Travel Insurance equality push may increase premiums.

Travel Insurance for the older generation can be difficult to find, especially for those aged 75 or over travelling outside of Europe. Often premiums are higher for an older traveller which has been considered as unfair due to the fact that it could stop them travelling altogether. Especially when you consider that they are at the time of life when they have the most freedom to visit family and friends. The issue is that currently most insurers offer travel insurance in age brackets and if you fall outside of this bracket it may be hard to find cover at all, regardless of any pre existing medical conditions.

In an article written by the Daily Mail on the 3rd March, Paul Cann of Help the Aged said “Age alone should not be the basis of an insurance premium or quote. Insurers are entitled to make commercial decisions, but these should be based on evidence of risk and not the date of birth on a birth certificate”.

There are Government plans to bar age discrimination, which although pleasing for the older age group, could result in insurance price rises for millions. If firms are no longer able to take customers’ ages in to consideration when assessing risk, other forms of insurance may be hit by the unintended consequences of the Governments legislation, the Association of British Insurers said. The effect of a proposed Equality Bill banning age discrimination in the provision of goods and services would mean drivers considered a lower risk, subsidising higher risk drivers, resulting in many more of us paying increased car insurance premiums.

The ABI said that the average travel insurance claim for someone over 65 was nearly three and halftimes higher than for those under 50.

Therefore there is no doubt that age is a factor when assessing risk, and increased claims are more common in the higher age bracket, so do you think others should have to subsidise those considered a higher risk? Do you think experienced drivers would be happy to subsidise younger drivers for their car insurance?

Please let us know your thoughts on this; do you think premiums should be equal for all?

If you are currently looking for travel insurance for your holiday, see if Click4Quote.com can offer you a quote online today. We also have an alternative provider for travellers over 75, so we are confident we can offer you cover for your trip whatever your age. Please contact us for more details.