Ozempic confusion putting travel insurance at risk for thousands

Thousands of travel insurance customers may be unaware that their weight loss treatment can be counted as medication for a pre-existing condition – an oversight which has the potential to lead to misrepresentation and the possible voiding of their cover.

This information comes from a survey of 1,000 Britons conducted by market research firm Consumer Intelligence between 15 and 20 August 2025.

New weight loss injections such as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic work by mimicking the effect of GLP-1, a peptide hormone released by the body after eating, whose effects include lowering blood sugar, slowing stomach emptying and suppressing appetite.

Despite the common perception that weight loss injections are a cosmetic treatment, their emergence as an NHS-prescribed medication – some 6% of UK adults have used them since they become commonly offered by the NHS at the end of 2023 – has led many insurers to classify them as treatment for pre-existing conditions.

Indeed, the survey revealed that just 52% of respondents identified the injections as medical treatments, with 24% of that total identifying them as a treatment for an ongoing health condition.

In contrast, 11% of surveyees believed the injections were a purely cosmetic treatment, 10% believed they were a lifestyle support tool and 26% were unsure how the medication should be classified.

Ian Hughes, chief executive at Consumer Intelligence, explained the risks this misunderstanding poses: “This confusion isn’t academic, it has real consequences for millions of Britons purchasing travel and health insurance.

“When a quarter of the population doesn’t know whether their medication counts as a pre-existing condition, we’re seeing a perfect storm for claim disputes and coverage gaps.

“The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) reported a 23% increase in travel insurance complaints in 2024, with medical disclosure disputes being a leading cause.”

Growing concern

The potential for accidental misrepresentation is large – an estimated 4 million UK adults have already used new weight loss medications and, with 64% of the population (45 million people) described by the NHS as overweight or obese, that number has the potential to grow by many multiples.

The NHS figures further illustrate the gaps between consumer perception and reality, given that only 45% of surveyees identified themselves as overweight or obese.

More concerningly for insurers, a gap existed between the amount of people who said they were currently taking prescription medicines (60%) and the amount who acknowledged they had a medical condition they take medication for (53%).

“This discrepancy isn’t just semantics – it demonstrates how the wording of insurance questions can inadvertently lead to non-disclosure. When consumers don’t connect their prescriptions to ‘medical conditions’, the risk of unintentional misrepresentation increases significantly,” said Hughes.

Innovation opportunity 

As previously reported by Insurance Times, last year travel insurance claims reached their highest level in a decade – barring the year impacted by Covid-19 – driven largely by consumers’ dissatisfaction with insurers denying their claims.

Abby Thomas, chief executive and chief ombudsman of the FOS, said: “With millions of families heading overseas on their summer breaks, it’s crucial that people taking out travel insurance know what they are signing up to. It’s concerning to see so many people dissatisfied with their insurance provider.”

Given this warning, and the potential growth the weight loss injection market could see, insurers may need to make a choice between maintaining a rigorous approach to medical classification, seeking increased information on cosmetic versus medical usage, or creating unique carveouts for the popular new medication.

Either way, insurers will need to achieve increased clarity for consumers, or risk the impact of further claims disputes and coverage gaps.