Don't bother with travel insurance.....

[HeCantBeSerious]

Go in on your lovely exotic holiday. Take advantage of all the dangerous activities. When you have an accident and are in a coma/break every bone in your body the rest of us will club together to pay the tens of thousands of pounds of costs to bring you home through the magic of crowdfunding. No no, no need to get travel insurance before you go. What sort of fool does that?

[just been sent the third begging email this week for an eye watering amount needed to bring what's left of a foolish and reckless youngster home from the third world country he decided to risk his life in.]

A family member with a terminal cancer went on holiday last year without insurance as it cost too much.

They fell ill from something unrelated and ended up in hospital for several weeks, and sadly died.

Whilst the wider family did what we could to help, no-one had the £60k plus needed to clear the medical fees and repatriate the body, so they had to be cremated overseas and the bereaved partner has had to sell the house to pay for it.

I think NHS is keyhole now as well.

Not always.

I always remember this story in terms of travelling without insurance, I think someone sent me the crowdfunding link and I just thought "meh"

Don't get me started on this pair of feckless parents. They couldn't explain where the funds raised went to.

I work in travel, it used to be if the travel agent was an abta member you were obliged to ensure the customer had appropriate travel insurance. I once had a girl's dad shouting at me down the phone that I couldn't force her to take out the £10 travel insurance on offer after she'd declined to take ours and I told her to call back when she'd arranged something as she had to have insurance.

Bengal - Pink said her mum is paying for little sis insurance so she is covered.

Bods - really? I did not know that!

To a PP: I had to sign the iPad while in the ambulance because it's run by a private company, separate from the hospital. The ambulance was billed separately, which is why it slipped through the net with the insurance.

I've always been in the USA with work so had no problem being covered for my pre-existing conditions. We're thinking of going over there for a family holiday next year. The best quote to cover just myself is £1.5k for 2 weeks.

Insurance is dull and boring and people don't want to pay for it. Or they think it will be a waste of money and 'it won't happen to them'.

I'd rather waste £20 on insurance that I don't use than face losing my house to pay for medical bills or whatever.

I suppose your little sister doesn't have any significant assets to lose but she would probably be putting you or your parents, or another relative in an awful position by being forced to sell or remortgage their house to settle bills if the worst happened to her while she is away - does she realise this?

PS I have no idea what the ambulance men would have done with me if I refused to sign the iPad. I didn't realise at the time that i was signing for that. I was struggling to breath, my chest hurt, and I was laid flat on a trolley. They shoved an iPad in front of my face and I just waved me finger over the screen.

Oh, I see now that the mum has bought insurance but my comments about parents with assets paying off significant bills still stands - I bet it happens quite often.

You also need medical insurance if you are visiting the channel islands!

I don't speak to little sis much these days, she's a sweet girl, but always been spoiled by her dad (half sister)so lots of entitlement. Don't know how she afforded the holiday- 3 weeks on a student loan and pt job, but she lives at home probably rent free so maybe it's possible. Although she pleaded poverty for spending money. My mum was terrified of having to sell her house if the worst should happen so of course she paid the £20. Does little sister realise this...probably not.

To give an idea of the sums involved - two recent cases. Treatment and medevac from Egypt £35k. Ditto from Vietnam - well over £300k. Without the kindness of strangers....

My dad and I had a major accident in the Far East early 2000's and my sister got killed. If we hadn't had travel insurance we would have had to pay out approx £100,000. Hospital costs for 3 weeks, numerous operations, physio and treatments, business class flights back home, they flew out a friend to stay for the last week to help us and even sent over 2 nurses to bring us home. I always have travel insurance even for UK trips in case of something happening.

I used to work for an emergency assistance company. I would never go away without insurance. On an amusing note the clinics in many European tourist reports were quite creative in compiling reports to get around the fact that the holiday maker had been boozing (thus invalidating the insurance). Report says slipped on edge of pool, ok fairly common. Neglected to mention the pool was in a nightclub!

I suppose the clinics did that because in many cases, the person themselves either couldn't or wouldn't pay so they were simply maximising their chances of getting paid?

I'm off on a 48 hour city break in a few weeks, premium insurance cost less than a coffee in town for 2 of us. Its not worth going out of the UK without insurance, you never know what could happen.

A friend went to Thailand a few years ago and fell through a balcony and broke his back. It took 3months to get him back to the UK and he is still in a wheelchair today. Very glad he had insurance.

Another friend is in new Zealand at the moment on a travel/work visa. She fell down a step and shattered her heel and a few other bones. 8 operations so far, lots of metal in her foot, long hospital stays. Of she didn't have insurance she would be in some serious debt, or have lost her foot due to the damage that would have been caused by coming back to the UK in a basic cast.

OMG - totally forgot that dd is traveling without me on a foreign trip with her dad in a couple of weeks. As she doesn't live with him (and can't see it being his priority) better get her insured myself.....

I had emergency appendicitis in France many years ago when I was on a student exchange, I had the op in a very small private hospital, my mum flew over to be with me, insurance paid for everything, based on this experience my family will never go without it.

drop I also work in travel and get very frustrated with people! I had a customer once who needed to cancel their holiday 4 days before departure and went mad that they couldn't get a refund. They'd bought insurance hit the excess was £400 pp on a £550 pp holiday.

Also love the ones who buy worldwide insurance online for a fiver without realising it doesn't cover anything other than cancellation. Or those who tell you they'll get it the day before they go, even though you've told the,m they won't be covered for cancellation.

People think we're just trying to push our product, and obviously we do have targets to reach, but we've also heard enough horror stories to want to try to advise people properly.

They saw tourists as a money making opportunity . It was also not unknown for person 'a' to go to a clinic for treatment accompanied by friend 'b' for moral support. The doctor would also manage diagnose and treat friend b for a condition they never knew they had until they got there!

Foslady - you may want to put her dad on it as well! If something happened needing a change of flights technically he wouldn't be covered if not on same policy.

I have a colleague who was in Detroit--- As he walked down the road, the guy walking in front of him had acid thrown into his face from a passing car. My colleague stopped to help and called 911. However, the injured man refused to be taken to hospital. My colleague was interviewed by the police later in the day. He was told it was probably gang related, but they also warned him that he could be held liable for the cost of the ambulance as he had requested it. The injured man couldn't be charged as he'd refused help so they could come after whoever made the call. Nothing ever came of it, but it's a horrible system.