Holiday insurance.. why don't people get it?

[15February1960]

Reading so much lately about people going abroad on holiday without insurance.. then setting up Go Fund Me to help.. Then people even in the UK having to cancel holidays because of illness etc leaving them or friends out of pocket.. why don't people think to get insurance even if you live in the UK and are holidaying in the UK? I have annual insurance that covers abroad and the UK..

I think there should be some regulation of the Travel Ins industry, the "catch all" tell us if you ve seen a GP for anything at all (and we'll hike the premium) is one such example.
They should only be allowed to increase the premium for genuine reasons that could mean a claim... not that the insured had an ingrowing toe nail 2 years ago & only for things not covered under GHIC (for European travel)

Also, they wont cover anything, health wise, the GHIC will, so that leaves what? repatriation & mountain rescue.

I always take out ins but its getting more and more expensive, for less and less cover, in 40 years of going abroad, never made a health related claim & the only person i know who has, broken leg skiing, was denied the claim because she had not told them about a damaged shoulder 4 years earlier following a fall on a slippery pavement, she'd gone to AE, put in a sling, no further treatments.

Be careful with these insurers who say they will cover everything. I have a relative who has to take oral chemo for life. She told the firm, one of the biggest and best known about her medication and they said she was covered. Later she read something that caused her to query this and when she contacted them they said she wasn’t covered while having chemo! She was able to produce written evidence that they had agreed to cover her, and they backed down and said she would be covered- this time! She won’t be using them again. The ironic thing is it was a firm that supports and donates to blood cancer, yet they were very ill informed about it,

Another thing to consider is to get insurance for UK holidays in case you need to cancel.

People are crazy. There is was a story in the papers a few years ago whereby a group of 12 were going Disney World Florida one of their party had died (or a relative in their party.). None of them now wanted to go (not sure how close to the holiday the death occurred. The family were incensed that they weren’t being reimbursed ‘out of goodwill’ and of course had now gone to the papers. Complete with Daily Mail sad faces of course. Don’t think they got they got much sympathy.

Another recently the father got diagnosed with cancer so now can’t go. Bizarrely he does have insurance but thinks Disney should reimburse them in full because they’re a multibillion dollar corporation company. In this case I strongly suspect that by drawing it to their attention they’ll offer some upgrade on the holiday in a few years time because it doesn’t really make sense otherwise….

That’s fine if you’re wealthy enough to cover ICU in the USA, because it will cost millions! It’s foolhardy not to take out insurance, and I haven’t an ounce of sympathy for for weeping and wailing relatives who took the risk and expect the public to bale them out.

Another thing people dot or won’t understand is that if your accident or condition is because of too much alcohol the insurers won’t pay out. Obviously social drinking is expected on holiday, but if you fall over your balcony after boozing all evening , hard luck. Same applies to drugs. Plus, activities may be exciting on holiday, but you should pay a bit extra to cover them too. A lot of it is down to being responsible and common sense - wearing a crash helmet on bikes and scooters.

I rarely use it unless I'm on a cruise. Emergency treatment within the EU is free and I don't think I would go for treatment unless it was an emergency.
Yes it doesn't cover repatriation Costs and that's a risk you take. I certainly wouldn't be having a go fund me for my holiday

Your "extra flight home in an emergency" will cost tens of thousands if you have to fly under medical supervision or with medical equipment and can't sit in an ordinary airline seat.

I had a similar situation with you being diagnosed with cancer shortly before a planned holiday - my oncologist was happy for me to go and for treatment to start after the holiday but the insurer said they would only pay for cancellation, not agree to provide cover anyway unless I paid close to £1000 for the premium instead of the £50 I paid when I booked. It was easy enough to resolve - the rest of the family travelled on the £50 insurance I'd previously bought, and I bought a separate cheap and basic policy that excluded any cancer treatment (obviously) but would still have covered a repatriation flight under medical supervision if I got knocked down by a bus and had multiple fractures such that I needed to be transported home on a stretcher. A debt of £100,000 for uninsured medical costs is the last thing you need when things go wrong, and the GHIC card only gives you access to the things that a local person can get on the state, at the same cost a local person would pay. It does not cover any repatriation expenses or any of the paperwork costs for communicating your records to your health care people at home, and does absolutely nothing if your suitcase goes missing, or if you are robbed, or any of the other myriad things that can go wrong.

I have no intention of visiting the US for the foreseeable. With my ailments my premium bwould be prohibitive anyway for the states and would exclude pre existing conditions so not worth it.

Oh and don't have a drink on holiday. Your insurance won't pay out anyway

If you need an op, are in icu, or have expensive treatment , or need to be repatriated dead or acc by medics, it could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. It’s just not worth the risk! If you’ve just won the lottery-fine!

