Do you think holiday insurance is a necessity or a luxury?

It must depend on where you live then because that wasn't an option for me.

My point is that never in a million years would I have predicted that what happened to me would end up costing me money. Fortunately I have annual cover because we typically go to Europe with the car a couple of times a year so we were covered for it.

It's a personal choice of course but now I just get a annual policy to auto renew.

That could happen if you went out for the day as pp said

Because the Spanish didn’t want to keep paying for his treatment? That happens!

So I need insurance for daytrips now?

You are lucky. Not so lucky for a family member who was in ITU on a ventilator 250miles from home. He waited 16 weeks for the NHS to fly him home. He lives in England (south east) and was taken ill in Scotland. they had tried and failed to arrange transport multiple times. However had said he would have been home in 48hrs after he was medically fit to fly if we had insurance it cost thousands of pounds for family by his bedside. We did look at privately flying him home- however was going to cost in the region of £300,000....

Companies like RAC, AA, etc bring your car home if can’t drive it, if you are a member and have the appropriate cover so worth having that

I have been hours away from home and needed NHS care, and they arranged transport home. No insurance needed.

Ah, that makes sense. That is usually included with the booking though.
This thread reads like you need to take out a specific policy.

Yeah. Nobody thinks they need it until they need it.

It’s usually for if you cancel or can’t go or damage to the property rather than medical because you just use NHS

I only ever go on long weekends that are no more than 2 hours from my home... and I go with DM who drives. I can not think why I would need travel insurance for something like that.

I fell ill and was in hospital in the UK several hundred miles from home. I had to pay for a company to drive my car back home and a private ambulance to get me home. I had sepsis and it took me much longer to recover than the 2 week hospital stay and I couldn't drive for weeks after. (Partner can't drive for reasons I won't go into here) Plus the additional accommodation for my partner who had to stay on while I was in hospital. It's not just about the medical expenses. Costs mount up significantly. That costs thousands. Claimed back through insurance.

It's crazy not to have insurance. Even in Europe where health care is reasonable, costs can run into thousands for even relatively minor care of you end up in hospital. In the USA it can be tens of thousands.

I find it ironic that some people consider insurance unnecessary but would be happy to crowd fund to get their medical expenses paid for. It's a strange attitude. I don't want to pay but are happy for others to pay for me.

Insuring for what? Healthcare? In the UK, with the NHS.

Insurers would like you to think so.

I go to Europe without travel insurance, I wouldn't go outside Europe without travel insurance due to medical costs. We go abroad 5-7 times a year and have never needed travel insurance in 40 years - IME insurers will try anything to get out of paying out anyway.

If local care is sufficient then insurance might not be prepared to cover repatriation anyway. If i died abroad I would just happily have a local cremation, repatriation is a choice.

I didn't know holiday insurance for the UK was a thing. is this something I should be worried about now?

I don’t know, sometimes insurance can be excessive. I was waiting for consultation on fibroids - so just gynae, but because I’m was on the nhs waiting list, I had to declare this. Which meant I now had to get pre existing medical insurance cover, ended up being close to a grand. Luckily after some back and forth on the phone they reduced it to around 600, which I think is a lot of money. We paid it, but insurance can be crazy excessive sometimes and there will always be something in the t&c’s that they will try and find a way to not pay you out.

It’s an absolute necessity and ridiculous to travel without it. Twice in my life I’ve had to claim, once was hospitalised on a holiday with a severe allergic reaction to something I had no idea I was allergic to. Second time when MIL died and we had to cancel at short notice. In both cases I was so grateful and relieved that we had insurance.

If they were treating it there then I can't see why the need for that. But yeah staying there for a few more weeks is preferable and damn sight cheaper than 34k

Necessity. Although it's easy to get caught out and do a thing that in retrospect you aren't covered for. And there was a lot of prevarication around responsibility of insurers in the event of war. To me that should be one of the reasons you buy insurance, to get you out of a war has started.

Going abroad - necessity. Even if you have an EHIC or whatever it's now called, you might need to be flown back to the UK, or your remains might if you die over there.

Staying in UK - depends whether you can stand to lose the cost of your holiday if you're not able to go.

Of course you should have insurance! And GHIC card.
Unf it’s easy for the companies not to pay out as for illness you pretty much have to declare if you’ve sneezed in the past two years!
FIL was caught out years ago, he had a suspected heart attack and although was insured, hasn’t declared a small health issue and they wouldn’t pay out.

I found myself in urgent need of medical assistance while abroad one year, I was in pain and panicking, when I suddenly realised that we had travel insurance. My DH phoned them, explained the situation, and got the OK for treatment within a couple of minutes. I can't tell you the relief it was, especially when we got to the hospital, and were stopped by a doctor at the door, who wouldn't even let me in until they'd actually spoken to my insurance company to check that I had the necessary cover. Imagine getting to that point, only to find yourself turned away at the door, doesn't bare thinking about, does it?

I also disagree with someone who said they didn't understand why people bother to insure for holidays in the UK. Yes, we have the NHS if we are ill whilst away, but if you've paid out for a nice hotel, or rented an exclusive holiday cottage, and then a family member is taken ill, or dies, just as you're about to go away. You've then lost the complete cost of your holiday, which could run into £2 or £3k or even more. So again, I think it's worth it.

It's not much so yes we always get it. However when we were robbed on holiday the insurance company refused to pay out! It's more for medical risks, especially in countries whichcharge a fortune! Xx