How can travel insurance charge me extra for a condition I’m being treated for?

Sunday, 7 December 2025

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Senior business reporter Rob Stock answers your money questions. Got a question for Sunday magazine? Email it to sundaymagazine@stuff.co.nz

QUESTION: How can Southern Cross Travel Insurance charge me a higher premium for a low-level condition I am being treated for?

ANSWER: Okay, I admit it. Unlike all the previous questions I have answered in this column, this question is one I asked myself when I was booking travel insurance for a trip to England. In my defence, I really did ask the question, and went off in search of an answer.

I am a big believer in travel insurance. It’s not for the small stuff like dropping your phone in the hotel pool. It’s for the big stuff like breaking your back in the US, and needing treating by rapacious American medical companies, and then being flown in air ambulance back home.

My sister broke her leg in Zealandia in Wellington a few years ago, and had to be flown back to her home in England in first class because she needed the legroom as the plaster-covered leg could no longer be bent in the middle. Not cheap.

Southern Cross has a medical, evacuation and personal liability policy for the budget conscious, leaving out the other stuff. It’s a big stuff policy. That makes sense to me.

Just this month, Southern Cross’s 2025 claims include $220,000 for one customer affected by Covid related illness in Singapore, $642,000 for illness in Italy, and $95,000 for a traveller who fractured their hip in India.

These are the very definition of the big stuff.

What doesn’t make sense to me is quoting me an extra $40 for a mild “pre-existing” condition that I am being treated for.

You see, I changed doctor recently. My new one diligently gave me a once-over, diagnosed high blood pressure, and put me on a not-especially high dose of potassium. Fine. Not uncommon. So, when I was asked to pay an extra $40 for cover for my trip, I flushed with irritation.

In my mind there were two possible Robs heading overseas. Rob one didn’t change doctor. He didn’t get a once-over. He’s not being treated. Let’s call him higher-risk-of-a-claim Rob. The other Rob did change doctor, was diagnosed, and now is being treated. Let’s call him lower-risk-of-a-claim Rob.

Which would you charge more, if you were an insurer?

Apparently, you charge lower-risk-of-a-claim Rob more.

I asked Southern Cross Travel Insurance to explain.

Wellington’s Zealandia is a lovely place for a walk, unless you fall over and break a leg.

It made lots of sympathetic sounds, but it came down to this: I did have a condition I was being treated for, and it had priced that. That was fair as I posed a higher risk than a customer in all respects like me, except that they didn’t have my condition.

It sympathised that people who had not been diagnosed (the higher-risk-of-a-claim Robs of this world) presented an even higher risk, but that it could only go on the information it had.

It set its application process and questions to be easy to understood. That meant keeping it simple, and quick because that’s what we, the public demand.

The result is it does not ask a long series of boring questions, including ones that might indicate a person is neglecting their health.

It told me it hoped customers who divulged their medical conditions did not feel disadvantaged, rather they felt greater peace of mind of knowing they were doing their best to stay on top of their health. Cold comfort.

What did I do? Dear reader, I paid. What else could I do?

I cvan still see my sister on the back of a quad bike having been given pain medication being driven down from out of the Zealandia bush.

Disclaimer: The information in this column is provided for general information only and is not intended as financial advice. If you require expert advice we encourage you to seek assistance from a professional adviser.