Why would you take you family on holiday without travel insurance?!

France, Netherlands, and Germany from personal experience. Everyone has cheap insurance to cover those bits.

Eating a pizza at a restaurant is hardly an extreme sport.

I get why people make risky choices for themselves; I don't understand how its possible for them to do that on behalf of their dependant children.

Because they are idiots all the experts like Martin Lewis says when you book your holiday on the same day etc book travel insurance so you r covered from day one if you have to cancel in case of illness or other reasons and of course if anything happens abroad I don’t get it why folks don’t!,

I don't mean treatment wise, I mean what if you have a child who needs to stay, for example? Who's going to cover your accommodation, all your missed work etc?

Yes, you have to take this into the account. That can happen.

Anyway, they were in Turkey that is not in EU so there they should absolutely have insurance.

Just found it on Tripadvisor. You don't pay for the X-ray, right? There is a contribution that was, in 2017, 3 euros. Is that right?

And what about the costs that are racking up whilst you are away? One of my DC got chickenpox whilst we were on holiday and the medical costs were the smallest part of the claim. The extra accommodation and new flights home came to nearly £2k.

And if it’s something more serious you could be stuck there for a very long time. What happens if you end up in a coma?

Homestly, you are playing with fire if you don’t get travel insurance.

But you'd buy appropriate insurance for the activities you intend to do on holiday (or don't do them).

No. Because my husband surprised me for a holiday to Italy.

the day before we were due to fly his father had a heart attack and they paid in full

faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-26795/en-us#:~:text=Views%3A,work%20in%20another%20member%20state.

GHIC gives access to healthcare but not necessarily foc. There are many clinics in French resorts , for example, which are private and you will be taken to nearest one.

You will be travelling back by yourself in that instance and that can be bloody expensive. GHIC does NOT cover repatriation costs (which can run into £10,000s). GHIC does not cover anyone staying to assist you either. Travel insurance on the other hand does. As an aside, I know from experience that in Greece (Rhodes specifically), you have to pay for x-rays.

Because I forgot about it. I managed to get the GHIC in time, and the passports. I did think about insurance and intended to get it but it's only now I read this thread that I realise I didn't, instead I forgot about it entirely.

I'm not stupid (thanks, PP). But I do have ADHD, was pretty overwhelmed with stuff at the time so dropping balls all over the place, and it was only the second time I'd been out the country with the DC so I'm not in the habit of doing it.

Not making excuses, before you all start. Just explaining how it can happen, for the incredulous.

I didn’t go abroad this summer because I had outstanding referral for undiagnosed symptoms and couldn’t get insurance.

No insurance, no travel as far as I’m concerned.

Its not even health stuff. Its far more likely the airline looses your bag or your villa gets burgled. Just think how much it would cost to replace ALL your belongings, get emergency travel documents issued etc.

we claimed on a scouts trip to switzerland. Having insrance meant we could claim back all the taxi trips to
and from the hospital, the injured scout very nearly aasnt allowed on the flight home so we could have been covered for having to stay longer etc. insurance was £18 per person. The cost of the ambulance alone was €1200!

Its not even health stuff. Its far more likely the airline looses your bag or your villa gets burgled. Just think how much it would cost to replace ALL your belongings, get emergency travel documents issued etc.

we claimed on a scouts trip to switzerland. Having insrance meant we could claim back all the taxi trips to
and from the hospital, the injured scout very nearly aasnt allowed on the flight home so we could have been covered for having to stay longer etc. insurance was £18 per person.

Travel insurance is 100% necessary for anyone who does not have a bottomless bank account in case of disaster.

But surely for this family, someone needs to help them with a claim against the paraglider.

Which, of course, an insurance company would do.

The family need to be looking at medical costs and potential compensation.

This was specialist travel insurance - they were the ONLY company who would insure us. Genuinely, repatriation would have been cheaper than travel insurance for us.

You are not. You contact GHIC in the UK and it get sorted with the hospital. There is a number to call.

But I very much doubt you will be staying that long. As soon as you can, you will go back to the UK.

Which ones? I have been trying to google this but cannot find a country where the locals would have to pay for this in the EU.

In this instance it's a classic case of victim blaming. I don't quite see why they are having to pay as its clearly a 3rd party claim

Yes, that makes sense. So you just have to stay for the treatment. Not ideal but it's not like you are left to die.

And what if treatment is months or years? How are you going to pay for that?

Sometimes people think they have holiday insurance but the insurance companies can be very sneaky at finding loopholes to get out of paying.

The company who flew the bloke into her is liable.
they should be following that route.

DH is very anti-insurance as we have funds to pay if there is a problem (but I always get insurance when we go away alone!)