[Closed] Annual travel insurance having a laugh

There are a great number of us that have claimed against our policies and got a payout as we'd booked accommodation we then couldn't use. Insurance companies were always going to want the money back but from us! Also, we will not be EU members for the whole of the next 12 months so things will potentially be far more expensive (although I'm unclear on the terms of what we will have instead).

Everyone’s travel insurance will increase next year. Two big reasons. I’m sure you’re aware of both.

Edit: Toby has spelt it out.

Save many money.

Don't travel. Saves on insurance. Saves on travel

Saves being subjected to this pish and saves being exposed to Corona virus which hasn't actually gone away yet.

Many savings.

Folk rushing to travel abroad will be the first ones greeting when they find them selves In hospital facing a nice large bill that the insurance won't foot - looking towards the gov to foot the bill no doubt.

Chancers

I'm generally no apologist for insurance companies, however, it's reasonable to assume the risk of travelling has dramatically increased in the last 12 months.

Pretty much everyone i know has claimed refunds back from accommodation providers and airlines, not via their insurance.

Ah. That's a point.

Had booked a holiday to Canada this summer.

I currently have credit notes from the Canadian airlines involved. I was tempted to redeem them for flights in June 2021.... but presumably that would count as having been 'booked' post March 2020, and not covered for any covid related cancellations?

Looking at the state of North America right now, I'm not 100% confident that holidays to that continent will be a goer, even in 12 months time...

Pretty much everyone i know has claimed refunds back from accommodation providers and airlines, not via their insurance.

And where did that money come from? Was it in Easy Jet's bank account so you think it their insurance etc?

Also, we will not be EU members for the whole of the next 12 months so things will potentially be far more expensive (although I’m unclear on the terms of what we will have instead).

indeed. I think those are still to be negotiated.

Obviously, we hold all the cards and it will be the easiest negotiation in history. But it's still TBC...

I’m generally no apologist for insurance companies, however, it’s reasonable to assume the risk of travelling has dramatically increased in the last 12 months.

But they have specifically excluded any COVID related claims so what other risks have increased?

But they have specifically excluded any COVID related claims so what other risks have increased?

They have paid out a lot in this round, they will up the stakes to cover themselves against the next thing!

Obviously, we hold all the cards and it will be the easiest negotiation in history. But it’s still TBC…

Oven-ready in fact!

I can understand an increase in premiums, but to specifically exclude one of the major concerns for most people travelling in the next couple of year is beyond cheeky.

Time to hit the comparison sites?

Here is the exact wording of the new exclusions...

From your renewal date, your policy will not cover 1) any claims caused by or relating to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-COV2), any mutation/variation of these, or any claims relating to any fear or threat concerning these viruses (this general exclusion applies to all sections of cover); 2) any claims relating to Third Party Supplier Insolvency and Scheduled Airline Failure (these sections of the policy have been removed).

I will renew my policy just before we plan on travelling again - which isn't going to be in the near future anyway!

Insurance companies are reluctant to insure against something that is happening, rather than may happen.

My annual travel insurance is included as part of my bank account. I guess they will (a) exclude Covid etc and possibly (b) increase the account charge. TBH, that'll likely see me close that account.

lots of great new benefits like volcano cover (I shit you not)

Tricky now. Trying to plan ski trip next year but there's a high risk things could go wrong if there's a second wave or whatever. My annual insurance might cover it but renewal in in Feb so have to go before then as renewal certainly won't.

Not sure it's worth the risk going anyway, especially as want to do US and things are just getting worse there.

Covid issues will be excluded as it's a known problem at the moment, so insurers won't cover it. I suspect, if you already have annual insurance, and now book something within the period of cover, you'll find Covid excluded too (new bookings).

From your renewal date, your policy will not cover 1) any claims caused by or relating to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-COV2), any mutation/variation of these, or any claims relating to any fear or threat concerning these viruses (this general exclusion applies to all sections of cover); 2) any claims relating to Third Party Supplier Insolvency and Scheduled Airline Failure (these sections of the policy have been removed).

So - legal bods - 2 questions

claims arising from being unable to travel due to government avice against travelling. Excluded or not?

Is the above relating to cancellation refund costs, or is it also excluding medical cover should you contract the disease abroad?

lots of great new benefits like volcano cover (I shit you not)

You mean like that Icelandic volcano that disrupted a load of folks travel plans a few years ago?

Insurance companies are reluctant to insure against something that is happening, rather than may happen.

