To be sick of people starting to fund me pages when they go on holiday without travel insurance and can’t afford medical bills when they end up in hospital?

The other thing about insurance is it will usually cover the ancilliary expenses. My husband was taken (unexpectedly and seriously) ill when we were abroad in last year. He had the good fortune to fall ill in a city with one of the leading cardiology departments in Europe and received world class care. But he was hospitalised for 3 weeks, which was longer than the planned trip so obviously hotel bookings ran out, flights were cancelled etc.

The cost of his care was actually surprisingly low (we think the hospital systems hadn't caught up with Brexit so charged us as EU citizens) but the insurance covered a small apartment for me while I was staying with him, our re-arranged flights, a taxi home. All those little expenses which really add up if you have someone in hospital overseas for more than a day or so....

There would never be a catch-all method but if it encourages everyone to at least take out a policy it'll inevitably reduce the number of cases where people are stuck in hospitals abroad. Even the most basic policies cover repatriation or a certain limit in hospital fees being covered. Yes you'd have to stump up for the rest but at least you'd be doing so at home, and able to continue care on the NHS.

If you can't afford the insurance you can't afford the holiday..... simple

Exactly this, we never book a holiday without insurance, we just consider it part and parcel. My husbands insurance is always expensive due to health issues but that's what we have to factor in 🤷

I am tired of funding other people's bad decisions. When people decide not to get insurance either because it's too expensive or they can't be bothered then they come unstuck, I have no sympathy for them!

Insurance companies are notorious for finding any kind of loophole to not pay out on travel insurance however, so it's important to make sure you are vey carful when you get your policy set up. Always notify them of any change in your health including pending referrals, read the small print, and never hire a scooter or do any kind of "dangerous" activity.

When my late brother-in-law had to cancel his holiday due to a cancer diagnosis, the insurance company refused to pay out because he'd seen the doctor and was waiting for a hospital referral for indigestion when the holiday was booked. It went to appeal and they did finally pay out but it took so long my poor BIL had already passed away. I heard about a person who slipped and fell on a wet floor, really hurting themselves only for their insurance company to refuse to cover them because they had drunk a glass of wine with their dinner and there was a strict no alcohol rule in place! Another person didn't get paid out after an accident because they didn't mention their recent gout diagnosis.

As I said above, all it would result in is people taking out cheap policies that wouldn't actually cover them in case of an emergency. Unless you expect them to give each passenger a health screening at check in too.

It is just a form of begging and I do not like it.

To those saying that £3k is a ridiculous amount. The women had chronic conditions and was travelling to the most medically expensive country in the world for a month.

The chances of her needing medical treatment / hospitalisation were probably pretty high. Flying long haul is notorious for spreading viruses, so having COPD makes you massively vulnerable.

Now she could potentially rack up millions. I wouldn't disagree that 3k is a huge amount to pay, but you're paying to cover a very big risk.

People are talking about travel insurance for medical expenses but the fact is that most claims on travel insurance are made pre-holiday - kids come down with chicken pox days before you fly; husband breaks his leg the week before you go; unexpected family bereavement, etc

You should take out insurance as soon as you book the holiday and yes always get as much medical cover as you can - especially for the US. Our last 3 holidays DD has been sick on 2 of them requiring antibiotics (very annoying, she’s not a sickly child at home!), each time we had to pay for a Dr consultation and the medication totalling about €150 each time but as soon as we got home we claimed on the insurance and got the costs back, less excess.

Then go to Disneyland Paris, or Legoland at Windsor. You don’t need to go to Florida!

As mentioned in my post above, treat the insurance rolled into bank accounts with caution. We were caught out by one of those. It's not something you can just sign up to and then never think about it again. You need to keep on top of the small print and inform them of every last thing.

Insist on seeing cover at the airport, like a visa? You have to have insurance to go on a cruise ship and they can (and often do) ask for proof at boarding.

I had a (lovely) holiday in the UK because I had an outstanding referral and couldn’t insurance easily. You just don’t take the risk.

I may have had a shred of sympathy had she never been before and this was the only way she could have afford a 'one-in-a-lifetime' short trip. However, she's been 20 times before and was away for a month. Nope, zero sympathy here.

£3000? Is that real? My last cover was £90 for me and DH for a week in Portugal. £3000? Why?!

If you have conditions that are THAT bad that your insurance for a holiday abroad is £3000, stay home FFS!

This….i don’t contribute….but they don’t bother me when I see them….good luck to them

What sort of insurance puts the premium up for a filling? That's bonkers!

I have travel insurance rolled into the fees for a bank account. I know this is subject to eligibility so probably wouldn’t have worked for the woman in the example quoted by the OP, but just thought I’d mention it as often for someone in reasonable health under 70 it’s often quite a good option and then you don’t need a separate policy each time.

I think people need to bake the cost into the price of the holiday - I’ve been doing this since I was a teen though as I used to go away kayaking and the notion of being trapped in a gorge with no insurance to pay for helicopter evac was absolutely terrifying!

I can't get my head around the woman that the OP is talking about, being able to fork out for a month long holiday to Florida (that must have cost near enough 5 figures!) But apparently she couldn't afford the insurance ...

.

It’s not nasty, it’s just what life is. Sometimes you can’t have everything you want if you can’t afford it.

I have a condition that could suddenly kill me. If I don’t have adequate insurance my whole family is going to suffer - like the woman in questions family. Think of the stress they’re now all going through because she’s made the decision to go on an extravagant break without insurance. It’s selfish. I’m sorry but it is.

If you need to make memories then do so but everyone has to live within their means. I’d love to go to the Maldives (for example) for 4 weeks but the insurance would put it out of my league- it’s just something you have to accept.

@Moveoverdarlin Sorry but I don’t agree with that. Age is no indicator of travel insurance requirements. A former colleague lost his daughter in a car crash while she was on holiday. Only 22 years old. The insurance company flew the family out almost immediately and had her body repatriated. Her boyfriend suffered life changing injuries and his medical costs were covered plus his return flights. Can you imagine how awful it would be losing your child abroad and not having the means to bring them home.

This comes up fairly regularly on MN. But quite often it's not people travelling without insurance, but people unwittingly travelling with inadequate insurance. We were caught out with the travel insurance included with our bank account, eventually they relented and the bill wasn't huge, but it was a salutary lesson.

If you have travel insurance included with your bank account, have you trawled through the smallprint (and all the updates) and have you informed them of any health conditions?

Ultimately I don't understand why people are bothered by this. If people want to contribute to a fundraiser it's up to them. If you don't, then don't.

Meaning her condition self inflicted in the first place

COPD is what heavy smokers get so I'm guessing she was or still is a smoker

Well with her underlying conditions abs the fact she has fallen ill and ended up in hospital I'm not surprised they quoted £3K