If you’ve got a pre-existing medical condition, here’s some good news first: you’re in the majority, not the exception. Most Australians do, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – around 61% of us carry at least one.
You’re not being singled out by a health questionnaire, and in most cases you’re not being locked out of travel insurance either. But this is also one of the few corners of travel insurance where getting it wrong has real financial teeth – claims get declined here more often than almost anywhere else in the policy, usually over something that could’ve been avoided with one honest tick of a box. Here’s what actually counts as “pre-existing,” how the major insurers handle it, and where the genuine traps sit.
- Steps to buy the right policy: Declare everything (past 12 months and chronic conditions), get quotes from a specialist and a mainstream insurer, and review the policy tier and PDS.
- Top picks for different needs: Best for complex or multiple conditions is AllClear followed by Cover-More and Tick Travel Insurance offers budget-friendly PEC consideration at higher tiers.
- Watch out for tricky traps: Claims are often declined due to non-disclosure or because a condition was still being investigated, and even a traveling companion’s or a family member’s condition can affect cancellation cover.
- What actually counts as pre-existing: A pre-existing condition is any condition you’re aware of and have had treatment, medication, investigation, or medical advice for, even without a formal diagnosis, usually needing declaration for the past 12 months.
What Actually Counts as a “Pre-Existing Condition”
Insurers define it broadly, and it catches a lot of people off guard. A pre-existing condition is any condition, illness or defect you’re aware of – diagnosed or not – for which you’ve had treatment, medication, investigation, surgery or even just medical advice. It doesn’t need a formal diagnosis to count. A general rule of thumb is to declare anything you’ve sought treatment for in the past 12 months, plus any chronic or major condition regardless of how long ago it was managed.
Here’s where it gets genuinely tricky. Most policies exclude a condition if you were “awaiting investigation, referral, treatment or results” at the time you bought the policy – even without a diagnosis. In one real AFCA case, a traveller with osteoarthritis, diagnosed years earlier, had her claim initially declined because her doctor had discussed a possible future hip replacement between booking her trip and buying her policy. AFCA ultimately sided with her – the surgery wasn’t imminent or expected at the time – but it shows how fine the line can be.
And it’s not just about your own health. Cancellation cover can hinge on a travelling companion’s condition too – or even a family member who isn’t travelling with you at all. In another real AFCA case, a man cut short his overseas trip to be with his terminally ill sister-in-law and was declined on the claim, because her illness counted as a pre-existing condition under the policy and he hadn’t disclosed it. He hadn’t even realised he needed to. It’s a genuinely underappreciated trap: the health of people you’re not travelling with can still affect your cover.
Compare Travel Insurance for Pre-Existing Conditions at a Glance
| Insurer | PEC Approach | Notable Feature | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| AllClear | Specialist – 1,300+ conditions considered | No upper age limit, three cover tiers | Complex or multiple conditions |
| Cover-More | Assessed individually, many auto-included | Zurich-backed, 15M+ travellers covered annually | Mainstream cover with a solid PEC process |
| Tick Travel Insurance | Considered in Standard & Top Cover (international only) | Budget-friendly tiers | Straightforward conditions on a budget |
| Fast Cover | Individually assessed, including pregnancy | Lloyd’s-backed underwriting | Pregnancy and general pre-existing conditions |
| Zoom | Assessed via medical questionnaire | Grandkids and kids under 19 travel free | Families managing a condition |
| Freely | Some auto-covered under the Explorer Plan, others assessed | App-based, adjustable cover | Simple, well-controlled conditions |
| Travel Insurance Direct | Assessed case-by-case | Kids and grandkids added free | Budget-conscious families |
| WAS Insurance | Considered, subject to disclosure | Broad activity cover alongside PEC | Active travellers managing a condition |
| Travel Protect | Depends on the policy selected | – | Check directly before relying on this one |
| Butter | Not clearly built for this | Youth-focused, modular cover | Probably not your first choice here |
Table compiled 2 August 2026. PEC assessment outcomes depend entirely on your specific condition, so treat this as a starting point for comparison, not a guarantee of cover – always complete the insurer’s own medical questionnaire and read the PDS.
TCM Spotlight: AllClear – No Upper Age Limit, Any Pre-Existing Condition Considered
1,300+ conditions considered. No condition too complex.
AllClear is the travel insurance specialist built around pre-existing medical conditions, not around excluding them. With no upper age limit, 1,300+ conditions considered, and three levels of cover to choose from, it’s one of the few insurers that says yes when a mainstream provider says no. A 40-year-old with Type 2 diabetes travelling to Bali pays as little as $132 for a week’s cover.
