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..

Because they are stupid tight arses and want everyone to bail them out when shit hits the fan!

I have private health insurance paid by my employer, this includes travel insurance, this is for me and my family. I’m so grateful that I don’t ever have to think about it. I don’t have to update them if any issues or conditions because it is linked to my health insurance so if I have treatment or a diagnosis then it’s all tracked under my health insurance policy and shared with them. The two policies between them cover everything including repatriation costs etc.

I was in Turkey a few years ago and got chatting to an elderly lady who had her arm in plaster. Said she slipped down pool steps and fractured her arm.

No insurance and had already cost her £1500.

MADNESS!

Interesting- I’m curious though - do you never have to seek any medical advice outside of your PhI? Or if you did would you need to inform them?

All of my receipts go through them for claiming back any costs. I would never go through the public system really when I have the private option. The only time would be to attend a&e and then after a while you are asked if you have private healthcare etc. If I attend my gp and need a referral it’s done through my insurance. I don’t pay for the gp either as I’m entitled to a gp visit card (this has nothing to do with insurance) . I’m in Ireland.

I was taken ill in America 20 years ago, ambulance and 1 night was $6000.

I was recently taken to hospital here when I had an adverse reaction to a new medication. I described treatment over the 12 hour period I was there to my mate in America they said approx, $20,000. His wife is a nurse it’s not a wild guess.

Tourists here get treated without insurance, I think having valid insurance should be a condition to travel.

People have no idea how much stuff costs certain drugs can cost hundreds per pill,

Yes. And all tge people who think the magical GHIC/EHIC card will remove all costs. I broke my ankle in Switzerland. My cousin, who is a GP, took the initial X-Ray out of kindness at his surgery but when it turned out it was fractured wouldn’t do anything further as apparently they never get their money back’ from the EHIC system so packed me off to the local hospital.

The local hospital also wasn’t interested in my EHIC card and wanted cold hard cash before they’d do anything which basically involved putting it in a lose cast so I could fly and giving me some anti coagulant injections. They wouldn’t even accept a credit card and I had to send my partner to the cash machine whilst I sat in reception before getting any treatment. It cost £500 and I did claim back in the insurance when I got back to UK but this was 20 years ago so a lot more now.

Interestingly the taxi driver I had to use when back in the uk to take the kids to school told a similar story of being in an RTA in Greece and getting a branch through his side. Again hospital not interested in EHIC card and his friends were running round cash points to get cash before they would do anything to remove the branch.

I am lucky enough to have similar although I pay for it myself - private health care + annual travel insurance. I am so grateful to be able to afford it, since I am over 65 with a couple of relatively minor health issues (for now!) and I otherwise would find travel insurance unaffordable or unobtainable.

Like you my annual travel insurance is linked to my PHI policy. I can choose trips of different durations at a time, e.g. 30, 60, 90 days+, and either Europe or Worldwide. Obviously the shorter trips within Europe are less expensive. So that's what I stick to at this stage of my life anyway!

I totally agree.
But the other side of the coin is when people are insured, but the insurer wriggles out of paying on a technicality.

Thanks for replying and glad you’ve got something you can trust!

It is so frustrating that so many of us don’t trust insurers when having trust in a service and provider is so incredibly important.

A word of warning about the GHIC, in theory it entitles you to the same health care as a local

In practice, in A+E in Italy, public hospital they refused to acknowledge it. I needed anti biotics, terrible kidney infection, were going to charge me 300 euro, told me I had to pay due to Brexit (this was 2 years ago), I kept trying to explain about the GHIC card, loads of nurses all talking to each other around me in fast Italian, shaking their heads, tut tutting, insisting I have to pay. I had been there about 4 hours by that stage. I dont speak the language.

I had to leave and find a private practitioner who charged me 100 euro for the consultation and anti biotics. I couldnt claim on my insurance as it was less than the excess (as would have been the hospital charge).

And again on this thread as with most threads about holiday insurance, people really dont understand the difference between pre existing conditions and 'under investigation'

If you have any referrals on the boil (and I have 3, waiting nearly a year for the consultant appointment which still wont give a definitive diagnosis) you are on very thin ground with your current insuraer (and you must let them know) but you will find it very very hard to get brand new insurance because the minute you say 'yes' to the question, they wont insure you.

