Mike O’Connor: Discrimination against age and medical history means many cannot safely travel overseas

Many people of a certain age are discovering their dream of post-retirement travel won’t be realised or will be curtailed because they are not wealthy enough to take out travel insurance, writes Mike O’Connor.

There is no shortage of people who feel that they are the victims of discrimination, and while I might be a bit late to the party, if they could shuffle along and make room for one more, I’d be grateful.

As a white male baby boomer, I’m not supposed to have anything to whinge about. Apparently I’m also entitled although entitled to what I’m not sure.

What is beyond doubt is that it’s the boomers’ fault that houses are too expensive and interest rates too high and that we’ve no right to enjoy the superannuation that we worked to accumulate. I understand that.

What a shock it was then, safely ensconced in my white male entitled cocoon, to suffer the sharp pain of discrimination.

We’re finally getting out of the country on our first overseas trip in three years. Passports, tickets, travel insurance. Travel insurance?

If you have lived to a certain age, you will suffer age or medical history discrimination and be refused travel insurance coverage or be quoted outrageously high premiums. Picture: Getty Images

I emailed one of the country’s better known insurers and filled in the form and when I came to the section covering pre-existing conditions, I truthfully added that I was fitted with a cardiac stent 10 years ago.

Sorry, was the emailed reply. Coverage denied.

Was it the fact that I was no longer in the first flush of youth or because that a decade ago, I underwent what was probably a life-saving procedure?

Age discrimination? Medical history discrimination?

Who could say?

I tried several other companies that offered policies, but excluded any coverage for pre-existing conditions while quoting $2000 for a six-week policy.

I spent the best part of two days emailing insurance companies.

What became apparent was that as international travel gains post-Covid momentum and Australia’s ageing population heads to the airport, insurance companies are being faced with the possibility of insuring someone who might make a claim!

If you have lived to a certain age, you will suffer age or medical history discrimination and be refused travel insurance coverage, says Mike O’Connor. Picture: iStock

This, of course, is not part of the business model. Insuring young people who might fall off a bike in Bali is a reasonable risk.

Insuring older people who might suffer a medical issue is another matter.

The tragedy of this is that if you have lived to a certain age, in part because you have acted responsibly and had regular health check-ups, then you will suffer age or medical history discrimination and be refused travel insurance coverage or be quoted outrageously high premiums.

If you can afford to pay then that’s fine.

Go straight to the business-class lounge, grab a glass of wine and put your feet up, but if you’re mum and dad pensioners looking for an overseas escape then the chances are that the cost will be beyond you.

The discrimination against your age and medical history will mean that you cannot safely leave the country as it would be a brave soul who travelled beyond our shores without insurance.

Saved up for that trip of a lifetime? Sorry, mate – it’s Bribie Island for you and the missus, where you’ll be covered by Medicare if you fall off your chair and bang your head while trying to retrieve your false teeth, says Mike O’Connor. Picture: AAP

Saved up for that trip of a lifetime to the south of France, the Italian Riviera, the highlands of Scotland or the African savanna?

Sorry, mate. It’s Bribie Island for you and the missus, where you’ll be covered by Medicare if you fall off your chair and bang your head while trying to retrieve your false teeth.

I’ve got a birthday coming up this week – they seem to come around quickly these days – which means that the next time I apply for travel insurance, a computer somewhere will add a few hundred dollars to the premium.

I’m fortunate in being able to pay, but how many people each year suffer the crushing disappointment of realising that their dreams of post-retirement travel will not be realised or will be severely limited because they are simply not wealthy enough to take out travel insurance?

Insuring young people who might fall off a bike in Bali is a reasonable risk, but insuring older people who might suffer a medical issue is another matter, says Mike O’Connor.

It served us right, I suppose, my fellow boomers and I for having survived to that point where we can afford to lock up the house or apartment and head for distance shores without being constrained by the demands of full-time employment.

If only we’d died younger, it would have saved the insurers the trouble of devising policies which are priced beyond the reach of many.

We’ve got a big-spending government in Canberra now and if it can throw more than $4bn a year at childcare subsidies for young families, then how about means-tested travel insurance subsidies for older Australians so that they can savour the joys of travel to far horizons in their later years?