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..

Good grief. I wonder if they also think they don't need home insurance because they've never been burgled or car insurance because they've never had a crash?

Yes, a good friend was repatriated from the US with a spinal injury after being hit by a car.

Insurance covered it (and the emergency bills) or they could have been looking at losing the house.

For others' info, the Amex travel insurance is only a very basic one for delays etc.
ETA I've just checked & certainly on mine it's "travel.inconvenience insurance" for delays, missed connections, baggage etc.

I know 3 people close to me who have needed very expensive medical care abroad. All needed medical repatriation. Friends of DH were on holiday and one if their family members collapsed and died in their hotel. They needed a lot of support and help (language barrier) to deal with their embassy and insurance company.
You just never know.
A friend booked an expensive holiday, didn't declare a blood test that the gp had told him was normal. Then out of the blue someone else looked at the result, realised it was abnormal and needed investigation. Trip had to be cancelled. Not covered and all money lost.
I have various health conditions and I check my GP records and hospital records very carefully.
I discovered 3 very significant mistakes in my GP records, made an appointment and got them all annotated and updated. If you are going to spend time and money arranging a holiday, get the insurance sorted.

I'm glad i don't know you!!! in the nicest possible way!

I'm 62, apart from the Skiing incident, i ve never known anyone be injured to such an extent they needed medical insurance, any injuries covered by EHIC and the later GHIC.

One that bugs me with Insurance, is they will use anything at all to avoid paying out.
The only time i had to claim was for travel disruption, protests at Calais, i had to use another ferry port and pay for a new crossing, BUT when it came to claiming, they would only pay out for half the cost because my partner hadn't paid for the ticket and wasn't on my Insurance, even though it made zero difference to the ferry cost, they took out the excess and it was hardly worth claiming, as it then meant i ve paid more for all insurances.

We always get insurance wherever we go, and have also paid for insurance for DD's first holiday without us - after a conversation in which we discovered none of her friends thought they needed it because "it's only Spain and you only need insurance if you are going out of Europe"

one thing that grips my shit though is that we have to pay extra (not a lot, admittedly) because I have/had high cholesterol. Told years ago, put on statins, changed my diet, no longer an issue. But it still counts. Insurers say I am more likely to have heart disease/heart attack because of it. Whereas my DH (for example) has never been tested, is quite likely to have it, but no treatment so he is considered lower risk. That makes no sense to me - if he does have high cholesterol his would be uncontrolled so surely he would be greater risk?

After reading about claims being rejected for not declaring things such as HRT, I told my insurers I was on HRT and a maintenence dose of Mounjaro. No additional premium but when they read everything back to me they said my only named condition is obesity. I said I'm not obese. I was. I've lost 6 stone, wear a size 10 and am now into the healthy BMI range but the addition of Mounjaro on my record means I have to be recorded as obese.

that makes no sense!

I can understand that though - you were presumably obese previously and now having succeeded and on medication to manage obesity, even if you’re no longer obese. So the medication is treatment to keep the obesity at bay, like my statins have reduced my cholesterol but I still declare it as without it, the condition might return. something like that anyway! But it’s all such a minefield no matter what and I think they like any reason not to pay out.

The last couple I’ve read had insurance but didn’t check for preexisting conditions, quite a major one in one case, the question is there for a reason and may not cost you a penny more but don’t tick it at your peril!

Yes, my husband's blood pressure is normal because he's on medication, but it still has to be declared as that's his underlying condition without medication it would come back. I guess a maintenance does of Mounjaro is the same logic.

We've just had a refund for all but £400 of two business class flights to the Caribbean which we couldn't take because of a new medication. I was very grateful, even though the insurance itself cost over £1000 for the year. It was a complicated claim though and there were moments that I almost lost heart.

Do you mind measking what the medication was, was it chemo by any chance? Seems wrong you couldn't take it!

Surely you don’t have to inform insurers of every blood test you have? I would have thought you only needed to inform if it was abnormal, resulting in treatment.

I had an outstanding referral for something minor and couldn’t get insurance, even from a specialist firm. Ended up having a lovely holiday in Lake District instead.

Wouldn’t step foot abroad without it.

One of my kids had an emergency appendectomy when we were on holiday in the US many years ago. Fortunately we were insured
I am quids in on travel insurance for the rest of my life 😅

He didn't know it was abnormal at the time. So didn't declare it. Only months later when another doctor looked at it and the holiday had already been booked did the holiday have to be cancelled due to the seriousness of the blood test result (which the first doctor had missed).
Sorry I don't know how to explain it any more clearly.

A lot of people think they have insurance but find their claim is excluded.

I used to work for a company that brought you home when you were ill.

The amount of people we declined was minimal.

You may have a health card but many hospitals in tourist resorts are private so won’t accept it.

you may say it well if i die jus bring me home in an urn. What happens if you don’t die but need a doctor / nurse to accompany you home? To the PP who said do you know anyone that has had that - we brought plenty of people home every week. Depending on the break a leg could need 9 seats for a stretcher plus one for the nurse. plus an ambulance each end.

Yes, this is probably quite a few people, some will just rely on their bank insurance and not read that you have to notify of any conditions or just buy it because it's cheap and think it will just cover them for everything, or just forget or think some things don't have to be notified. It's a bit of a minefield nowadays.

I agree. Usually I get cover and my pre-existing conditions are included provided they haven’t caused issues in the last few years (a bleeding disorder, thyroid etc). Last year I was waiting for a urology appointment linked to menopause and couldn’t get normal cover. Had to pay £££ to a specialise and all my pre-existing conditions (including one offs like UTi, breast cyst, ringworm) were excluded . Such a rip off. I’m waiting for a further test and haven’t booked insurance for our trip in September, am waiting for the outcome - it’s not anything serious (just urinary issues) but I’m not paying £££ again to not be covered for my bleeding disorder etc again as that would be a factor in any emergency operation I needed.

This really annoys me. My kids are all young adults now and first question I ask is, have you got insurance as it will be me bailing them out if they don’t. I wouldn’t dream of travelling without it then going begging to pay for it. It’s generally so cheap too if no pre existing conditions.

Or one that comes with home insurance. We have definitely never been asked for pre-existing conditions and it was quite hard to even find the cover details relating to travel when I looked for.ours.

I’d say it’s important to shop around. Between us, DH an I have an impressive list of preconditions (including High BP, type II diabetes, high cholesterol and more). I’ve long used GoCompare and been truthful about preconditions and have always had very reasonable quotes. Luckily, we’ve never had to claim on travel insurance, so I don’t know how good these quoted companies are at paying out!

In which case you need to talk to them. Not knowing if you are covered or not (& I can almost guarantee pre existing conditions won't be) will not help a claim.
I must admit I've never heard of travel insurance being included with house insurance.