Can I get travel insurance if I have a pre-existing condition?

What “pre-existing” means to an insurer

It is not your medical history. It is anything that changed in a set number of days before you bought the policy: you had treatment or tests, a doctor recommended treatment or tests, or you started or changed a prescription. That set number of days is the look-back. On the plans we compare it is 60 days on 22 plans, 180 days on 21, and 90 or 120 days on the rest.

A condition that was stable during that time is not pre-existing under the definition, and 31 of the 54 plans say in writing that a condition controlled by the same medication, with no change in dose, does not count. So if your blood pressure medication has not changed in a year, that condition is not pre-existing on those plans, waiver or no waiver. If the dose changed last month, it is.

The waiver, in plain words

Most plans will set the whole exclusion aside if you meet three conditions: you buy within 14 days of your first trip payment (some plans allow 21), you insure everything non-refundable you have paid so far and add later payments as you go, and you are medically able to travel on the day you buy. Meet those and the condition is covered like anything else, for cancellation, for medical bills abroad, and for the flight home.

If you are past 14 days

You can still buy, and you should. Everything unrelated to the condition is covered in full: a fall, food poisoning, a missed connection, a hurricane. What the policy will not pay is a claim the insurer can tie to a condition that changed inside the look-back. Some travelers past the window pick a plan with a 60-day look-back for that reason, because a shorter window means fewer things count.

Family members and travel companions

On most plans the same rule applies to the condition of a companion or a close family member back home if their health is the reason you cancel. The waiver covers them too when you meet the conditions.

What the plans say

• 53 of the 54 plans we compare offer a pre-existing condition waiver.
• Look-back by plan: 60 days on 22 plans, 180 days on 21, 90 days on 8, 120 days on 2.
• 31 of 54 state in the definition that a condition controlled solely by unchanged medication is not pre-existing.
• The shortest waiver purchase window in the library is 14 days after the first trip payment; nothing shorter exists.

Checked against the CoverTrip policy library on 12 September 2026.

Questions people also ask

Related answers: When should I buy travel insurance? · travel medical insurance guide