When travelling to Europe.....

[TicketsPleases]

What do you do regarding the insurance situation? Do you just use your GHICs for the insurance stuff or do you buy extra travel insurance? If so, where's the best place to buy travel insurance. We just used to go without. But now I see on the EES question they'll ask questions now.

I get travel insurance via my bank plus the added EHIC. But I would pay extra if I went to say the USA and it would be expensive because I have previous medical issues. So the USA is out for me.

I'm presuming this is a holiday in Europe.

This, plus you are usually offered it several times when booking flights and checking in so I find the OPs line of questioning quite odd.

Asking how to buy travel insurance is like asking how to buy milk. If you know how to book a flight, it takes s special kind of wilful ignorance to be apparently unaware of the need for travel insurance and how to buy it.

He is wrong

Say you won't travel with him until he sorts himself out - believe me you don't want the trauma of something going wrong while he's every so cleverly trying to save a tenner.

Do parents travel with uninsured kids? Id treat that as an endangerment issue.

Your GHIC normally only covers the proportion that basic local insurance covers for residents. In France, for example, it's usually about 70%. To get the rest covered we have to take out additional health insurance (called a mutuelle) on top of the basic amount everyone pays (deducted from salary or through regular contributions if self employed).

Switzerland covers up to 90% (95 in one canton I think) but everything is more expensive.

Yes people sometimes get lucky and everything is paid for but that's not how it's supposed to work.

It is only a waste of money when you don't need it.... it you need it then it could save you £1000s and a huge amount of stress!!

Have a look at the Martin Lewis website
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/03/martin-lewis-holiday-warning/

Then search using a cashback site like
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=TopCashback%20Compare%20Travel%20Insurance

Provided you don't have anyone with previous medical issues / very old people traveling, you can probably cover for less £ than it costs to go out for lunch!

Book asap so you are covered if someone gets ill before you even set off.

Don't forget to declare all previous existing conditions, include thoings like menopause/ HRT, asthma (even if it's well controlled or you don't take any meds for it) as (some) insurance companies will try to get out paying if you haven't told them absolutely everything!

It’s actually a bit of a pain because technically you are supposed to go through every reason every family member has gone to a GP in the last two years and if you’re “awaiting investigation” for anything (eg a scan) then you could well be technically uninsurable. Insurance companies will find any way to not pay out if they need to.

anyway there are two main kinds- single trip or multi trip policies (if more than one trip this will be better value). We have a multi trip Europe only policy but via an upgraded bank account. Essentially it was cheaper to upgrade the bank account than to insure us separately. Anyway because it’s an annual policy it’s basically rolling which means we’re covered should something happen to us or any trips we’ve arranged at any time. If you are booking stuff separately bear in mind you’re not insulted until you actually buy the policy. So putting it simply if you travel in March and buy the policy in feb and something happens in January which means you can’t go, or the airline goes bust, you won’t be covered!

Insurance is non negotiable.
Drives me nuts when I see people crowd funding to fund their care or repatriation. If you can't afford the insurance you can't afford the holiday.
Take out insurance as soon as you book then you're immediately covered if you need to cancel due to illness etc.
We have an annual policy as we are away frequently. Ours is with Saga.

While I do admit to have travelled abroad alone without proper cover it’s bloody irresponsible as a family IMO. Friend’s son got a horrible parasitic infection on a very standard family package holiday to Turkey and was in hospital for five days, delayed return etc. All cost thousands but it was dealt with swiftly.

Your dh is a twat. Insurance is essential as soon as you book the holiday. The GHIC is not sufficient. There’s so many places to get travel insurance.

This.

I find it very difficult to believe you are IT savvy enough and literate enough to book flights and accommodation but not able to go to Confused.Com / Compare the Market / etc to sort yourself some travel insurance.
As others have said, if you find that too tricky then we've often found the Post Office to be as competitive as anywhere else.
It is important to be honest about any appointments you've had or any diagnoses, however old, and about anything you are waiting for hospital appts for, but if you don't have any medical conditions then travel ins costs very little compared with the price of the holiday, and it seems incredibly daft to have to risk selling your home to pay bills otherwise, for the sake of saving £20 - £30.

You can book it at the time you book everything else, but pricewise you are probably better not linking it, but timewise, you book it from when you book the holiday, so you are then covered if you can't go.

I use comparison sites to ALWAYS buy travel insurance. I believe GHIC would only cover some stuff and/or gives local rates for treatment.

You only have to look at the local newspapers’ discussing GoFundMes for so and so stuck in Spain or wherever with thousands of pounds in bills or repatriation costs. Have I ever needed to use the travel insurance, in Europe or worldwide? No. Could I afford a serious incident or hospital stay without it? Also no.

We've never had insurance for Europe in 30 years and never needed it - god knows how much money we've saved! Just have GHIC. We always have it for outside Europe. We wouldn't ever GoFundMe though! We have a house in Spain and would just pay if there was something we had to pay for.

GHIC covers most things though so I'm with your DH.

Then you’re a bit dim. For our family policy (with a couple of health conditions) over 30 years you’d have saved £1800 by not having it. Peanuts compared to what could happen in an instant and cost you eye watering amounts. Completely irresponsible.

@lolly427 "GHIC covers most things though so I'm with your DH."

This is complete nonsense. GHIC covers very little.

The GHIC only covers some aspects of healthcare and even then it might not cover all costs. As others have already posted, GHIC does not cover repatriation, cancellation, delays, additional costs of emergency accommodation or additional travel, lost luggage, third party liability, legal costs and more. For most people travel insurance covers all of these for just a few pounds a day - a small cost when compared with the cost of the holiday.