Travel Insurance from Getcover.ie

What Getcover means to its Customers

The original online travel insurance provider
Getcover.ie was set up in 1999 as Ireland’s first online insurance provider. And between the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s we, single-handedly, brought down the cost of travel insurance in Ireland to a fair and affordable price for our customers.

A fully Irish owned company
Getcover.ie is a fully Irish owned company and we understand our customer’s needs intimately. Our Insurer’s claims department and their 24 hour medical emergency contact lines are manned from Galway, Ireland. So you can rely on a friendly and helpful voice to answer your call if you are in need.

A cost effective and robust answer to your insurance needs
We are committed to providing travel insurance that is cheap and convenient without compromising on quality cover. With over 15 years’ experience, you can trust us when we say that we know what we are talking about when it comes to Irish Travel Insurance.

Getcover Senior's Travel Insurance

As Irish people get older it becomes increasingly difficult for them to get travel insurance, with many suppliers not supplying travel insurance over 65 years of age. If you are an older traveller, you would be forgiven for assuming ageism is at play, and it would be understandable if you felt a little bit discriminated against. However, the reality is that, as we age, we are more and more at susceptible to age related medical conditions. Because of this, there is an increased likelihood of making a medical claim on a travel insurance policy. It’s this reality that can lead to some travel insurers running for the hills when their customers reach a certain age.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. At Getcover, we don’t agree that people should be refused insurance because they are a little older, or because they suffer from an existing medical condition. We believe it is short-sighted to view travel insurance over 65 years of age in this way. Many of our customers have been with us for yerars and we want to look after them as they get older.

The challenge is that travel insurance is an off the shelf, ‘one-size-fits-all’ product and the vast majority of policies do not include cover for claims which arise out of existing medical conditions. However, the real question that needs to be asked is: What is an existing Medical condition? The answer might surprise you.

Even minor conditions can have relevance in the event of a claim. For example, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are both common complaints among people over 50 years of age. But many people do not classify them as existing medical conditions. As a result, it’s not uncommon for people buying travel insurance over 65 years of age to leave these conditions undeclared with the potential for unfortunate consequences. For example, either of the conditions noted above can be contributory factors in the event of a heart attack and, in the event of a medical claim, insurers would look at the previous medical history. As a result, a claim for costs associated with a heart attack could be refused because of a failure to disclose either of these existing conditions.

The whole premise of purchasing travel insurance is to give yourself a sense of security when travelling. You should be able to enjoy your trip, safe in the knowledge that you have the appropriate cover. That is why we ask specific questions targeting particular medical conditions, as opposed to a vague open-ended medical declaration question. From a customer perspective, it is so important to be up front about even the smallest conditions. In our experience, honesty is always the best policy.

The real problem is that obtaining cover for an existing medical condition can be something of an ordeal. The normal path is to call a separate medical screening number to give detailed information relating to the condition before paying an additional charge or incurring an increased excess. While this is unavoidable in some cases, we believe that customers who have qualifying private health insurance should be exempt from the requirement as they already have this cover. Even if they are buying travel insurance over 65 years of age.

At Getcover.ie we strive to provide flexible solutions at a reasonable price. And although this is not quite the industry norm right now, we hope to see this change soon. The Irish motor insurance sector has been under the Irish media spotlight over the past few months. Maybe now is the time to start a conversation on a national level around fair travel insurance for our senior customers.