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.]

The first thing I do after booking a holiday is get travel insurance. It would be Sod's law if I booked a holiday and then got ill before I'd got insurance. I have multiple, complex health problems and accept that there is an extra cost for me. I consider it when booking the holiday and account for it. I also always assume I'm going to make a claim and ensure I can pay the excess. Invariably, I do need medical treatment abroad. There are quite a few companies who cover people with complex health conditions. It's much easier than it used to be.

No travel insurance is not extremely cheap for some people. For some people it is nearly as expensive as the holiday. I pay a lot on travel insurance, but have never used it. But if I did, I would really need it.
Yes there are places that cover pre existing conditions. If you have serious illnesses such as a terminal illness, you will find it impossible to get cover to some countries.

practy most of the fundraisers are for otherwise healthy people who usually have accidents or unexpected medical issues. It is dirt cheap for them.

I have no patience with ppl who don;t get insurance, then need bailing out on a justgiving page. Reminds me of that dreadful couple who had the baby boy prematurely in New York when I think she was over the limit for flying. They made a mint even after a charity helped them.

The last thing I'd be doing is paying for someone's stupidity.

Our insurance costs a lot. My DH had a medical condition 7 years ago, treated, and now clean bill of health. I always declare it but do get cross when it's the same price if you had this procedure 6 weeks ago or like us 7 years ago. The fact he is now fine is irrelevant to the insurance co. and they won't take that into account. We have no option to declare it because if something happened with his heart whilst abroad, our insurance wouldn't pay out. So we pay hundreds of pounds for insurance to go abroad.

For some people it is nearly as expensive as the holiday.

I used to sell car insurance. Parents could frequently not understand why the quote for their newly qualified 17 year old child's £500 corsa was in the thousands. The answer? Because of the damage (and therefore cost) their inexperience could cause to others. If an insurer thinks they may face a big bill, they'll price the policy accordingly. Simples.

If you can't afford the insurance, you can't have the holiday. Sorry.

I don't know anyone with lots of medical problems, who doesnt get travel insurance. Just saying it is not always cheap. I do have sympathy though for the man I know with a terminal illness who went on holiday anyway, to a country that he could not get insurance for at any price.

I do get travel insurance but exclude pre-existing problems - a bit like Roussette's husband and his heart - except I am 99% sure I'll be ok
And would deal with the consequences without a justgiving page if that was a mistake...
A lot of it is box ticking without taking into account your exact circumstances. Like I said the quotes I have had are crazy...more than the cost of a holiday for 4.
I think I am seen as a really high risk as my medical history is a mess - lots of unexplained stuff. I can't get standard life insurance either...or (thankfully) PPI when I had a mortgage...

Yes, unlucky I'm tempted with that option but knowing what insurance companies are like I always worry they would blame a broken leg on his heart and try and wheedle out of it!

Yes I can't get life insurance either.

rousette I sympathise with that too - but from what I know they'll try and wheedle out of it anyway. But it is a risk ...
practy it does make you feel positive about the future doesn't it - the odds are against you...but then again we are all going to die anyway - its just a matter of how and when.
A positive is a few years ago when I used to get lots of phone calls trying to sell me stuff like that -just the reaction of the sales people when I said they wouldn't touch me with a barge pole was quite funny - ruined their sales patter and it did get them off my case pretty sharpish

I would never, ever go abroad without insurance appropriate for what I was doing. I have had to deal with far too many instances where people are uninsured or worse, have taken out a policy and not declared pre-existing conditions or bothered to check that their skiing or scuba diving is covered.

You can crowd-fund to raise money for hospital expenses, but insurers have relationships with the clinics and medical assistance companies. They are used to doing the organising and sorting out - in the local language as they have claims staff who are multi-lingual. Arranging for the repatriation of a body from abroad is not only upsetting, it's also complex and time-consuming.

If you can't afford insurance, then you can't afford to go.