That's fine, I get that bit but doesn't excuse doubling the cost from last year as they have specifically excluded insuring against it.

however, it’s reasonable to assume the risk of travelling

I believe it’s the risk of NOT travelling that has risen. Insurance is just a convenient way of informing you about relative risks, where price = risk. Treat it as such.

claims arising from being unable to travel due to government avice against travelling. Excluded or not?

Is the above relating to cancellation refund costs, or is it also excluding medical cover should you contract the disease abroad

on point one, depends on your policy and when trip was booked. most policies will pay for cancellation if trip booked pre-covid and cancelled due to FCO to not travel (the FCO non travel is the trigger for the policy) if you book a trip after the FCO advice came out, most policies won't cover you for anything as its a specific exclusion in pretty much all policies

point two -its excluding any claim related to covd 19 - travel cancellation, medical costs the full works.

all new travel policies, and pretty mcuh any insurance polciy you buy for the next few years, will have covid 19 exclusions. it is a known risk where the likely occurrence is not fortuitous - ie we're in the middle of a pandemic, your pretty much nailed on the have a covid related loss / claim

That’s fine, I get that bit but doesn’t excuse doubling the cost from last year as they have specifically excluded insuring against it.

If a business lost a load of money because of some massive unforeseen global event and needs to make it back to survive as a business what do you think they should do?
Clue - increase premiums

If you don't want to pay either travel without insurance or don't travel. Up to you.

If you don’t want to pay either travel without insurance or don’t travel. Up to you.

Third option:
Check the market and purchase when I do decide to travel again. I flatly refuse to believe that the pandemic has increased costs to insurance companies to such an extent that they have to double policy fees. It would be interesting to know just what impact it actually has had on them in terms of payouts as a direct result of COVID.

I flatly refuse to believe that the pandemic has increased costs to insurance companies to such an extent that they have to double policy fees.

based on similar real world evidence to some of trumps claims or just a story you made up you choose to believe ?

based on similar real world evidence to some of trumps claims or just a story you made up you choose to believe ?

You have lost me, sorry.

do you have any evidence to support your claim or are you just believing in fairy tails because that suits ?

the facts are all in the thread - industry loses millions

industry seeks to claim back via future policies

and your quote is evidence that its trying to claim back its losses via future policies

ive not seen any evidence that the industry didnt lose millions

@trial-rat. I am sure you know that it was a figure of speech and nothing to do with Trump (a very weird claim) or a made up story and as such I am happy to stand corrected if every travel insurance policy has to be doubled (would they come back down again once the insurance companies have made their losses back) to mitigate costs to insurance companies but right now I am not in a position whereby I can accept a 100% increase in cost to me with an additional absolute exclusion of any cover against the new risk.

And which thread are you referring to?

Ok, I personally paid ~£80 for last years policy and claimed back ~£800 on accommodation. I may be one of a subset of people, but even if I am 1 in 10, that still hurts their figures and they will try and reclaim that from renewing or new policy customers. They are covering themselves against future losses and billing mugs like us for the recent payouts.

I'd also imagine most of their accounts are public so if you really wanted to you could see the impact on their margins. I suspect they will make back more than they lost of course so agree with you there.

It sucks, but it's the world we built.

on point one, depends on your policy and when trip was booked. most policies will pay for cancellation if trip booked pre-covid and cancelled due to FCO to not travel (the FCO non travel is the trigger for the policy)

For what it's worth, my yellow Jersey policy won't and supposedly most if not all covered by the same underwriter (Allianz) won't. It would need disruption to travel cover not cancellation cover, (and its an optional extra they don't offer)

If my flights etc are cancelled it kicks in. My choosing not to travel (inline with fco *advice*) isn't covered, only if I'm prevented from travelling or already abroad when the advice is put in place.

[edit: obviously traveling against advice voids my cover - damned if you do, damned if you don't]

but right now I am not in a position whereby I can accept a 100% increase in cost to me with an additional absolute exclusion of any cover against the new risk.

Lots of people won’t be able to afford the increased premiums for next year… it’s not just you OP. That doesn’t change the fact that they have two big events to factor into prices… losses this year due to the pandemic, and (huge) expect increased costs due to Brexit next year.

this thread

I am not in a position whereby I can accept a 100% increase in cost to me with an additional absolute exclusion of any cover against the new risk.

then you have to ask your self - can you actually accept the cost to travel.

I have had to talk the wife down from we need a holiday with the - do you really think that travel right now is wise regardless of the gov stance on it - they are just appeasing the masses.

look the other way - if you come down with it abroad , and given that no policy in their right mind will cover that exposure right now - are you prepared to sell your house to cover the costs ?

what a wierd claim

what the claim that he makes statements that are not based on fact ? good comparison if you ask me.

