Elderly people who are comfortably off and in good health are in the enviable position of having both the means and the time to travel. Yet, as Mr O'S from Co Dublin has discovered, between charges for single supplements and age-related insurance loadings, they are being seriously discriminated against when they take holidays.

Mr O'S and his wife visit Florida for three months every year and also travel on the Continent. He turned 80 this year and was alarmed when Aer Lingus's TAB travel bureau informed him his annual insurance policy could not be renewed because he was now 80.

He contacted a number of travel agents and a specialist travel insurance broker, Ben McArdle Insurance in Dublin, and found out that depending on the travel firm, the cut-off age for travel insurance can be as low as 65 or 70, after which premiums if they are prepared to make you a quote will be heavily loaded, "in some cases up to 100 per cent extra". He says he isn't particularly concerned about losing cover for lost luggage, delayed flights or even for the cost of an air ambulance home.

"What I am worried about is if either of us became seriously ill and ended up in hospital, because of the horrendous cost of hospitalisation in the States."

Mr O'S is a Plan E policyholder with VHI and is entitled to treatment and cover up to a value of £13,500 while abroad, but this benefit only applies to temporary stays of less than 45 days. Mr and Mrs O'S visit Florida for 90 days each year.

"If we can't find someone to insure us, I suppose we'll have to stop going to Florida altogether," says Mr O'S. More recently, they were in France for a few weeks and while the couple did not bring any private insurance cover, they did at least have their VHI Assist plan and €111 forms with them, the latter of which allows them to get emergency medical care in another EU country.

Not all insurance policies reduce the age after which travel insurance either becomes too difficult to secure or too expensive. According to Mr John McCabe of Accident & General, his company recently increased the age restriction ceiling from 70 to 74 "because there is such a demand from older travellers for cover. But between the age of 74 and 79 the premium is doubled and for anyone 80 and over we must apply to the underwriter for clearance. For this we require a medical report from the customer's doctor."

Even if the person gets the medical go-ahead, the cost of the premium might be three or three-and-a-half times more expensive and cover is restricted to 30 days.

Family Money asked Mr McCabe how much Mr O'S would have to pay for 30 days' travel insurance now that he has turned 80: "Presuming he has got the all-clear from his doctor, about £175. His wife, if she is between 70-74, could get up to 94 days' cover, but it would cost about £100 a month or £300 in total."

It normally costs about £50 a month for travel insurance to the US, he says, and somewhat less to other countries where the cost of medical care is not so high. The Irish Travel Agents Association is reviewing insurance services available to its members, said chief executive, Mr Brendan Moran. "Members have raised this issue in the past, and the problems older travellers might have with age restrictions do need to be re-examined."

Mr Moran described such people "as valuable customers of our industry" and admitted that as the population ages and becomes more prosperous, their insurance needs will have to be reconsidered.

Industry officials are sympathetic about the difficulties posed by the age restrictions on insurance cover and they do not want to lose customers because of it. But one travel agent said he knows from personal experience that it is not uncommon for an elderly traveller to fall ill or even die while on holiday and that the underwriting risks are far higher for their age group than for younger holidaymakers.

"The only way to lower premiums would be for travel insurance to work on a sort of community rating system where everyone would pay the same price, regardless of age. And I just can't see younger people agreeing to that."