminal; or
Where you may not be diagnosed, but have been experiencing symptoms.
Keep in mind existing conditions are also considered to be those for which, in the six months prior to the time you buy your policy, you have had medical treatment, medication prescribed or surgery.
Our policies offer automatic cover for more than 40 common conditions including Asthma, Coeliac Disease, Diabetes and Sleep Apnoea, subject to all criteria being met. The list of criteria is available in the relevant PDS.
If you don’t meet the criteria for automatic cover, that doesn’t mean you can’t be covered at all for that condition. You now have the option to apply for the existing condition under the ‘specified medical conditions’ option, and go through the medical screening and health questionnaire. This option is not available on our Essentials plans.
If the existing condition isn’t one that we automatically cover, you can apply to be covered for your other existing condition(s) under the ‘specified medical conditions’ option. This option is not available on our Essentials Plans.
If you have one or more existing medical conditions that aren’t automatically covered, you must let us know at the time you buy your policy, and complete a medical screening. We’ll ask you some questions about your health and then determine whether we can offer you cover and, if so, on what terms.
If we can offer you cover, there will be an additional premium payable. If you choose to pay the additional premium, the condition becomes a specified medical condition covered under your policy and you’ll then be covered for events that arise from the specified medical condition(s).
If you have an existing medical condition that’s not automatically covered, or added to your policy as a specified medical condition, then you won’t be covered for any claim that arises from that existing medical condition. You can still be covered for all other events and benefits that do not arise from the existing condition, subject to policy terms being met.
If your health changes after you buy your policy but before you depart on your trip, you must check with your doctor that you are fit to travel, and get written confirmation. If you don’t do this, and/or are unfit to travel due to the medical condition, you won’t be covered for any claim that arises from that condition if you still travel.
We don’t consider pregnancy to be an existing medical condition.
If you’re pregnant at the time you buy your policy, or fall pregnant afterwards, you’ll have cover for any event that arises from your pregnancy, provided that the event that causes your claim is covered by this policy and is a pregnancy-related illness. We can only cover you up until the end of the 26th week of your pregnancy.
There are some things we can’t cover, including but not limited to:
Your failure to maintain a course of treatment you were on at the time your trip commenced.
Any existing medical condition. This exclusion will not apply to specified medical condition(s) or to Automatically covered conditions.
Any illness or death that arises from a metastatic or terminal prognosis that was made prior to the issue of the Certificate of Insurance.
Expenses related to the birth of a child including care of a newborn in any circumstances.
Any pregnancy-related illness after the 26th week of gestation.
Cover is subject to the full terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions outlined in the PDS. Read your policy carefully and contact us if you have any queries.
nib Travel Insurance Distribution Pty Limited, ABN 40 129 262 175, AR 336467 is an authorised representative of nib Travel Services (Australia) Pty Ltd (nib), ABN 81 115 932 173, AFSL 308461 and act as nib's agent and not as your agent. This is general advice only. Before you buy, you should consider your needs, the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), Financial Services Guide (FSG) and Target Market Determination (TMD) available from us. This insurance is underwritten by Pacific International Insurance Pty Ltd, ABN 83 169 311 193.
We are a signatory to the General Insurance Code of Practice developed by the Insurance Council of Australia and enforced by the Code Governance Committee, an independent body whose purpose is to drive better Code compliance and help the insurance industry improve its service to consumers. The Code is designed to promote good relations and insurance practice between insurers, authorised representatives and consumers. The Code sets out what we must do when dealing with you. You can obtain a copy of the Code from codeofpractice.com.au.
*The discount applies to the total nib travel insurance premium and is for customers that currently hold an Australian health insurance product, or an Overseas Student Health Cover product with nib. The discount is not available to customers who hold an Overseas Visitors Health Cover product. Discounts do not apply to the rate of GST and stamp duty or any changes you make to the policy. nib has the discretion to withdraw or amend this discount offer at any time. This discount cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotional offer or discount.