I'm surprised it's only doubled. It'll be interesting to see how the travel industry as a whole deals with it. I'm not sure I'll be travelling unless medical bills can be covered. I'm happy to self insure for cancellation and maybe even repatriation, but medical is a different level of cost completely. At least we have EHIC cover for Europe. #bloodygammons

I can understand an increase in premiums, but to specifically exclude one of the major concerns for most people travelling in the next couple of year is beyond cheeky.

Insurers generally won't insure things they can't afford to pay out on - things like terrorism, and now Covid

but medical is a different level of cost completely. At least we have EHIC cover for Europ

and even EHIC only covers certain things.

a family members 2 nights in an induced coma in a french hospital after a vehicle collision was eye watering.

wouldnt like to see the bill for ventilation and certain medication.

i'm sure its a reasonably low risk but the stakes are high risk matrix says no.

Auto-renewal is always the most expensive way to buy insurance, it comes with a huge Apathy Tax. It was the case 30 years ago when I bought my first* car insurance policy and it's still the case today. I'm genuinely amazed that anyone is still surprised by it.

(* - well, second)

and even EHIC only covers certain things.

AIUI, the EHIC (usually?) gives you the same benefits as afforded to the locals. Which of course will vary between countries.

Daft point but, along side the above mentioned B word, there's likely to be a lot of risk regarding scheduled airline failure over the next few years which will bump cost for the insurance companies.

Equally for my peneth worth, I'd strongly suggest making sure your insurance covers it as a lot don't.

AIUI, the EHIC (usually?) gives you the same benefits as afforded to the locals

indeed , alot of people seem to think reciprocal means you get the care you'd get at home.

I accept that fact that my opinion might be skewed because I'm always amazed at what some folk will pay for their foreign holidays (just as many will be by what I spend on biking and camping gear so it's not a dig) but I really do wonder if the whole industry is sustainable. Ignoring the ecological concerns for the moment, much of the industry relies on mass transport and crowded accommodation. If those factors are both affected then prices will have to increase substantially, and more airlines and hotels etc will go out of business, bumping up travel insurance costs further.

If it's sports cover you require, you could try https://www.assurmix.com/sport-insurance
€50/year, or €100 for whole family.
I've not used them, but am contemplating using them for MTB holiday. I tried asking on here, but got a blank.
This won't cover your usual travel insurance, but I was going to use it in conjunction with my travel cover provided by bank account.

there’s likely to be a lot of risk regarding scheduled airline failure over the next few years which will bump cost for the insurance companies

But again they have specifically excluded such cover...

From your renewal date, your policy will not cover... 2) any claims relating to Third Party Supplier Insolvency and Scheduled Airline Failure

Another reason not to be travelling abroad anytime soon. I just hope the situation improves for the ski season. Had to cancel the 2nd ski week this year - don't want to go through that agony again next year!

Presumably if you have a car crash abroad or any other accident every medical cost will be increased by covid 19. Whether you have the virus or not.

Hospital capacity for non covid care has halved. Costs have haven't changed

Got to ask, out of interest, how much has it doubled from and with whom?

As an aside I'd be wholly unsurprised to discover these aren't new exclusions, just they thought it might save them hassle to actually tell you this time round after spending 3 months explaining to folks that "no, that's not included, if it were you'd see a specific inclusion on your policy."

I flatly refuse to believe that the pandemic has increased costs to insurance companies to such an extent that they have to double policy fees. It would be interesting to know just what impact it actually has had on them in terms of payouts as a direct result of COVID.

last estimates i heard it was looking like it was going to be safely in the billions, £9bn iirc. the impact of covid is predicted to have a bigger impact on the industry than 911, which sent the insurance markets into a spin for many years afterwards. the insurance markets have been hardening for the past 12-18 months for a variety of reasons, covid losses will now accelerate this. expect nothing but premiums going up in the short term

For what it’s worth, my yellow Jersey policy won’t and supposedly most if not all covered by the same underwriter (Allianz) won’t. It would need disruption to travel cover not cancellation cover, (and its an optional extra they don’t offer)

If my flights etc are cancelled it kicks in. My choosing not to travel (inline with fco *advice*) isn’t covered, only if I’m prevented from travelling or already abroad when the advice is put in place.

