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

Insurers haven't been able to get away with this as much as they used to for a while now.

For example, a colleague of mine recently had to claim due to a broken leg. At the time they were on a waiting list for a completely unrelated medical procedure in the UK, which they didn't mention when taking out insurance.

Insurer initially tried to refuse their claim on the basis of this non-disclosure, but quickly relented when challenged.

They can still refuse to pay out if the treatment you're claiming for is related to a medical condition/investigation you failed to disclose.

I hope they aren’t suggesting that as it’s entirely his choice provided he can find the money to pay for any treatment he needs, possibly a significant five figure sum, without resorting to crowdfunding. He should definitely avoid the USA however.

Certain types of holiday demand travel insurance actually. Cruises and rail holidays that I have booked have all specified travel insurance is obligatory. Why wouldn’t you ffs………anything can happen, as the OP states.

Surely only the country accepting you can implement that

We always take out travel insurance as a family but I can understand why some people, especially older ones, don’t and take the risk. As a family of 3, we pay less than £100 for our annual cover…my parents who are 80, recently took out cover and for both of them, it’s over £1k. Yes I know in comparison to medical bills, repatriation by medical flights etc it’s a small amount but when you do it yearly and never claim, I can see why it’s tempting to skip it as it’s eye watering expensive for some..

Yes!!!

It’s a risk for them to travel without insurance. Do they have a plan for how they would pay for any treatment they would use? I suspect they can get insurance but it’s very expensive because of these conditions.

It would be expensive but there are insurers who insure for pretty much anything

What would happen if he became ill? Can he or the family afford it?

A little bit extra on your holiday cost is far better than the 000s you could be charged

It was your friends choice to take the risk and effectively self insure

I think it’s above a certain level that the claims are invalid. Insurance companies know that most are going to drink alcohol on holiday. It’s when you drink too much, fall off the balcony, go swimming or do other activities made dangerous by too much alcohol in your system that it’s a problem. In these cases insurance are right not to pay out.

Totally agree with you - would never travel with out it. Had a really nasty coach crash in turkey 20 odd years ago - had insurance thank god - but shows that anything can happen! Get good cover - it’s selfish and irresponsible not too

A friends DS travelled without insurance, he became very ill, was hospitalised and she ended up forking out over £50k to pay hospital bills and repatriate him. Anyone knowingly travelling without insurance is an absolute idiot.

When you’re elderly, and have moved home a few times, it’s possible that your previous medical records are not passed on to each GP practice you’ve registered with. Even when you get a copy of your records not every single little thing is mentioned that is on your main records. A PP said she was refused because she had for to mention a small patch of eczema- that’s scary. It’s perfect possible to have forgotten conditions that resolved themselves or were not treated.where does it all end?
Surely all that should be necessary is to list any significant medical conditions that you had or have now, any past surgery, accidents and present medications . Any minor illnesses in the past and recovered from are not relevant now. It’s a wonder they don’t penalise us for not mentioning nappy rash sixty years ago. It really puts me off going abroad, especially to America, if some forgotten triviality from the past is going to rear its ugly head from way back in my records if I make a claim!

Also pretty much all are invalid if you have alcohol in your body, and that's any amount. So who rarely goes on hol and drinks nothing!

Pretty much yes!!! What’s going to happen if he needs medical treatment when abroad? Can he afford to pay for it??

Of course it wouldn't. There isn't a monopoly insurance provider. There are hundreds of companies which will all be competing on price.

There are specialists who do travel for long term conditions / serious illness.

My mum was able to get it with diabetes, glaucoma and terminal cancer.

Although I do think there should be regulations about what is and isn't covered. A friend went to Australia on a 'working holiday visa' a lot of the insurance for working holidays actually excluded manual labour.

One of the main things many people on working holidays is fruit picking.

I’ve declared mine and it didn’t actually cost any extra. Incidentally it’s the condition they wanted to know about (obesity) which is ironic as I’d never declared my weight before going on medication. I also wondered how many people in the only just obese category have declared that??

You did though 😂

But that's not the point. If he went knowingly that he is unwell then why should other people suffer on his behalf? Totally selfish.

I paid for insurance for our family. The cheapest quote was £800. Several companies were several thousand pounds. We have several pre existing conditions.

Our policy does have a lot of exemptions, well they all do. But at least we have tried.

No, this should not be law.

Trouble is - for me the insurance is nearly as much as the holiday cost because of heart problems. So I do not go abroad.

It’s easy to say just get insurance, when you can get it for £20 online. I always thought the same until I started being investigated for various health issues.

I’m not going into my medical history but insurance would be hard for me to get right now and ridiculously expensive. Yet the chances of me getting seriously ill on a week away are extremely low. So yes I took the risk.

The way things stand for me currently, the insurance cost would be more than the trip itself in most cases. As most of my trips are short breaks to Europe. So then it’s not really a case of, if you can afford the holiday you can afford insurance.

It doesn’t affect you personally if people do a GFM. You don’t have to donate. People make their own risk assessments. You only hear about it when things go wrong but lots of people do travel without insurance and are fine, as I was. I wouldn’t go to America uninsured, but I don’t want to go there again anyway!