Ive been asked by Staysure who Im with, that I need a certificate for 'fitness to fly' following referrals (even though they're basic things like a referral for rheumatology, ENT type things, and another one) and the GP wont do this, they dont comment on fitness to fly

Therefore anything that staysure deem might be connected to my undiagnosed conditions (if in fact they are 'conditions') I wont be covered for. That gives them massive wriggle room

Additionally, I find they dont like it when there is no conclusion to a referral or GP visit, the visit might have been to explore x, y, z and nothing comes of it, no referral, no medication no diagnosis, they dont like that uncertainty.

I have a myriad of low level health stuff, the usual, migraines, HRT symptoms, some back issues, possibly Raynauds, possible eustachian tube dysfunction, all of which are waiting on consultant appointments which literally are taking years and years and this puts my premium up because they are not formal diagnoses yet. (or many never be)

It is with Direct Line home insurance plus.

I have something medically "wrong" that may never be diagnosed and just stay an anomaly, so what do you do? (I've been "under investigation" now for 2 years and counting). I have no symptoms from it, it's not something you drop dead from. Sure people will say well don't go abroad then. But life is short and yes I've taken the risk and probably will again. Tbh I've had so many tests/checks etc during these investigations that I know I am at low risk of something major like a stroke or heart attack. So really the risk is more some kind of accident, so I am extra careful!

I always used to get insurance but I later realised that there were multiple things I didn't declare (being on anti depressants for example) that would have meant they wouldn't have paid out anyway, so it was an entire waste of money. I didn't know before that you needed to list every cough and cold almost. I still get basic insurance, as surely if you claim for lost luggage or whatever, they don't go into your medical history for that? Although I could be wrong I suppose.

I'll just stop going abroad once I hit late 60's/early 70s or if I were to have some significant health issues. I'm not fussed after that anyway. I'm heading for 60 now and already find it quite a hassle. I have a couple more "big" trips planned and then that'll do me I think.

@DancingLions I have a thing that's been under investigation for 2 years. No symptoms, no immediate risk of complications. All clear and Aviva were both happy to exclude it without knowing what it was. Obviously if I claimed they might ask questions but it's not really something that would lead to illness on holiday.

Yes. And Too common to be able to lay all the blame on individuals reading small print and details and cover that seem to vary wildly.

Not only that, what you have to declare also varied. So it’s not even like you can do that in any consistent way. It’s too much, realistically, for a lot of people. I like to think I’m able to take in the information and compare but its horrendously time consuming and fraught with uncertainty even once selected.

The drug is amadiarone, which DH takes to regulates heart rhythm. It makes a person extremely sensitive to UV light, and prone to severe sunburn. We are resigned to staying in cooler places, so long sleeves and hats are not a problem. It will also take a long time to clear his system when/if he's taken off it. No, there's no alternative.

BIL died abroad (in Greece). He was cremated and repatriated but it was still expensive as he had to be put on the plane as cargo and that was with BA, the low cost airlines didn’t offer this. We briefly looked at someone flying out to get him and bring him back as hand luggage but with flights and a hotel it was no cheaper, and we had to wait until the autopsy was completed and there were very little indications on timings and took three weeks in the end.

Just for all those who think coming back in an urn as hand luggage is an option- not always!

Cousin went backpacking in Thailand and had a motorbike accident resulting in pins in his legs. No insurance and medical repatriation required a family member to remortgage their house.

I check the included/excluded activities very carefully- we needed a new policy for our Lapland trip as our annual policy didn’t include winter sports.

So, if something happens who is going to bale you out- family taking out a loan, remortgaging their house etc?

No one close to me owns a house, including myself. That would also rule out anyone being eligible for a large loan. So I guess we'd be doing a DM sad face story!

Ultimately people take their own risks. People do risky things every day. I wouldnt be a total idiot about it, like that woman who went to Disney despite dozens of medical issues and the fact she'd been there 10 times already! But if I'm basically fit and well then yes I'll take a chance for a special trip.

Although yes I will try the insurers a pp mentioned. Of course I'd rather have cover than not. But I'm just answering the OP as to why some people dont.