[edit: obviously traveling against advice voids my cover – damned if you do, damned if you don’t]

just had a look at the standard allianz policy wording and it seems your right. i'm surprised allianz wording are usually pretty good.

Always amazed at the insurance threads on here.

Anyway, be bloody grateful that you are in a position to afford a holiday that might need some insurance. Because hundreds and thousands of people won't be so lucky when the economic impact of all this kicks in properly.

My annual insurance might cover it

Replying to myself... no it won't. Like most insurance companies, it's classified as a known event now so that makes any claim due to Covid-19 invalid for bookings made after they classified it that way (back in March 2020).

I doubt I can, but thinking I'll cancel the insurance if I can because it's going to be of no use as can't risk booking a trip possibly for the next year.

Anyway, be bloody grateful that you are in a position to afford a holiday that might need some insurance. Because hundreds and thousands of people won’t be so lucky when the economic impact of all this kicks in properly.

It's not all about holidays. I have a potential family trip related to loss of a relation abroad and parents haven't been able to get out there. Bad enough they are struggling to get insurance due to a medical condition and worse Covid-19 risk blocks them from travel anyway, but even if I could help out as I'd hoped for, I wouldn't be able to get insurance either, or at least risk losing all the money on bookings.

then you have to ask your self – can you actually accept the cost to travel.

I didn’t say it was a financial position (not that that would be any of your business), it’s a moral position.

Thanks for your moralising.

If holiday insurance was your business, your lively hood depended on collecting premiums and paying out when people get stuck, got ill or get things nicked you'd be charging the same as last year?

I wouldn’t be doubling it.

Are you an actuary?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/travel-insurance-premiums-soar-wont-cover-coronavirus/

Just thinking about this again and I think THIS is the biggest issue...

From your renewal date, your policy will not cover… 2) any claims relating to Third Party Supplier Insolvency and Scheduled Airline Failure

It gives insurance companies so many excuses not to pay out - this exclusion isn’t for just for COVID related insolvencies - it’s a major change to what a consumer should expect from insurance cover.

Interesting that most people feel peeved that insurance won’t cover them for if their flight gets cancelled.

I would be more concerned about not having cover for when you end up in an intensive care bed.

You won’t get me leaving this country unless I can get health cover that includes COVID, ITU stays don’t come cheap!

I would be more concerned about not having cover for when you end up in an intensive care bed.

in the EU that would still be free for another 6 months

I have never had any travel or holiday insurance in my life.

His insurance is for 12 months, not six.

It’s clear why travel insurance costs have gone up. No doubt the OP will get a far better deal by shopping around, but all suppliers will be charging more now… and for those with pre-existing conditions, the twin hit of this medical emergency and the tearing up of existing reciprocal healthcare measures (not just with EU countries) is going to make regular travel a much more expensive business. They are the people I feel for.

Let's not forgot its not only the payouts, it's the fact that these companies will have sold virtually no policies for new holidays this whole holiday season

Re EHIC, I thought you just need this to ensure you got the local NHS equivalent treatment and the security of immediate access to treatment, and then your insurance would take over any reasonable costs above the EHIC.

I wouldn’t be doubling it.

What a ridiculous statement. How do you know how much you would need to increase it by without actually working in finance within the insurance company. Depending on how badly your company is hit and what you predict for future you may need to treble it.

spooky - under eihc the only costs are the same as locals pay - ie minimal. You willnot be stuck with any significant costs for healthcare

Martin Lewis covered something like this on Five Live earlier this week.

The EHIC gets you the same treatment as a local, but that might vary to quality and quantity based on where you are. You won't automatically get the same as you'd get under the UK NHS.

One thing he did say (and I wasn't paying proper attention / am not an insurance person, so check this up) is that if you have annual cover you should be able to (before cover runs out) extend that cover and get the same policy terms as before. So if you'd booked a holiday before March 20 but that holiday is wholly or partly after your annual cover runs out, then you are not uninsurable against that holiday being cancelled due to CV19 - you can extend your existing cover and it will still be covered. The problem of course is that you have to buy from the same company so to keep your terms might (ahem, will for sure!) mean a big increase in price, but compared to a dream holiday booked years in advance might be worth it. And there may be some that have annual cover that they can extend that may cover future bookings under existing T&C's, but your chances of getting new cover to include Covid is pretty small.

I'm sure in time there will be some specialist insurers that will cover CV19 related claims but expect that price to be even higher, and may just include cancellation as opposed to medical, etc.

I wouldn’t be doubling it.

Well set yourself up as an insurance company then and undercut the market and win all the business then if you think you can do better.

