To think that it should be illegal to go abroad without travel insurance

What when you are not unwell at all and still get extremely extortionate quotes as I did 18 months ago.

One of my relatives will not go abroad again due to the cost of insurance which is appropriately high

If people can’t afford health insurance they shouldn’t travel abroad. It’s not that great a hardship if you are that unwell.

Well what are you suggesting? That they do travel abroad and risk getting stuck with a bill for several hundred thousand pounds?

Surely people can remember the last 3 years of their health history?

Not my experience and I have several health conditions. I declare everything and pay the extra.

@OooPourUsACupLove I am really sorry about your husband And sorry that going abroad is not an option now. I guess these crazy insurance prices do exist, but as I said, most people will not be paying this, Most will pay less than £100 a person. Less than £50 in most cases.

Thing is, in the vast majority of cases, it's not the ones who have conditions that cost £1000 to insure who are popping abroad with no travel insurance. It's people who would have had to pay £33. Same people spend a small fortune on ciggies, bingo, vapes, booze, and scratchcards, but won't pay less than £40 for travel insurance. Then they start a GoFundMe page expecting other people to put their hand in their pocket. (And as I said, whilst no-one HAS to give, some people are soft and gullible and will fork out money!)

I have no idea where people are being offered these hilarously astronomical amounts!

DH has an incurable cancer. It will most likely be a few years before he is actually ill from it, but already mainstream insurers won't cover him. So far specialist cover has been £1000 to £3000 a trip depending on the destination.

I've been researching and I think there is cheaper cover available but we had to arrange it quickly around chemo and didn't have time to shop around. So we decided we will look at this as spending the money now instead of on the future holidays he won't get to have. 😥

Yeah this. Problem is, it's the people who are unable to fork out tens/hundreds of thousands of pounds in medical bills, who are the ones who go away with no travel insurance. Why bother when you can start up a GoFundMe? People keep coming out with this tedious line 'but you don't have to give to it!' but the thing is some people will, and DO. People who are soft, and kind-hearted, and gullible. And some will take advantage of people like this.

People who are financially well-off, and switched on, and savvy will take the travel insurance, because they don't want to use any of their money/wealth for medical bills. People who claim they can't afford it - but can miraculously afford the holiday, are the ones crying on social media, and begging for money for GoFundMe because they didn't want to pay for travel insurance. (That would very likely have been less than £50 each!) It's never rich/wealthy people. Not because most of them can afford the medical bills, but because they have the nouse to take out travel insurance!

A few posters have gone on about someone they know who had to pay £500 or £1000 for their travel insurance, but the fact is that the VAST MAJORITY of people will pay less than 3 figures. The average cost is around £30 to £40 per person! I know a number of people who have pre-existing medical conditions, asthma, chronic illness, diabetes, epilepsy, etc, and the amount they pay is still under £100. So I have no idea where people are being offered these hilarously astronomical amounts!

Yes I tried to get them to not cover me for cancer related stuff. That got the quote down to just over 2k.

Ridiculous as I Don't have any cancer and if it did reoccur it's not an emergency

You could buy a cheap £20 policy that wouldn't actually cover you in reality if that was an issue. You'd have paperwork to get in. Bit like buying a refundable ,( or fake) flight to show at check in to be allowed to board. In Kuala Lumpur flying to Thailand and airline wouldn't let me check in as had no flight out of Thailand within 30 days. I just booked one on the BA site, showed them the details, got checked in and cancelled the flight ( 24 hour free cancellation) when landed in Bangkok.

Ways and means round most things

We would also fully cover any cost if he became unwell.

Any cost? Are you sure?

It's not just risks of his known illness you need to cover. The OP's example was a car accident. He could be walking down the street totally blameless and BAM, hit by a badly driven car and suddenly you are looking at hundreds of thousands of pounds for surgery, care, accomodation, specialist travel...can you cover that for him?

Unless you can bail out any eventuality, ultimately you are taking a risk and gambling it will be ok.

And to be fair, really bad things like this don't usually happen. Usually it's ok. But with millions going overseas every year, every year the worst does happen to some people.

So if he is unlucky enough to be one of them and he has no insurance what would happen? Cling to a bed until the hospital chucks him out and then beg on the streets? Try and get the government to pay to get him home?

(We are in the same position as your family member BTW)

The OP "just" wants people travelling to make sure they will not be dumped without support in a foreign country should the worst happen. Seems fair enough to me.

Agree with this too! ^

100% ^

I don't think everything is on that app so I wouldn't rely on that, mine has got hardly anything on it.

If people sre stupid enough to go abroad without insurance, on their head be it. I wouldn’t donate to any begging site because of stupidity. 🤷‍♀️

It doesn't matter how "clear" the ts and cs are (and they often aren't), insurers will often find a spurious reason to not pay out.

Maybe they should do an accident cover. So anything linked to a pre existing condition is not covered, but accidents and new ailments are.

It should be mandated that you need to prove you're insured to enter the country - similar to a visa.

Yeah I was quoted £2400 on a trip because I'd had cervical cancer that was removed 2 years previously. Only other problem I'd had was appendicitis and that can reoccur as appendix was removed

What when the holiday is £600 and insurance £2400. That doesn't add up. Not everyone can get cheap insurance. I'm definitely one of them. Yet I have nothing pre existing wrong that could possibly need urgent treatment

The T&C are usually very clear. Everyone can look at their GP records via the NHS app and the policy usually only requires 3 to 5 years history. My insurance company always does a telephone interview and they are very clear about what does or does not need to be declared. You need to take as much time and effort organising travel insurance as you do planning the holiday. I was ill on holiday recently and the treatment costs were £6K. I wouldn't have been able to afford that.

Because not all insurance is £25? My friend’s parents in their 80s are going overseas next month, few health issues as expected at that ripe old age…over £1k insurance for them..

i think a lot of people on this thread have a completely false sense of security with having travel insurance. If you are paying £10, £20 the reviews might look good for the cost of the cover, but what are the reviews like from them who had to claim?
The travel insurance my parents took out (five star de facto rating, Martin Lewis recommended for people with medical conditions, absolutely not the cheapest on the market) were absolutely terrible.
The insurance company dr (who had previously been suspended by the gmc and only recently re admitted) tried to argue with the EU drs what the medical best course of action would be as they didn’t want to pay.
we were extremely lucky to be able to pay for a second opinion in the uk, and pay for a medical repatriation back home for surgery.
the insurance company wanted the cheapest option and not the one with the best clinical outcomes, and wanted a treatment against the Drs who were with him’s medical advice.
From another two uk tourists in the hospital at the same time (cardiology) this was not an uncommon tactic. Internet forums reveal the same: The insurance companies do not want to pay out:,
The insurance company delayed, in my opinion to such an extent I was convinced so they didn’t have to pay medical repatriation costs. we were lucky we could pay. If we couldn’t have paid, I may have reluctantly considered a go fund me as a last option.
I am also 100% sure that this is correct as they ended up settling out of court in the uk to reimburse the costs.

Yes I do, I also send over a pdf of my medical notes as thats easier to get everything recorded. If you have pre-existing conditions you get used to doing it really. You can however get a broker to do it for you, which still often works out cheaper in the end.