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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people don't buy travel insurance?

622 replies

EveningHare · 09/04/2018 07:05

If you can afford a holiday then you should not look at travel insurance as an optional extra

It's vital that you have it, anything could happen and if you don't have lots of money in the bank, how would you pay for it? Go fund me?

OP posts:
Roussette · 09/04/2018 16:40

newmum we drive abroad lots, how does your car insurance cover medical needs?

TammyWhyNot · 09/04/2018 16:44

My idiot BIL from the states came to stay here and needed hospital treatment. He had no insurance because despite now being resident in the U.S, (green card) U.s passport, employed in the U.s and married to an American. he was sure the NHS would cover him as he was born here and lived here til...oooh, 20 years ago.

They treated him in A&E and then discharged him, whereas a UK patient or one with insurance or able to pay the full bill, they would have admitted him and given him a course of treatment. They wrote a report and told him to return as fast as possible to his healthcare system in the states.

It was a lot of responsibility and guilt tripping for us, to be honest, and messed up a visit.

Grassyass · 09/04/2018 16:45

I have bank insurance which is pretty good. It covers DH and me and adult DC up to 22 while they are still students. I have medical conditions though and have to declare them and pay a supplement. This comes to about £180 a year. I wonder whether I might do better insuring myself separately.
Any recommendations for insurers for pre existing conditions?

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/04/2018 16:49

We are automatically insured abroad with credit card, I’m sure this is common

Insured as in travel insurance insured, will pay thousands if not medical bills if you become ill in the US and fly your body home if you die travel insurance?

Are you in the UK and which credit card is this? I've got lots of credit cards (for various things like cashback, free currency exchange and exploiting the 0% offers) and I've never noticed that any of them offer travel insurance.

I'm not sure I would bother trying to claim if I lost my camera, phone or similar on holiday, but what I'm really concerned is that any medical bills will be covered or if it all goes wrong while I'm scuba diving that I'll be helicoptered to the nearest decompression chamber and allowed to spend as long in there as I need to at the insurance company's expense.

YouCantGetHereFromThere · 09/04/2018 16:54

Yes I am aware of that, I am able to provide the paperwork if they ever ask.

If you live in the US, what paperwork would you provide to show that you live in the UK? Do you have a UK address where you pay all the bills? Are you employed in the UK? Do your children go to school in the UK? Would you be able to show that you either had lived in the UK for the previous 6 months or would be living in the UK for the next 6 months? Those and other questions are what would be asked.

RoadToRivendell · 09/04/2018 16:54

I don't see how a credit card can insure you against anything variable, e.g. a person with a pre-existing medical condition falling ill. For starters, you don't declare anything as far as I know.

DrCoconut · 09/04/2018 16:58

I seem to remember when we went to the US 9 years ago we had to get insurance. I think it was a condition of boarding the flight but I may be wrong, it was a while ago.

YouCantGetHereFromThere · 09/04/2018 16:59

I seem to remember when we went to the US 9 years ago we had to get insurance. I think it was a condition of boarding the flight but I may be wrong, it was a while ago.

Really? That's never happened to us in 30 years of going back and forth. Who checked and what documents did they want to see?

YouCantGetHereFromThere · 09/04/2018 17:01

If you don’t have insurance and become seriously ill abroad will they just let you die then?

In the US they are obliged to treat you enough to keep you alive. From that point on... good luck...

gwenneh · 09/04/2018 17:02

It's honestly never been a condition of entry to the US, not at any point.

We had travel insurance through the bank and we had to use it in the US on two different trips (both pregnancy-related so not insubstantial bills when scans , etc. were all factored in); they paid out without any fuss.

YouCantGetHereFromThere · 09/04/2018 17:08

As a result of this thread I've just read through the benefits we get with our new credit card, and I'm going to buy a different travel insurance package now, as the credit card covers trip cancellation, delay, lost baggage, collision damage and a load of other stuff. I think all we really need now is repatriation cover.

Hmm.

FleurDelacoeur · 09/04/2018 17:09

Say a woman is in Melbourne Aus for a 3 week holiday. Around a week in she falls and breaks her ankle and hip requiring hospitalisation and medical care.

Australia's a poor example as both New Zealand and Australia have a reciprocal health agreement with the UK - Aussies and Kiwis breaking their legs here are treated on the NHS, in Aus or NZ, British passport holders can use their state healthcare.

However, that wouldn't cover the medivac home, or additional living expenses. I would imagine that the person concerned would just have to stay in Aus until they were well enough to fly on a commercial flight. Countries like Aus check to make sure you're solvent and have access to funds before allowing you into the country in the first place, so it would be unlikely that someone would be totally penniless. I think in these situations the British Embassy would step in - not to provide the funds to get the person home, but to help with the red tape of visas and immigration issues.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 09/04/2018 17:10

Tarts amaze balls what do you mean the tour operator wouldn’t accept bank insurance? Accept it for what?