Most insurance companies are actually brokers so pass on the risk to a proper insurance company so their costs are set and the proper insurance companies are not only trying to manage the >$200Bn cost of COVID, but we're coming off the back of a period of global environmental catastrophes too with fires, flooding, riots and other things. Insurance works like a portfolio...they don't collect the money for travel insurance and put it in a little 'travel insurance' bucket....they put is all in one big fund and bank that all these things don't occur simultaneously....over the last 18 months or so they have so insurance companies are having a really tough time...but they wont come back to you and say they can't afford to pay out against your policy. They might be strict about the rules by which you can claim insurance and look to wriggle out of a claim or reduce it, but they will pay out even if they're still managing the aftermath of The Australian wild fires, recent UK floods and the the BLM riots.

I flatly refuse to believe

Hardly matters in the grand scheme of things though, right?

I still can’t see if we understand the scale of the problem in probably one of the most uneducated op’s ever written on STW.  Are we talking £10 to £20 or £200 to £400? And not so long again OP you posted a thread stating the cost of a foreign holiday you‘d found was at least comparable to a UK holiday if not cheaper I believe?  Wasn’t it £2k for your family?  Does that not mitigate the increased insurance cost?  I think you need to put some things in context.

FWIW I have a friend in a senior position of a large global insurance company.  He’s been working flat out since COVID-19 started and the stories he’s telling are of huge loss and debt in the industry.   Like you’ve been told, think of it as a business with profit and loss - they need to claim back Past losses and limit future losses to survive, like any other business.  Why you thought you’d get a free ride I’ve no idea.

[i]spooky – under eihc the only costs are the same as locals pay – ie minimal. You will not be stuck with any significant costs for healthcare[/i]

But if you needed flying back to the UK on a stretcher...also I was under the impression getting you off the side of the Alps would generally require medical insurance to cover the cost? Perhaps thats just clever marketing but I thought that was a key selling point of the snowcard style sports insurance.

No spooky your right.

Not only that if in ambulance or helicopter you may not get to a social care hospital floor and have to pay for your treatment even more so if your not dying but it's for reduction of symptoms.

I've been through this with a solicitor for a family member I had to pay the bill for.

In our case it was induced coma and scans to check for swelling on the brain after a head on collision where the local strayed out of lane and hit the motorcycle in the other lane. All on helmet cam....

Basically your at the mercy of the system if your unable to direct your own care. And the system is partially social partially insured so the line is blurred and often mis understood. Simply being reliant on ehic(certainly in France) is foolish

Interesting that most people feel peeved that insurance won’t cover them for if their flight gets cancelled.

I would be more concerned about not having cover for when you end up in an intensive care bed.

You won’t get me leaving this country unless I can get health cover that includes COVID, ITU stays don’t come cheap!

Ohh I agree - we don't plan on travelling abroad (nor do I fancy paying the inflated sums to stay in the UK for that matter), but it's the principle of the insurance company specifically excluding the risk whilst still doubling the cost.

spooky – under eihc the only costs are the same as locals pay – ie minimal. You willnot be stuck with any significant costs for healthcare

Personally I've always taken insurance even in Europe. I think probably on the medical side it's repatriation that I would most worried about not being covered.

Medical insurance is probably the only insurance I've actually thought wow that worked. Although it is of course more important outside Europe

Driving across Africa a mate got malaria. Another traveller took his temperature and gave him prescription antimalerials. He threw them up. She just said "hospital now".

We were in Bangui the capital of Central African Republic which so far had not wowed us with it facilities.

Our BMC insurance had a number to call "Europe assist". They had a local agent. A one room office with a telex machine that said travel agent on the door. But by the end of the day he was in a first world standard modern hospital where he stayed for 4 days. They paid the hospital direct. It felt like a miracle. But they don't cost £250 per head. Certainly felt good value even in 1988

I've also crashed a transit in France where we had third party insurance but nothing else for the vehicle. We were pushed partly off a mountain road slightly bending the front axle and breaking 2 u bolts and the track rod. Eventually a friend and I rebuilt it on a bit of bare earth behind the garage we were recovered to. Had we not managed to repair it would have been a nightmare. Not far off a 1000 miles from home with a transit size pile of toys

Yeh Trailrat, I think I remember you posting about that a while ago. Even if you 'just' have a broken leg and some broken ribs, I don't want to be hanging around in hospital reception whilst they try and pre-authorise costs to my credit card or want spend an hour sorting out documentation, let alone if me or family are incapable of making decisions for themselves...