It is not always straightforward though. A few years ago I was awaiting a CT scan. It was only a relatively routine thing prior to some planned orthopaedic surgery but the minute I ticked "yes" to "Are you awaiting any investigations or treatment?" most companies just refused to quote, even some of the specialist companies. The quotes I did eventually get were astronomical. In the end I didn't go - the insurance was nearly as much as the entire rest of the cost of my planned trip. I wouldn't have travelled without insurance though because although I was pretty confident that my underlying condition wasn't likely to cause any problems I've got the same risk of having my bag stolen or falling down an escalator as anybody else.
Ironically, once I had had my scan and my surgery I went on the trip, still on crutches and had no trouble getting cover. I presume that it is because in actuarial terms they have data to quantify the risk of covering someone who had that operation 6 weeks ago but there is too much uncertainty involved when a diagnosis or outcome of investigations/treatment is as yet unknown.

staysure i think it was wanted £750 from me for a two week trip to florida. Extortionate.

i’d been on iron tablets? b12 tablets and folate tablets for decades due to heavy periods and had a panic attack that i thought was a heart attack that was checked out and found not to be a heart attack.

i told them this. apparently those things, which are pretty common in women quite honestly, pushed up my risk and my premium. despite me having nothing else wrong, no heart attack (and good levels if everything as i got thoroughly checked out by the nhs) and not having seen the gp for anything else.

feels like they are penalising women for having periods tbh.

there was one time i was getting insurance and had a blood test for anemia for which the results came back fine two weeks prior.
you’d think that would be reassuring to them that i was ok and on adequate iron medication and unlikely to require treatment.
but no. premium bumped up. again.

it’s a fucking joke. they need legislated. greedy bastards.

I expect a lot of people think they will be covered if in EU. They don't think about repatriation costs

About 7 years ago I went to see my dr about some pain,they mentioned my chronic kidney disease.This was a shock to me as I’d not been told I had it.I was stage 3 by then.
if I’d have gone away and had to claim on my travel insurance it would have been void as I hadn’t declared the ckd,but not sure how I could when the gp hadn’t informed me I had it.

I think this thread shows that yes perhaps some people just ignore insurance but it’s not so black and white in many cases.

A pp mentioned activities. Amongst my exciting foray into the details of inclusions and exclusions, these things are also variable. In one policy I saw that, say, surfing and bodyboarding were excluded, in another surfing was excluded but bodyboarding was ok. Hiking and walking is different so if you’re going over a certain altitude, one policy specifically excluded. I don’t remember seeing whether there was more breakdown for the terrain you’d be in as that definitely makes a difference to risk!

Often until you get to a place you don’t know exactly what you’ll do. I must admit that the thought of whether going on a cable car would be covered crossed my mind and being a little relieved when the trip was cancelled, just in case!

I just feel they want you to miss something so they can refuse the claim

We have annual insurance through our bank account. The online instructions and questions are really simple.
Where are are you going? So do you need Europe only, world wide excluding USA, or WW including USA. Then you add extra payment depending on those options.
How long for? 30/ 60/90 days or more? Add a bit more money as required.
Declare all your health conditions and all medication. Pay a little bit more as required.
Stop and make sure there is nothing in your gp record you have not declared. They will always check this first if you make a claim, so check your gp record yourself.
No extreme sports.
Half an hour to fill it all in. They will message to arrange a phone call if necessary.
IMO it is worth the time and money.
I have lots of illnesses and It costs me an extra couple of hundred pounds, but for a year's policy it is worth it.
I have claimed 3 times in 10 years - around £8K in total.
It is really stupid to not organise your insurance when you book your trip.

I have Cancer which is classed as stable . Nothing has changed in 5 years and I'm receiving chemo on a trial every 3 weeks . Holiday insurance would be 2,000 for the one week a year I go away so that's why some don't get insurance. Bloody Brexit !

My bank offers holiday insurance but I've been denied due to a cancer which is stable , unchanged for 5 years so it's not that simple .

See I think that is disgraceful by an insurance company. It feels like they tried to fleece someone with cancer perhaps they think will be more likely to pay! I would bet money that the same insurer probably talks about their ethics and sustainability principles in their corporate waffle. Hope you’re doing ok

Yes, I glanced through the activities cover on one of our policies a few years ago and saw that football came under "higher risk" so I phoned them up and said are you seriously saying that if my DCs get an injury while having a kickabout on the campsite with other kids it won't be covered and they said yes.

I am so sorry to hear that. There seems to be a lot of inconsistancies between companies. I think I must have been very lucky. We have been with the bank for over 40 years. I doubt I will be travelling anywhere 5 years from now, so hopefully they will continue to insure us until we stop.

In the EU, with a GHIC all that would be covered or as much as a local would get.
Yes you can fly back to UK even if your stuck in a wheel chair, it would be 100s not 1000s.

Sure repatriation is not covered but honestly, do you know anyone who has had to do that?

I stay in Europe now - too many nasties in the US.

we paid £1200 for annual Europe cover then had to cancel because of a medical condition. I eventually got the money back but it took 3 months of argument and endless form filling. Anyone older with underlying conditions is really penalised.

3 sorts.
Ignorant. People who could buy cover cheaply but their dad/mate told them that all you need is an ehic card and you are covered..
Not quite so ignorant. Cover is enormously expensive ( older, health conditions)
People who buy cover but don't disclose their history and aren't covered.
After ddad had a heart attack in America which cost 250000 dollars 25 years ago, I am belt and braces on the entire thing.