I also make sure that I take out cover with a reputable firm. A £5 policy is all well and good but don;t be surprised when the firm starts scrutinising every comma and full stop to see if they can avoid payment. Good firms don't tend to bugger about like that.

whatishistory Look back at the thread and tell me it's not true. Tell me most posters on this thread aren't those who have a story to tell about where travel insurance saved them and are sharing their cautionary tale. I always have travel insurance because I work in a statistical risk field and know how risk is calculated. I've also claimed on home insurance and have little sympathy for people who don't at least have contents as despite a £40k + claim 5 years later my building and contents is £120 from a reputable insurer. I wish people who have never experienced a bad thing happening to them on holiday would listen to the people who have and have either learnt from it or were thankful (as on this thread) that they have. Those who don't have travel insurance think it won't happen to them. But my goodness when it does there'll be a massive fall out and often the burden isn't borne by the individual who took a chance that didn't pay off.

Unlucky83 - when I used to work for a company many policies had the loading on the excess not the policy. So same cost upfront but if you to need to claim a higher excess eg. £500 (or more if USA) surely that's a safer option than just excluding everything? and cheaper than needing to pay entire cost of being flown home.

unlucky I have lots of sympathy because my travel insurance is a bomb. However, it's all very well saying you'll deal with the consequences but unless you're exceptionally wealthy, it is going to cause stress for your family. The worst cases are when the person is unconscious, unable to communicate or even worse, dead. To be honest, I get travel insurance to prevent the stress for my family. It can financially cripple people, not to mention the emotional impact.

too and dogg - I think the honest truth is these companies don't want to insure me - a bit like workmen who quote you silly prices cos they don't really want the job. Just in case I do need them - cos yes it would be expensive. And insurance companies assess risk and at the end of the day make money....the risk is balanced in their favour.
I would pay a £10k+ access on say specifically my clot risk - things I normally exclude. I think it is that unlikely I would get another one cos of a flight /on holiday - I'm probably 'safer' then than in my day to day life. I was diagnosed with a disorder - that on balance was probably a misdiagnosis -I supposedly had a clot a couple of years ago (not on holiday) -but actually it is now thought that I probably didn't...25 yrs ago I more than likely did have an undiagnosed clot after a flight before I knew I had a problem etc etc...
I am not fabulously wealthy but altogether my family could get together quite a lot - and I would do the same for them if they needed me to. But it is so unlikely...a very small risk - but that isn't what the box ticking tells the insurance companies...why they don't like me

I just use EHIC and this....

www.swissassist.ch/en/coverage

14 day cover for €25, they guarantee to fly you home in air ambulance should you need it!

that's fine. No other medical cover, no cancellation cover, no baggage cover and only the medical services that the locals get. In some countries you pay for many medical services so you'd also be paying for those.

it's not a bad idea - they'll also bring you back dead - but it is cheap for a reason, low likelihood of claim.

I guess specialsubject that I don't travel to countries where emergency care costs money! If I did, I would get more comprehensive cover. As for luggage, I only tend to take hand luggage, and I stay with friends and family so don't need accommodation cover etc.

Swiss Assist even covered my dad with terminal cancer, with life expectancy of 2 months when we flew. All for €25.

That is good. I note you said ehic so no eye watering american costs.

Just flagging up for anyone else - sounds ideal for your situation though.

I got cover for my DH and DS to train in karate in Japan also declaring pre existing conditions. It often takes a bit of searching to find martial arts cover but I reckon its worth it.

Always look for medical cover and repatriation.

Cremations don't come cheap in the UK so why would anyone do it for free abroad .
There are no crematoria in Greece.

Also in the small print when booking package holidays there is a clause saying if you haven't taken the company's insurance you must get your own , as a condition of travel

Luckily we have never had to claim on our insurance but one of our neighbours tripped while on holiday in Crete. Broke his ankle. His insurance paid the hospital bills, extra hotel stay for him AND his wife and their later flight home.

I've got annual insurance through Insure and go

Gosh there are some scary stories here! I went on a last minute holiday to Ibiza in May and didn't get travel insurance but after reading this thread I don't think I'll be doing that again...

Was wondering which travel insurance companies pp would recommend?

Start with the comparison sites and go from there. You can buy in minutes so no excuse.

To repeat the usual exclusions - pissed, drugged, motorbike, sports not covered (nb jetski, quad bikes), undeclared health issues.