Also, my brother went to France and crashed his mountain bike on day 1 on a mountain trail. He smashed up the bike and luckily he fell away from the edge, rather than over it. He only had EHIC...luckily he was able to spend the rest of the holiday in front of French TV whilst his mates carried on riding, rather than racking up thousands of pounds of medical costs. Come to think of it, he crashed on day 1 of the last foreign holiday I had with him!

For comparison, I just plugged my numbers in for a quote from yellow Jersey, same cover* as I currently have, so world wide annual 30 days.

It's gone up by about 12%

A quick bash into compare the market sees Similar increases on WW cover from where I recall being last time around.

*I didn't check the text but I assume corona related stuff will be further excluded from its current policy.

But if you needed flying back to the UK on a stretcher…also I was under the impression getting you off the side of the Alps would generally require medical insurance to cover the cost?

Repatriation is not covered. Everything else is including getting you off the mountains ( except in a very small number of ski resorts which have local bylaws but this ha not been tested in court iiirc)(

there is a huge scam running in some parts of france where a private rescue team will take you to a private hospital and you end up paying - but actually under EU law rescue off the mountains and all hospital care is covered. Tell them you have no insurance and they take you to a public hospital instead

Of course tho this is all academic as we lose all this in 6 months

Are the pompiers private scammers now ? They were first response in my case and due to seriousness (blood coming out of ear) took to nearest hospital.

- not that the person was in any fit state to say take me down the road to that one where my ehic works.....

You should not have been charged if it was the pompiers that took you to hospital

Seriously - I have looked into the legality of all this after previous debates on here.

We have just renewed with Yellow Jersey, after a long chat about the new exclusions, we also rang most of the other companies that specialise in MTB cover, they all had the same restrictions.
Our renewal had gone up by 10% so just asked for a discount and got it back down to very near what we paid last year

GENERAL EXCLUSIONS
The following exclusions apply to the whole of this policy
We will not pay for claims arising directly or indirectly from:

For any policy issued from 23:59 on 13 March 2020, there will be
no cover provided for any claim directly or indirectly caused by,
arising or resulting from, or in connection with: Coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) or any mutation of the disease.

Not good but I suppose understandable from an underwriting point of view

People more legally qualified than you looked at ehic covered the very basic nonndeathy stuff

The rest was us and eventually insurance

You should not have been charged if it was the pompiers that took you to hospital

True for the recovery itself, and care administered on route. Been there, have the T-shirt.

The clinic I ended up in checked with my insurance company before trying to fix me… I was working for that company at the time, so can give you a full break down of what they did and didn’t have to pay for. I have no idea how that would have been different from Jan next year, but I think we are all safe to assume BIG extra liability due to Brexit and our government showing no interest in reciprocal arrangements for us and EU citizens. As for the pandemic, it IS happening, there is no may or might about it… this is not what insurance is for, and you will not get affordable premiums if you want cover for something ongoing, if you can get cover at all.

I bought a couple of longish distance flight tickets in January and took out insurance. I haven't read the small print but I received this this morning:

''In case things don't go to plan we wanted to let you know that we've increased your coverage for Coronavirus at NO extra cost for your holiday.

This includes, but is not limited to:
You are unable to travel due to contracting Coronavirus (either prior to travel or by being denied boarding at the airport)
You are required to self isolate at home and are unable to travel
Your medical and/or repatriation costs if you contract Coronavirus while abroad
You needing to return home early due to a close relative passing away from Coronavirus
Loss of employment or redundancy meaning you can no longer afford to travel''

Can't say I'm looking forward to trying to unpick all this and get any monies back. Leaving it until the week before.

In case things don’t go to plan we wanted to let you know that we’ve increased your coverage for Coronavirus at NO extra cost for your holiday

Marketing speak for doing the bare minimum required by law, I suspect. They can only add the exceptions for the pandemic to new insurance, not insurance you bought in Jan that did not state this.

Ohh I agree – we don’t plan on travelling abroad (nor do I fancy paying the inflated sums to stay in the UK for that matter), but it’s the principle of the insurance company specifically excluding the risk whilst still doubling the cost.

Part of it is I suspect the traditional business model - a less competitive quote for renewal. As you say, shop around - or just don't get insurance.
Part will quite obviously be the insurance company needing to raise premiums to stay in business.
Part will be increased peripheral risks. Some could be excluded like airline/accommodation going bust. You could imagine that crime rates and healthcare provision will be indirectly affected by the Pandemic. So won't be excluded but will increase the chances of a claim.