Don't buy HSBC travel insurance!

My husband just told me that he's renewed our annual HSBC travel insurance. He told them that I have a gastric band and the lady went away to ask someone about it. She came back and told him that they will renew our insurance but I won't be covered in the event that anything happens relating to my band. Now, I read something somewhere about the gastric band being treated by some companies as a 'pre-existing condition' but I am still unclear on what the position is. I wonder if they treat women with breast implants in the same way????!!

Personally, I think this is ridiculous and am searching for an alternate travel insurance provider who is a bit more enlightened. We bandits, after all, are loads more healthy post-surgery than we were before. The surgery was the solution, not the problem, and certainly shouldn't be regarded as a 'condition'! In theory, they should reduce our premium because of the band because we are less at risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes, to say nothing of all sorts of mobility problems.

I wonder whether we should have declared it at all? I guess I wouldn't be that averse to paying a slightly higher premium, but for the company to simply exclude this 'condition' and not cover it is just silly and money-grabbing.

Anyway, I will investigate further and see what I find out. Meanwhile, I advise you NOT to purchase HSBC travel insurance!