VladmirsPoutine · 09/04/2018 17:12

Cheers Fleur, I didn't know there was a reciprocal arrangement. I suppose I wanted to figure out a worst-case-scenario which clearly wouldn't be Oz in this instance.

Hillingdon · 09/04/2018 17:15

There are some people who move abroad, even become residents and still believe that they are entitled to NHS cover many years later. I have a relative who has done just that. She still quotes that she can use the NHS for care should she choose to return. It will be a terrible lesson to learn.

No you aren't but whether the NHS end up chasing you or refusing to treat you is another matter. Generally it seems the doctors treat anyone who comes through - whether that person is entitled to care is something that another part of the NHS need to investigate (or not!)

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 09/04/2018 17:17

Becuase people think they will automatically get treatment abroad like you would here

You won’t and you won’t get away with not paying the bill as most other countries are used to and have a sufficient process in dealing with recovering payments

It’s foolish a short consultation with a prescription can end up costing hundreds of pounds

ButternutCrinkleFries · 09/04/2018 17:19

I’ve been very much put off it. I got appendicitis in Croatia and spoke to my insurance company (White Horse Insurance) at every stage to let them know what was happening, what papers I needed etc. I had to pay £3k upfront and lady on the phone assured me I’d be refunded. They refused to then payout as my doctors notes were in Croation(obviously) and they wouldn’t accept a translation. The appeal process had to be done in writing only and they had to receive and reply to my appeal within 10 days. They didn’t.

In the end I went on local news and they paid up. After accusing me of not following their procedures! Grrr. Still angry.

I now just have a credit card and figure I’d end up paying anyway if something went wrong.

kimanda · 09/04/2018 17:20

We have it with our bank account....

DrCoconut · 09/04/2018 17:22

I might be wrong, maybe the travel agent just strongly recommended it. I remember going in a few weeks before we went and they checked we had it, verbally though not by paper work. I can't remember the details as it was 9 years ago.

Birdsgottafly · 09/04/2018 17:23

"If you don’t have insurance and become seriously ill abroad will they just let you die then?"

A man has just had his life support switched off in Egypt because he didn't have adequate insurance. He did have cover but had failed to declare a previous condition, so they refused cover. The doctor walked in the room, asked the relative if they had 7k and then switched off the machines.

People often won't pay the extra premiums, if at all. Young men, in particular, think that they are indestructible, or take it as a joke.

Birdsgottafly · 09/04/2018 17:26

"We have it with our bank account.."

Just make sure you are covered for what you think you are.

I was pissed off with my ex BF, who assured me that he was covered, but found out he wasn't covered to travel from Sharm to Cairo.

RavenLG · 09/04/2018 17:28

I agree it should be something that is a requirement.
A friend about 35yo went to Amsterdam (had Type1 Diabetes diagnosed as a teenager, typical “lad” attitude of not wanting to deal with it, resulted in Drs telling him he wouldn’t live past 50 due to damage done to his body, obviously once he had kids massively regretted not taking care of himself when younger but too late).
Away for a lads weekend, had a heart attack and died. Obviously horrendous situation, topped off with his parents and family struggling to afford to even get his body back in the U.K.
please get insurance

Frazzled2207 · 09/04/2018 17:46

Disagree that it should be a requirement. Like the sugar tax we're grown up enough to make our own decisions and need not have these imposed on us.
Some tour operators insist on it though, escorted tours like Explore Worldwide do for example. But that's understandable when they take you pretty remote places.

TrickyD · 09/04/2018 17:51

Grassyass it sounds as if your bank insurance is the same as ours. I have to pay a similar supplement for Asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes type 2 and being over 70. It is a worldwide annual fee includng cruises. I shopped around to see if it would be cheaper to use an separate insurance company, but all the quotes were hundreds of ££s more.
The bonus is it does include passes to airport lounges. They were also perfectly fine with my ruptured ligament and DHs broken collarbone.

I agree with those giving warnings about checking the small print, especially the bit about declaring ailments for which you have received treatment after you took out the insurance, else they may say say the whole policy is invalid.

UndomesticHousewife · 09/04/2018 19:41

I have bank account travel insurance when I booked for me and dh to go away just the two of us I called them (though technically you don’t need to you’re just covered for whatever trip you go on) and they asked about medication and I declared medication for stomach reflux I was put through to another department to check if it was covered (which it was) they said you must declare any conditions or you won’t be covered. Cover for dh now won’t be continuous I have to call to renew it after a year then it will carry on if I do t renew and declare no changes etc then he do t be covered.