Positive
- No upper age limit at all
- Considers 1,300+ pre-existing conditions
- Three tiers (Gold Plus, Gold, Traveller) so you’re not paying for cover you don’t need
- Cruise cover available alongside medical condition cover
Negatives
- Premiums run higher than mainstream insurers for equivalent trips
- Not app-based – expect a more traditional phone-and-web process
To put a real number on it: a 40-year-old with Type 2 diabetes travelling to Bali for a week can expect to pay somewhere between $132 and $138 depending on tier, according to AllClear’s own published example. That’s a solid data point if you’ve been assuming a declared condition automatically means a steep premium.
Our Top Picks
Best overall for complex or multiple conditions: AllClear. Built specifically around pre-existing conditions rather than treating them as an exception process. If a mainstream insurer has knocked you back, this is where to go next.
Best mainstream option: Cover-More. With many conditions automatically included and others assessed for an added premium, Cover-More is a strong middle ground if you don’t need a specialist.
Best budget option for straightforward conditions: Tick Travel Insurance. Considers pre-existing conditions at Standard and Top Cover on international policies – just don’t expect the entry-level Basic tier to include it.
Best for pregnancy: Fast Cover. Explicitly assesses pregnancy alongside other pre-existing conditions, rather than treating it as a separate, harder conversation.
Best for families managing a condition: Zoom. Conditions go through a medical questionnaire, and dependent kids and grandkids under 19 travel free – handy if you’re planning a family trip around someone’s health needs.
Two to double-check before relying on: Travel Protect and Butter. Travel Protect’s own FAQ says PEC cover depends on the policy you choose, without much detail. Butter doesn’t address pre-existing conditions in its own materials.
The Traps and Caveats to Watch For
“Stable and well-controlled” is doing more work than it sounds like. Insurers rarely cover a condition unconditionally – they cover it if their medical questionnaire decides it’s behaving itself. A recent flare-up, a medication change, or a hospital visit in the last year can get a condition excluded or loaded with an extra premium.
Non-disclosure doesn’t just shrink your payout – it can wipe out the whole claim. Leave a condition off your application, and if it turns out to be connected to your claim, the insurer isn’t obliged to pay a reduced amount. They can decline the entire thing, and in some cases void the policy altogether. This is, by a wide margin, the most common reason claims get denied in this category. When in doubt, declare it.
Choosing to exclude a condition from cover is allowed – but it’s an all-or-nothing decision. Most insurers let you opt out of cover for a specific declared condition, usually to keep the premium down. That’s a legitimate choice. Just understand what you’re agreeing to: any claim connected to that condition, however it shows up, gets a flat no. There’s no partial cover or case-by-case leniency once you’ve opted out.
The severity of your condition moves the price far more than simply having one. A younger traveller with a well-managed, low-risk condition might barely notice the premium difference. An older traveller with something like a heart condition heading somewhere with expensive healthcare, like the US, can see a genuinely steep jump. Don’t benchmark your expected cost against someone else’s condition – get your own quote.
Entry-level policy tiers often exclude pre-existing conditions altogether, even at insurers that support them elsewhere in their range. Tick’s Basic tier is a good example – the PEC consideration only kicks in at Standard and Top Cover. Picking the cheapest tier to save money can quietly remove exactly the cover you actually need.
It’s not just your own health that matters for cancellation cover. As the AFCA case above shows, a travelling companion’s condition – or even a non-travelling family member’s – can be relevant to a claim. If you’re cancelling or cutting a trip short because of someone else’s health, check whether that person’s condition needed to be disclosed too.
Annual multi-trip cover often assesses your condition once, and less flexibly, compared to single-trip cover. A single-trip insurer can underwrite a specific condition for a specific trip and destination. An annual policy tends to apply one blanket assessment across every trip in the year, which can be less forgiving of a condition that varies in severity. If you’re weighing the two, our annual vs single-trip guide walks through the wider trade-offs.
Pre-existing conditions and age limits compound each other, not cancel each other out. An insurer with no upper age limit will still run you through a medical assessment – age alone won’t get you rejected, but it doesn’t mean every condition is automatically approved either. Our seniors travel insurance guide covers this overlap in more depth.
A cruise add-on doesn’t change your base policy’s medical assessment. If your trip includes any time at sea, cruise cover sits on top of your existing policy – it doesn’t reset or soften the underlying PEC rules. See our cruise travel insurance guide if that’s part of your trip.
What the Data Says
A few numbers worth knowing before you buy:
- Around 61% of Australians have at least one pre-existing condition, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Declaring one puts you in ordinary company, not a red flag category.
- A real published example from AllClear shows a 40-year-old with Type 2 diabetes paying between $132 and $138 for a week-long Bali trip, depending on cover tier – a useful reality check against the assumption that a declared condition automatically means an unaffordable premium.
