Another day, another person with inadequate travel insurance

I would never travel without travel insurance. But do feel very reassured that we have an amazing charity in Ireland who will repatriate any Irish citizen who dies abroad. The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. They don’t just deal with providing the money they handle everything. Just amazing people who support people in their darkest hour.

Yes I didnt get that either, that poster seemed to be implying the only way anyone can have fun, spend time with their family or "make memories" is to go abroad. Why?

Sure, you might want to have a fancy holiday abroad (totally get that) but there are many things I am sure we all want right now, but cant afford them! A holiday abroad is certainly not a necessity.

If she had travel insurance but didn't realise it doesn't cover repatriation it's very harsh to judge and not fair, it's the insurance companies you should have a go at. We had a holiday booked for Canada then covid struck (we'd booked with a Canadian airline so ATOL didn't cover it), we had adequate insurance, when we tried to get a refund on the flights insurance told us to go to the credit card, credit card told us to go to insurance, back and forth..... 4 years it took us to get a refund and then we found out that the insurance had authorised the refund months before but had 'forgotten' to tell us!

It’s not allowed in Cape Verde, according to media reports.

The point is that the company saved a huge amount by not having to pay for repatriation - body or ashes.

Totally agree. Nightmare. But, as with all insurance, and because I'm also dyslexic, I normally insist on a phonecall and make sure that phone call is recorded and that I have access to a draft of it. It's a complete pain in the behind but it does make sure I've covered as much as I can.

The average reading age of adults in the UK is between 9 and 11 years old. Have a look through a travel insurance policy and imagine a child in year 5 of primary school reading it.

@AWeeCupOfTeaAndAnIndividualFruitTrifle Are you saying that having a holiday abroad is a right or have I misread you somehow???

My mother is 84 and has a plethora of illnesses. She was desperate to go to Florida one last time. The MAIN cost was her insurance. That was paid first.

I live in a British seaside town. Remember them? The ones struggling to thrive because of families going abroad????? We have long golden beaches, cheap accommodation (as well as expensive), outdoor swimming pools, parks, country houses, gorgeous cafes and restaurants, strict disability rules and inclusions, business owners just desperate to give you and your family memories to last a lifetime and all backed by the NHS.

As a hard working family I don't question your 'right' to a holiday but I assure you it doesn't have to be abroad and this way you don't need the travel insurance either!

@Danhausenrocks

we have annual cover through the bank and every few months we call them to add any new medical conditions and list any visits /calls/emails to the gp using our nhs apps as reference so nothing is missing. Our insurance company is good and so far hasn’t added surcharges and did remark a few weeks ago they wished all ongoing insurance customers would be as diligent as they hate refusing to pay but they need to know before your travel (or even book) the risk level of you the insured.

The death occurred over 2 years ago.

Yeah I remember reading that. Would put me off.

There are charities that will repatriate the remains for a small donation. One was started by a guy who lost a close family member overseas and found himself in dire straits.

It’s an awful place. Beautiful beaches and the hotels are unbelievably luxurious but unless you never leave the resort you’re acutely aware of how exploitative the entire thing is.

I remember a famous wealthy sportsman was in a car accident in Nigeria. They have fancy hospitals for the rich but no ambulance or paramedic service to get you there.

CV has a few basic clinics. If a tourist is ill they are airlifted to Tenerife. Though several have died in the last year alone.

Cape Verde is notorious for it's lack of medical facilities and tourist illness.
Shigella virus is common and can be deadly.
As to travel insurance, mine costs about £500 due to health conditions. I can't travel at all ATM , not because I'm too ill but because I have undiagnosed conditions which travel insurance wouldn't cover and I'm on an NHS waiting list 8 months long.

However good your insurance all the insurers use the same few claims handling companies who are notoriously difficult to deal with. Especially when you are abroad and dealing with a foreign health system in another language.

I've never been to Cape Verde, but it sounds like the issue might be the isolation and small numbers as much as the poverty. There's a lot of societies where many of the people are desperately poor but services exist for those who can pay for them. A place where there just aren't certain things even if you could throw money at them is something completely different.

Mind you, I never go any further than the Med so there's that.

She didn’t even check if it covered it.

I think 24hrs is common in hot places for obvious reasons…conversely we had North American/canadian borders neighbours for awhile, her mum died and I said oh you’ll be going home for the funeral, no - turns out the ground freezes so hard they can’t even dig a grave with a digger, so people who die over winter just have to be warehoused until spring!

Maybe they had insurance, but a cheaper version? In my student days I was audiotyping in a law office and it opened my eyes - insurance companies (be it medical, or travel) will do everything in their power not to pay - for example in those days (1990s) there were lots of adverts on TV - buy a 3.99 per month cover and you are medically protected. The amount of people who took it to mean literally 'fully covered'. So many people were duped. Insurance companies will always try to get out of paying, unless very expensive insurance is bought - I read an article where it says that some US insurance covers suicide (!!!!) but annual charges are $70K pa. Crazy world, insurance.

I think this is a little unfair - you can of course go on holiday without insurance if you wish but then you cant really complain if something like this happens.

Thats the entire point of insurance isnt it? if the risk of something dreadful happening is too awful to comprehend then dont risk it.

There are plenty of lovely places to go in the UK- it's not like you can only have a good time outside of the UK or that the entire UK is some horrible dump of a place! You can still have a relaxing break away with your family here to make memories

I normally agree when people post these threads about someone having no travel insurance whatsoever, the gofundme’s for people who’ve been in accidents who just had no insurance are infuriating. However, this does sound a bit different in that they did in fact have insurance, it just didn’t cover the right things. To me, that’s more of an innocent mistake. Loads of us take out insurance without checking the fine print of what is included as we assume it covers what we need. Not saying that’s the most sensible thing in the world but it’s more understandable and excusable than just doing nothing (to me anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Most travel insurance will either pay for repatriation or for a modest funeral in situ ( the costs are pretty much equal).

My travel insurance costs almost as much as my cruise holiday because I have so many medical problems, but I'm paying for peace of mind. Even if you need treatment for something like awful food poisoning you're not covered if you didn't tell them you had a history of something else totally unconnected. Valid travel insurance is a must and I hate all the posts on just giving asking for donation towards medical costs.

I actually worry about having visitors from abroad and something happening to them while they're staying with me. Because I think that people from other countries in Europe just assume that we have decent emergency healthcare here, like in their home countries. And we really don't. At some point something bad is going to happen to a tourist and the news will get out and affect the British tourist industry. It's a bit like the potholes and the run-down towns - people visit the UK and discover that they're no longer in a first world country.

I agree - I find this story very odd frankly. It sounds like she hasn't actually checked if her insurance would cover it or not so that detail is very strange- why hasn't she checked? I wouldnt bury someone in a country I didnt want to because I thought the insurance "might not" cover it- I would be checking first if it actually did or not. I am wondering if she actually didnt have any insurance at all.

Its incredibly sad of course and I feel for her, but I also think to go on holiday when you are mid 70s to a place where food poisoning is rife and to not double check your insurance is extremely fool hardy. It seems like there were already lots of concerns about health and safety there so I dont know why they stayed. I wouldnt have done if I had been as concerned as she was- the story makes it sounds utterly horrendous so I dont know why they didnt just fly home.