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Heart conditions, angina, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, a past heart attack, cardiomyopathy, or a condition managed with a pacemaker or ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator), are among the pre-existing conditions Australian insurers scrutinise most closely. Several are explicitly excluded from automatic cover lists, which means most people with a heart condition will go through a medical assessment rather than getting cover by default.
This guide covers how that assessment works, what’s commonly asked, and what to check before you buy, alongside our dedicated guide on Travel Insurance With a Pacemaker or ICD if that applies to you specifically.
General advice warning: The information on this site is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not personal financial advice. Before making any decision about travel insurance, you should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD), and consider whether the product is appropriate for you. We are not licensed to provide personal financial advice.
Why Heart Conditions Are Treated Differently
Many Australian insurers automatically cover a list of stable, well-managed conditions, but heart and cardiovascular conditions are commonly excluded from that automatic list altogether, as a condition of being eligible for automatic cover in the first place. In practice, this means most people with a diagnosed heart condition go through a medical assessment rather than getting cover by default, regardless of how stable the condition currently is.
This isn’t unique to any one insurer. It reflects how cardiac conditions are generally priced across the market: individually assessed rather than bundled into the no-questions-asked list that covers things like well-controlled asthma or treated high cholesterol.
What Counts as a Heart Condition for This Purpose
Insurers generally ask about, and will want declared, conditions including:
- Angina
- Atrial fibrillation or other arrhythmias
- A past heart attack
- Heart failure
- Cardiomyopathy
- Coronary artery disease or narrowed arteries
- Valve conditions, including after valve replacement or repair
- A pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)
- Heart bypass or other cardiac surgery
- High blood pressure, in some cases, depending on the insurer and whether it’s associated with another cardiac diagnosis
The specific list and wording varies by insurer, so check the PDS of any policy you’re considering rather than assuming your condition does or doesn’t count based on this list alone.
What the Medical Assessment Typically Asks
Based on the kinds of questions insurers commonly put to travellers with heart conditions, expect to be asked about:
Diagnosis and type
The specific condition, such as atrial fibrillation, angina, or heart failure, rather than just “heart condition” as a general category.
Stability and recent history
Whether you’ve had a recent hospital admission, a recent change in symptoms, or a recent procedure. A condition that’s been stable for an extended period is generally assessed differently to one with recent activity.
Treatment and medication
Current medications, and whether your treatment has changed recently.
Associated conditions
Related diagnoses, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, which insurers may ask about alongside the primary heart condition since they can be assessed together.
Specialist involvement
Some insurers ask whether you’re under the ongoing care of a cardiologist, and may request supporting documentation for more complex cases.
Why Declaring Accurately Matters More for Heart Conditions
Reported Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) determinations give a sense of how closely this gets scrutinised. In one case, an insurer tried to decline a claim by arguing a traveller hadn’t disclosed a previous episode of angina and blood pressure medication; AFCA found the insurer wasn’t entitled to rely on that, since it was already on risk for loss caused by cardiac failure. In another, a widow successfully challenged her late husband’s insurer after he died of a heart attack overseas, where the insurer argued he’d failed to declare related conditions alongside the heart issues he had disclosed. In a separate case involving a different insurer, a claim relating to COPD and congestive heart failure was upheld as correctly declined, because the conditions had been excluded from the policy at the time of purchase.
The pattern across these cases is less about whether you have a heart condition, since insurers clearly do offer cover for them, and more about whether what you declared matches your actual medical history closely enough. Vague or incomplete answers during the medical assessment create more risk than the condition itself.
Cruise Cover and Heart Conditions
This is worth its own mention, because the numbers can be severe. A reported AFCA case involved a cruise passenger who suffered multiple heart attacks and was airlifted from the ship, leaving a medical and rescue bill of over $29,000. His travel insurer paid out only around $4,000, in part because some of the costs were incurred in Australia rather than overseas, which the policy didn’t cover, and some related to the specific terms of that policy.
If you have a heart condition and are considering a cruise, specifically check:
- Whether the policy covers cruising at all, as a declared activity
- Whether medical evacuation from a ship is covered, and to what limit
- Whether treatment received once you’re back in Australia, following an overseas or at-sea medical event, is covered under the policy
Read our guide on Travel Insurance and Pre-Existing Conditions for the broader detail on cruise cover, and our condition-specific cruising guides for cardiac travel more generally.