- AFCA’s own published guidance and case determinations show non-disclosure disputes are a genuine, recurring source of complaints. Often it is the definition of “pre-existing” (including conditions you weren’t formally diagnosed with, and even conditions affecting people you’re not travelling with) trips people up more often than outright condition severity does.
How to Actually Buy the Right Policy
- Declare everything, including anything treated in the past 12 months and any chronic condition, no matter how minor or well-managed it feels.
- Get quotes from at least one specialist (AllClear) and one mainstream insurer, even if you expect the mainstream option to say no – the outcome isn’t always predictable.
- Ask about the “awaiting investigation, referral, treatment or results” wording specifically if anything is currently being looked into, even without a diagnosis.
- Check whether a travelling companion’s condition – or a close family member’s – needs to be disclosed too, particularly for cancellation cover.
- Read what happens if you opt out of cover for a specific condition. Understand it’s an all-or-nothing exclusion, not a partial one.
- Check the policy tier, not just the insurer. PEC consideration is sometimes limited to higher tiers only.
- Use the cooling-off period (usually 14–21 days) to have your PDS checked properly if you’re unsure a declared condition is genuinely covered.
What Else Should You Sort Before You Travel?
- Full travel insurance comparison – all providers
- Best travel insurance for seniors in Australia
- Best travel insurance for cruises
- Travel insurance guides
- Annual vs single-trip travel insurance
- eSIM deals
Other Useful Links
Got a complaint about a travel insurer’s decision on a pre-existing condition? Lodge it with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) – give the insurer a chance to resolve it internally first, usually within 45 days.
For current government travel advisories, check Smartraveller – Australia’s official travel advisory service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a pre-existing medical condition for travel insurance?
Any condition, illness or defect you’re aware of – diagnosed or not – for which you’ve had treatment, medication, investigation, surgery or medical advice. A general rule is to declare anything treated in the past 12 months, plus any chronic or major condition regardless of how long ago it was managed.
Can I get travel insurance if I have a pre-existing medical condition?
Yes, in most cases. Mainstream insurers assess pre-existing conditions individually and may include them automatically, approve them for an extra premium, or decline them depending on how stable the condition is. Specialist insurers like AllClear are built specifically around complex and multiple conditions and are worth trying if a mainstream insurer says no.
What happens if I don’t disclose a pre-existing condition?
Non-disclosure is one of the most common reasons travel insurance claims get declined. If a condition isn’t declared and turns out to be connected to your claim, the insurer can refuse to pay the entire claim, not just reduce it – and in some cases void the policy entirely. Always disclose everything asked for in the medical questionnaire.
Does a family member’s health affect my travel insurance if they’re not travelling with me?
It can. Cancellation cover can be affected by a pre-existing condition belonging to a close family member, even one who isn’t part of your trip, if that condition is the reason you cancel or cut your trip short. This has caught genuine claimants out in real AFCA determinations. If you’re unsure, ask your insurer directly before you travel.
Is it cheaper to exclude a pre-existing condition from my policy instead of declaring it for cover?
You can usually choose to opt out of cover for a specific declared condition to reduce your premium, but it’s an all-or-nothing exclusion – any claim connected to that condition will be declined, with no partial or case-by-case cover. Weigh the premium saving against that risk carefully.
How much more does travel insurance cost with a pre-existing condition?
It varies significantly by condition and severity rather than by the simple fact of having one. A published AllClear example shows a 40-year-old with Type 2 diabetes paying $132–$138 for a week-long Bali trip. Older travellers with more complex conditions heading to expensive-healthcare destinations like the US can expect a bigger jump. Get a specific quote rather than assuming a cost based on someone else’s condition.
Does travel insurance for pre-existing conditions cost more with age?
Age and pre-existing conditions are assessed separately but compound each other in practice – an older traveller with a condition will typically see a higher premium than either factor alone would suggest. See our seniors travel insurance guide for more on how age-specific cover works.
Can I get cruise cover if I have a pre-existing medical condition?
Often yes, but the cruise add-on doesn’t change your base policy’s medical assessment – you still need your underlying condition cover sorted first. AllClear combines both in the one policy. See our cruise travel insurance guide for the wider cruise-specific picture.
Michael is a contributor to The Champagne Mile – Deals. No fancy credentials – just a genuine obsession with finding ways to travel better for less, and sharing those finds with anyone who’ll listen. Michael figures there are plenty of other Australians who’d rather spend five seconds clicking a link than five hours searching for a working code. When he’s not buried in promo codes, Michael is probably planning his next trip overseas or dirtbike adventure.