Hi Katejo - sorry I didn't want to worry you, but really just to reinforce what Dazned had said above - that insurers sometimes find ways to avoid claims. I perhaps should have said 'could' get copies of your medical records rather than 'would' get copies, as obviously the smaller claims are processed just on the basis of medical reports of the incident claimed. I think you would probably have less of an issue with an accident-type claim or a normal holiday-type illness (sickness, UTI, etc.). They are more likely to investigate the larger claims and those which are unusual and perhaps may (in their minds) be related to pre-existing conditions, e.g. if someone had a heart attack they may investigate whether they had experienced heart problems previously.
You need to look at the wording of the question on the proposal form regarding disclosure of pre-existing conditions. A lot of the insurers now give advice on what they consider should be disclosed. For example, last year OH walked the Camino and I took out a travel insurance for him in case he needed to be airlifted off a mountain. He has medication for high blood pressure, but the question on the (online) proposal form stated that routine medication for BP, statins, etc. did not need to be disclosed. Of course, the policy was never tested as he suffered nothing more than the loss of a couple of toenails. That is the problem with policies, you never know how good they are until you need to claim.