Specialist Versus Mainstream Insurers
Mainstream insurers will assess and often cover stable, well-documented heart conditions, particularly where there’s clear specialist input and a settled treatment history. For more complex cases, recent events, multiple cardiac diagnoses, or an upper age limit that rules out a mainstream policy, a specialist medical travel insurer may be the more practical option, and some have no upper age limit at all.
Questions to Ask Before You Buy
- Is my specific heart condition assessed individually, or excluded from the policy entirely?
- What will the insurer need from me, a questionnaire, a specialist letter, recent test results?
- Is there a stability period required, for example, a set number of months since a cardiac event or procedure?
- Does the policy cover cruising, and does it cover medical evacuation from a ship specifically?
- What is the medical expenses limit, and is there a separate sub-limit for cardiac conditions?
- Does the policy cover cancellation if my condition worsens before departure?
- If I have a pacemaker or ICD, is that itself something I need to declare separately? See our guide on Travel Insurance With a Pacemaker or ICD.
Before You Book
Get your facts straight before the medical assessment
Know your specific diagnosis, your current medications, and the date and nature of any recent cardiac event, rather than approximating.
Ask your cardiologist for a letter if your case is complex
Particularly useful if you’ve had a relatively recent event or a change in treatment, since it can support a more accurate assessment.
Check cruise-specific cover if that’s part of your trip
Don’t assume general medical cover extends to evacuation from a ship.
Compare a mainstream insurer’s assessment against a specialist insurer
Particularly if you’re declined, offered a high premium, or excluded by an age limit through a mainstream policy.
Before You Rely on Anything Here
Policies change. Definitions change. Criteria for automatic cover and medical assessment change. Everything on this page should be treated as a starting point for your own research, not as a substitute for reading the PDS of the policy you’re actually considering.
If your situation is complex, speaking directly to a specialist medical travel insurer is usually faster than comparing policies yourself.
FAQs
Can I get travel insurance with a heart condition?
Yes, in most cases, though heart conditions are commonly excluded from automatic cover lists and go through an individual medical assessment instead. Mainstream insurers cover many stable heart conditions, and specialist medical travel insurers can assist with more complex cases.
Is a pacemaker or ICD covered the same way as other heart conditions?
It’s often assessed as part of the broader cardiac picture, but see our dedicated guide on Travel Insurance With a Pacemaker or ICD, since some insurers ask about it specifically.
Does travel insurance cover a heart attack that happens while I’m overseas, if I haven’t had one before?
A genuinely new medical event, not connected to a pre-existing condition, is generally treated as a new claim rather than a pre-existing condition exclusion. Whether it’s connected to something you should have declared is exactly the kind of question that leads to disputes, so accurate declaration of any prior symptoms or risk factors matters.
Does travel insurance cover medical evacuation from a cruise ship for a cardiac event?
Not automatically. Check specifically whether the policy covers cruising and medical evacuation from a ship, since these are often separate from general medical cover and have been the subject of disputed claims.
Will my premium be higher because of a heart condition?
Often yes, particularly if the condition requires individual assessment rather than automatic cover. The increase depends on the specific condition, its stability, and the insurer.
What happens if I don’t declare a related condition, like high blood pressure, alongside my main heart diagnosis?
This is a common source of disputed claims. Declare related and associated conditions as accurately as you can, since an insurer may argue a claim relates to something you didn’t disclose, even if your primary condition was declared correctly.
Final Thoughts
Heart conditions are assessed more individually than many other pre-existing conditions, since they’re commonly excluded from automatic cover and go through their own medical assessment. The details that matter most are declaring your specific diagnosis and any related conditions accurately, checking cruise and evacuation cover specifically if relevant, and comparing a specialist medical travel insurer if a mainstream policy declines you or applies an age limit.
A note on what this is: General information, not personal financial advice. Read the PDS and TMD of any policy before you buy, and consider speaking to a specialist medical travel insurer for a complex case.
For more on travel insurance and specific heart-related travel planning, read our guides on travel insurance with a pacemaker or ICD and travel insurance and pre-existing conditions.
