To wonder why people don't buy travel insurance?

[EveningHare]

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?

You’re suggesting the hospital would refuse to release the body until the medical bills were settled. I think that’s highly unlikely

Of course they wouldn't!

sprinkles im not actually sure what your point is though? Not bother with insurance as you might be dead so it won’t matter, or you will be treated anyway and your body retuned family in any case?

You seem to be anti insurance for some reason

You’re suggesting the hospital would refuse to release the body until the medical bills were settled. I think that’s highly unlikely.

Since you don't know how such things work in every country in the world you have no basis to say so. I think its fairly likely that is exactly what could happen somewhere in the world.

Since to get a body home you need a death cert, a customs cert, an exports cert and a coffin sealing cert, it makes sense that any of those won't be done by a hospital if you haven't paid them?

Totally agree repeal. I can't get over the naivety on here. As if they're going to help you get a body home when they're owed $$$$$ !

I’m not in the slightest anti insurance. I’m anti the untrue horror stories being bandied about.

I’m not in the slightest anti insurance. I’m anti the untrue horror stories being bandied about

You don't know that they are untrue!

Sprinkles If the person is dead and the family isn't bothered about getting the body back, that's one thing, and the medical expenses probably wouldn't be recoverable.

But if a person is seriously injured or ill and hospitalised, without insurance, the embassy will pay the bill and arrange transportation home, but you will then owe that amount to the british government! And yes, they can and will have your house repossessed to settle the debt, just like any tax debt!

Thank you Roussette I'll have a look.

Why would the hospital be arranging all those things? The funeral director / repatriation company would.

I have just arranged a funeral in SA and the funeral director had a preferred doctor they use for death certificates, it wasn’t even the hospital doctor despite the death taking place there.
Are you saying you believe that the hospital would hold the body hostage until someone with no legal obligation to settle the bills did so? What sort of countries do you imagine this happens in?

I see both sides of the coin.

I have always travelled with insurance.
After having a child with physical disabilities the cost of the premium for all of their pre-existing conditions effectively means we can’t travel, it’s thousands of dollars and often more expensive than the entire trip that was planned for all of us. It’s hard, even though now a teen we can’t bring ourselves to tell them it’s why we don’t go anywhere outside the country (we are covered within our country on the national system). They beg to travel and we use excuses of being too busy with work etc. Nope, the estimates for their premiums always make us abandon the idea. We will have to fess up soon. That will go well .

I worry that at some point as a headstrong young adult they will bite the bullet and travel without insurance as that’s essentially the only option. Then there is the possibility we will be faced with the costs of us making an emergency dash around the world in the event something goes wrong, medical bills and/or repatriation costs of a body. It scares the shit out of me as it may be hundreds of thousands but no way would I not be bringing my baby home.

vitamin c all the very knowledgeable people in this thread earlier stated that the embassy simply would not help with such costs.

Sprinkles, there are a lot of countries in the world, there is a chance you dont know everythigng!

sprinkle before you can have a body repatriated back home you have to have authorisation to remove the body from the country. Of course you will not get that authorisation if you have refused to pay the medical bills

Sprinkles they don't help with the costs - they get you home and then claim every penny back, often very forcefully!

So repatriation company says.... "errrm, hang on a minute, we can't do this, you owe $30,000 to the hospital. Let us know when you've sorted that and we can then help"

Good luck with it squishee. It's so time consuming this insurance malarkey

Pavlova I admit in their position as a young adult, I would simply have travelled without insurance.

Authorisation from the government presumably? How do you know they wouldn’t give it with outstanding bills?

The bills are due to private companies. The British government don’t go around enforcing debts on behalf of companies here, why would they elsewhere?

Of course we won’t know every country in the world. Which is why the hysteria is misplaced.

sprinkles What would you have done in this scenario.....terminally ill woman with cancer wanting one last holiday to florida. Initially couldn’t get ANY insurance company to provide cover then offered a policy of an eye watering amount.

Pay it or go without insurance, or not go?

It is not a situation I would like to find myself on the wrong side of sprinkles. Your call though.

I'd rather be hysterical and covered by insurance than otherwise!

It makes me angry when I see these saps begging for help to get sick relatives home when they don’t take out travel insurance. It’s a must for me.

My other half fell ill in Dominican Republic hospital bill was £10k covered by the insurance..

Then you read someone wants others to dig deep to pay for there relative to get home because they can’t afford it! Well you could afford the flight to USA so you should have afforded the insurance. Maybe these relatives could sell stuff to raise the money and not go begging

pavlova that headstrong young adult will need to be told the situation and accept it. They cannot bankrupt you for a holiday.

It's not fun but that's life sometimes.

Goodness knows Nicky. Who knows what they’d do in that situation. Presuming the terminally ill woman wasn’t me it wouldn’t be my decision to spend her money anyway

sprinkles I’m asking what YOU would do as you are so certain about other scenarios.

And it’s a real situation that I have been in.