Heart Condition? & Travel Insurance?

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Freddie

Freddie

VR.org Supporter
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2007
Messages
5,943
Location
Canada
Please help (me/us) on a disagreement. :(

So, I have a mechanical valve with NO other complications and doing fine. BP is perfect, so is my HR. :)

Question 1 - Is it to be considered that I have a heart condition? :confused:

Question 2 - If and when I do travel outside of Canada, is it necessary to have medical insurance, or extra medical insurance? :confused:

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts and responses :)
 
I have a different condition than you and I know that it will always be that I will be considered to have a heart condition. I would think, that if nothing else, because you have an artifical valve you will always be considered to have a heart condition. As for the medical insurance, unless your coverage in Canada will cover you outside of the country, heart condition or not, you should get coverage. You don't want to be here in the States or elsewhere, and need healthcare for anything and be left holding the bill.

Kim
 
Freddie,

Another thing to consider when traveling abroad is coverage for transport (medivac) back to your home in case of problems, many of which may not be related to your heart. Travel cost with medical care can be very expensive.

John
 
Freddie weve flown and these are my answers

1) no

2) yes

We flew out of country,but i was told in explanation that for a heart
condition i needed to have symptoms of a valve like i do now with
my mitral...sob,swelling,or oxygen or nitro being used for any condition.
The replacement didn,t leave me with a heart condition as it,s fixed
is what i was explained ,but this was 12 years ago and could be different
now........WOW 12 years ago ....time for another holiday i'd say (lol)

zipper2 (DEB)
 
Last year when I renewed my driver's licence, it dawned on me I should mention my heart surgery. I had to have a form filled out by my doctor. Under the heading "heart condition", he put NO. Under "comments", he put that I had had a mitral valve repair and that the results were excellent.
 
Sorry, I forgot to answer number 2. I have travelled outside of Canada several times and have never gotten extra insurance. I have insurance from my ex-job which covers me when I travel, but I have nothing extra.
 
Freddie...Yes, you have a repaired heart condition. If your Canadian health coverage will not cover you while traveling, I believe some kind of health coverage would be wise. There are many things, not heart related, that could happen while traveling.
 
oh-oh.
Adrienne, this year when I renewed my license, there is a question regarding medical conditions.......I said "no". ooops....oh well. I'll look into it for next year.
 
Freddie, for your driver's licence, you are fine to answer NO....you are not dizzy, SOB, or faint.
Applying for personal life insurance is another story. They need to know everything!

For out of Canada travel it is very SMART to have something like Blue Cross. It will cover all accidents,etc.
I would never leave Canada without it.
Stay safe.
 
From an insurers perspective (in Canada), the answer to question #1 is "yes". Typically the wording in a health questionaire is "Have you ever......". That said, depending on age and duration of travel, some travel health insurance policies don't require a health questionaire.

To question #2, my answer would be a qualified "yes", whether you had a heart condition or not, depending on what other coverages you may have. If you only provincial health care, then my answer is definitely "yes". If you have out-of-province/country health care insurance through work or through another source like a credit card (many "premium" credit cards in Canada now provide some form of travel health insurance coverage), then it depends on what they cover and for how many days of travel. Typically, these types of group plan coverages tend not to be as comprehensive as an individual policy. One thing is that many of these group policies tend to require you to pay up front and then claim reimbursement while individual policies usually tend to pay up front so you are not out of pocket. Check into it as not all policies are the same.
 
Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance

Before I went to England I bought travel insurance from the travel agent assuming I had extra coverage "just in case". It turned out pre-existing conditions aren't covered. As in lots of things read the fine print first.
 
I know of at least one insurer in Canada that allows for "stable pre-existing conditions" in their travel health insurance policy. You'd have to read the fine print, as Lance recommends, but as I understand it they would cover you if under age 60 for emergency medical treatment as long as you have had no changes in you condition's medication, treatment, symptoms, tests, diagnosis, etc in the 90 days preceeding your departure. They also provide coverage over 60 but as I recall the coverage varies by age and medical condition.

Freddie PM me if you want additional information to explore this further.
 
Hi Wayne,
Does the Canadian insurance policy you refer to include changes in medications?
The one I had said NO changes and that included dose changes. Warfarin couldn't be that stable for 90 days.
 
lance said:
Hi Wayne,
Does the Canadian insurance policy you refer to include changes in medications?
The one I had said NO changes and that included dose changes. Warfarin couldn't be that stable for 90 days.
Click to expand...

I can't say for sure as I'm no expert in the specifics of the policy details, so you'd probably have to call the insurance company and speak to a rep. However, the spirit of the policy seems to be a change in symptoms, treatment, or management of the the pre-existing condition. Given the nature of comadin management, I suspect the variations in dosage would not be considered a change in medication management. Anyway, here is how the certificate of insurance defines "stable" so you can draw your own conclusions....

Stable - any medical condition or related condition (including any heart condition or lung condition) for which there have been:
- no new treatment, new medical management, or new prescribed medication; and
- no change in treatment, change in medical management, or change in medication; and
- no new symptom or finding, more frequent symptom or finding, or more severe symptom or finding experienced; and
- no new test results or test results showing a deterioration; and
- no investigations or future investigations indicated or recommended for your symptoms; and
- no hospitalization or referral to a specialist (made or recommended).
 
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