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.]

Getting the right insurance is vital too. Lots of people get the cheapest insurance without realising that some of the activities they may want to do are excluded.

A friend did a round the world working holiday trip, I researched his insurance for him. You would be amazed how many gap year insurance policies don't cover manual labour. If you are going to Australia/NZ on a gap year fruit picking and cleaning are quite normal jobs.

Ironically I said to my friend something about this being the best but don't lose a tooth as they only pay 50% of dental. So his first morning in Sydney he bites in to a snickers bar and what was left of his front tooth complete with veneer snapped out.

masketti, what rubbish. I have always had travel insurance when I'm abroad. People who don't have a story to tell of claiming are less likely to post on here.

I've had one claim and done a LOT of travelling. I am happy that all the other payments were 'wasted' in that I never needed to claim.

travel insurance is part of the cost of the holiday.

OP - which company do you use? We dive too.

YANBU it's selfish and irresponsible. I went on an activity holiday earlier in the year stuffed full of highly dangerous activities and so bought adequate insurance that specifically covered each activity, plus a few more that the activity might possibly have crossed into (hiking above a certain height etc.). Combined with a few pre-existing medical conditions, the cost was a bit painful but I just saw it as part of the cost of the holiday.

Why should I fork out because someone couldn't be bothered to sort out proper travel insurance?

Mum died abroad last year. We decided it was easier on everybody to have the funeral and cremation in Europe and then bring her ashes home later. Even though it took a long time the insurance company were very good they paid for most of the funeral and reimbursed emergency flights for immediate family members

I don't understand the comment about socialism in action. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

My mother was once sent to the hospital for a suspected TIA. They released her quickly and even let her drive home because they didn't think she'd had one. However because her medical records now say it was investigated she has to declare having a TIA that she's never had because the doctors aren't willing to say with absolute certainty that she hasn't! If insurance companies made it a bit easier to get the correct insurance more people might bother. She does get insurance every time she travels but spends hours on the phone every time trying to get appropriate cover.

I've been responsible for evacuating several people from the very remote country I work in intermittently, and the cost to get to hospital has been £15-20K.

While travelling through a neighbouring country, I've also witnessed a professional person who works in a country not known for their employment right, go travelling for 6 months without insurance AND decline the tour company's optional $5 extra fee to cover air evacuation. Which sounds like a good idea until you break your ankle and have to spend 8 hours in a Land Rover bouncing along dirt tracks, while you freak out about the cost of the inevitable operation, and the fact that you'll now lose your job. Madness.

I also just remembered that BIL went to visit relations in the US a few years ago and tore his Achilles' tendon a few days in. No insurance . He spent 2 months there unable to fly home and requiring an operation, a cast and follow-up treatment. The relations did the care. It still cost an enormous amount. Muppet.

I used to work in a job arranging medical repatriation for British travellers . I saw some real horror stories , families needing to stay for weeks after a parent was in an accident or had a heart attack etc. Big hospitals tend not to be close to resorts so new hotels or daily taxis were needed, new flights, food and drink costs if staying weeks longer, the cost of flying out a nurse or doctor to medically escort the patient ...and then there's the people we had to fly home as quickly as possible because a parent or child was hospitalised or worse back home

Put it like this.....I wouldn't do a day trip to France without insurance , it's important to cover medical costs but there are a lot of other costs too.

Anyone who doesn't take out insurance is insane or completely stupid in my book.

unlucky, yes you could do that, no one is disputing that. It's your choice but i wouldn't want to leave anyone in a position where they wanted me to buried here and I wasn't insured.

I note you made some points about "standard" travel insurance not covering various conditions - no it's not cheap. But my parents have every condition going and it costs a lot more to get them insured just to go to Tenerife, for example, but they still pay, because what happens if they don't pay for that is too alarming.

also, in a case after I was recovering from a broken back, my insurance premium for the single trip was nearly £100 but given I was paying £800 for the holiday it did seem a case of "can't afford the insurance, can't afford to go away". Insurers have to charge extra for known health problems.

A bit of a side step from the OP, but if anyone has suggestions for companies that cover pre-existing conditions, I would be grateful for suggestions. I have bipolar disorder and I've found it hard just to get quotations, never mind a quote that makes it possible to consider travelling.

Cost us 8 quid, for a family of 4 for cover up to 2m for a week in lanzarote. Why on earth wouldn't someone pay the pennies after the cost of a holiday...seems crazy.

Mind, it IS hard to get them to pay out sometimes. My mother had issues with this a few years back...

Reading this thread, I wonder if I would have issues with getting a payout if I needed one actually. I have medical issues but am undiagnosed. Insurance told me to only declare diagnosed problems. But if my ribs flared up when I was away and I needed hospitalised (as happens rather frequently at home) I wonder if they would get out of it by saying it was a pre-existing problem, despite me being told I didn't need to declare it as there is no actual diagnosis...

Was once going on a holiday with some friends when one person (who was not a personal friend but known to one of the others) broke her leg and couldn't go. It was then suggested that we all split the cost of her holiday between the rest of us (over £100 each!) Bit much given I had only met the person once. And she was not poor.

It then transpired that she was actually insured with an annual policy but wanted to not declare to the insurers as that might invalidate the insurance for another holiday that she wanted to wait till nearer the time to see if she was better in time for...

To be fair it wasn't actually the woman that suggested we pay it was another friend..but still. I declined to pay anything towards it.

Suggest having that conversation with your proposed insurer , on a recorded call backed up in writing.

Thanks for this. It actually made me check the wording on my annual policy and realise that the trivial medical condition I hadn't mentioned totally invalidated it. I phoned them and they added it as an endorsement with no charge.

whatishistory try World Nomads, Southdowns, NOW Travel Insurance and Coverwise. I have a few pre-existing conditions and they haven't been ridiculous with bumping up the premiums.

Whatis, there's some info on the MIND website, ruddy phone won't link it.

My friends dad was shot by a mugger in the US and the hospital wouldn't touch him until he could prove he had sufficient insurance cover!

I have to have comprehensive travel insurance because I have a couple of life threatening conditions.

A few years ago DH and I went on holiday and I took out an extra policy for him - he said he didn't need insurance as his E111 would cover him...

Second weekend DH had a heart attack in a French supermarket. I resuscitated him. He had to have angioplasty and a few days in a cardiac unit.

The insurance company were bloody amazing . Luckily I am medically trained and speak good French but they found someone to come and liase with the authorities and sort out getting us both home. They called me every day just to see if I was ok and did I need anything.

The policy for DH cost £15

Evewith insurance it's not always easy. I had full insurance with a well known company when one of our party was rushed to hospital by ambulance in Spain. I was whisked away and made to pay for the ambulance as soon as the stretcher was off. Next day the patient was discharged but the insurer had not yet settled the bill for treatment and overnight stay and they refused to remove a cannula until I paid by credit card. The insurer did eventually pay the hospital and I had to fight them (the hospital) to refund me .

Anyone with lots of pre existing conditions who does not buy travel insurance, is crazy. Although mine costs way more than the amounts here. But the risk of me being admitted to hospital is much higher.

I have medical issues but am undiagnosed. Insurance told me to only declare diagnosed problems

They mean conditions you have been to a doctor about, not just things with a definite diagnosis. If it's in your medical records, you must declare it. I once had a patient whose travel insurance claim was rejected because she hadn't declared having a broken ankle months previously. She then fell over on holiday and injured her back - the insurance company argued that the fall was due to her weak ankle. Luckily for her, she was in Europe, so she had free A&E care - if had been the US, she could have been £100,000s in debt and, even in Europe, she still racked up a couple of grand in costs.