What a pre-existing condition means here
Insurers look back over a fixed stretch of time before the day you buy — the look-back period. If, during that stretch, a condition was diagnosed, treated, investigated, or your medication for it changed, the policy treats it as pre-existing. Without a waiver, a cancellation or a medical bill traced back to that condition is generally not paid.
The length of the look-back period is set by the plan, not by us, and it differs from plan to plan. It applies to travelling companions and, on many plans, to a family member whose illness is the reason you cancel — even though they are not insured themselves.
What the waiver does
The waiver is the insurer agreeing to set that exclusion aside. With it in place, a claim arising from a condition you already had is considered like any other claim. It is not extra coverage you buy on its own — it comes attached to the plan, and only if you meet every condition the plan lists.
1. Buy soon after your first trip payment
Every plan sets its own window — often a set number of days from the day you paid your first deposit. Miss the window and the waiver cannot be added later, at any price.
2. Insure the full non-refundable cost
Most plans expect every prepaid, non-refundable dollar of the trip to be covered, including anything you add later, within the same few days of paying for it.
3. Be medically able to travel on the day you buy
Fit to travel as your doctor sees it on the purchase date — not on the day you leave.
The deadline is the part people lose. It runs from your first trip payment, not from your departure date. Open Show coverage on any plan in your results to see that plan's own deadline, look-back period and conditions before you buy.
Things travellers do not expect
A dose was changed
If a medication was started, stopped or changed during the look-back period, that usually counts as treatment, even if you feel perfectly well.
You were told to come back for tests
A recommended test or follow-up inside the look-back period is generally treated the same as treatment, whether or not you went.
A long-standing condition, unchanged
A condition that is stable and under control through the whole look-back period — same medicine, same dose, no new advice — is commonly not treated as pre-existing.
Do you have to declare anything?
No medical questions are asked when you buy, and there is no exam. The check happens at claim time: the insurer reviews your medical records for the look-back period. So the honest way to think about it is not "will they find out" but "would this claim trace back to something already going on" — and if it might, the waiver is what protects you.
This page explains how these rules generally work so you know what to look for. The wording that decides any claim is the policy your insurer issues — its look-back period, its deadline and its conditions govern. Read it before you rely on the waiver, and call us if anything is unclear.