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?

@DownWithThatSortofTing I don't agree, sorry.

While students may not have access to credit cards with sufficient emergency funds, their parents should, or should otherwise advise them against travelling to countries they have not thrououghly researched!

My parents weren't rich, but when I travelled abroad as a student, my dad made me an additional cardholder on his credit card account, for use in emergencies.

I am also a mother of teens and have done similar for my own children. And as a result of what I have seen through my work, there are certain countries I would actively discourage them from visiting, due to the cost of or lack of access to competent healthcare, in the event of an accident or serious illness!

While students may not have access to credit cards with sufficient emergency funds, their parents should, or should otherwise advise them against travelling to countries they have not thrououghly researched!

I'm not sure a typical head-strong, do now - think later, young adult will acquiesce and cancel their travel plans. So essentially it's a case of fingers crossed all round. I also doubt how many people, parents or otherwise could muster up 10k or more in a short space of time.

My parents weren't rich either and even though I shared an account with one of them there was usually just enough for a month's rent and a week's food shop.

A GP consultation in Canada is around $950 if you're not registered with them

Holy cow.

I thought my US doctor was expensive. I pay $85 to $200 depending on how long the appointment takes and how many referrals they make (the other day we saw the doc for two things and it took an hour).

A GP consultation in Canada is around $950 if you're not registered with them

Good grief, are you sure?? It didn't even cost that much in the US, when my DS got an ear infection ... I'd planned to claim on the insurance, but it only cost about $100 at a "family drop in clinic" so I didn't bother

Yes, I'm sure - this is my job! I handle claims and arrange medical care for travellers, on behalf of many insurance companies, and Canada is one of the most expensive countries to fall ill as a tourist!

Regular GPs will only accept patients with national healthcare (i.e. not tourists, and not even gap year students!). Anyone else has to go to a walk-in clinic and pay around $950 upfront before they can even speak to a doctor!

On top of that, they may also have to pay for x-rays, blood tests, a plaster cast or stitches... and then a follow-up visit. And a "minor illness" quickly reaches $2-3K.

Many students simply can't afford it and end up changing their flight home, to see their own GP in their own country, cutting short their trip or gap year, because they didn't find out in advance that this was a risk

I'm genuinely amazed, vitaminC; please don't imagine I'm doubting you for an instant, but it's always the US which gets seen as the bogeyman cost-wise, and I had no idea that Canada was quite so expensive ... as the saying goes, every day's a school day on MN

Yes, I'm sure - this is my job! I handle claims and arrange medical care for travellers, on behalf of many insurance companies, and Canada is one of the most expensive countries to fall ill as a tourist!

Gosh, I genuinely had no idea this was the case. We live very close to Canada and go there fairly often. It actually never occurred to me that we should get additional insurance to go there, but now I'm very glad to have it. Our US insurance would cover us but all hospitals abroad are classed as 'out of network' so we would have a $12k excess before it kicks in.

I think that cheap travel has made the world so much more accessible to so many people for whom it would never previously have been an option, that many people jump at the chance to go to countries they fancy visiting, but without any real awareness of the risks and responsibilities that can entail!

Canada seems to be a dream destination for many young people these days, but then they end up on the phone to me in floods of tears because they had no idea that national healthcare there isn't the same as in Europe, and they signed up to insurance policies without reading the small print and not realising that they would need a few thousand dollars in an emergency fund for this type of situation before setting out.

I love my job, but some of the cases we handle are actually heartbreaking

Vitamin, yes, I remember in the 90s, when I was young, researching things thoroughly before setting off.

But that is an old fashioned approach.

People now often think anywhere is like home.

I got caught out myself in Holland. It used to have an NHS decades ago when I last went, but when we ended up in hospital there it turned out they moved to a private system years ago, and we had to pay £££ upfront.

So I am not as clever as I think either

Many students simply can't afford it and end up changing their flight home, to see their own GP in their own country, cutting short their trip or gap year, because they didn't find out in advance that this was a risk

Funnily enough the exact thing happened to my colleague. I've just got back from Whistler and he said he'd planned a gap year out there, got injured in week 2 and he had to abandon and fly home for an operation.

"When we arrived at the hotel, we were informed that we would not be given a room without paying a $250 deposit and the women on reception were absolutely baffled that neither of us have a credit card. "

This has been my experience around the world. Any hotel with a minibar or other services you can pay for in the room will want to take your card number as a guarantee.
What is also very common is being asked for your passport, which you obviously don't have if travelling within the same country.

"Ehic would get you to hospital and stabilise you, and then you've be on your way if you didn't have insurance"

They'd dump someone in the street? (I know they would in America, but this is France we're talking about).

"wouldn't go on any holiday, england, Europe or further afield with no insurance."

Assuming you live in England, why would you get insurance in the same country?
Do you get insurance for day trips to other towns?

Gwenhyfar no, that poster was mistaken, you certainly wouldn't be dumped in the street in France, you'd get excellent treatment until you were better!

"If someone works in one country and regularly flies home to family in another EU country, why would they need insurance to go home?"

This was my situation for a while. Legally, I was not entitled to NHS treatment when not a resident here, but in reality I think I would have been able to access it free of charge, even if they'd then bill my country of residence. This is why I didn't have travel insurance while travelling in the EU. I also lived somewhere where I could do day trips to neighbouring countries. It would have been pretty complicated to get insurance just for one day.
I do have travel insurance now, free with my current account. I don't understand enough about these things to know if it's any good.

"When I smashed my phone on a day out (not even when on holiday) I claimed it on the travel insurance. So it's worth having for stuff like that too."

Only if you have expensive things. I also thought you could get your home insurance to cover things like that.

It would have been pretty complicated to get insurance just for one day.

Not at all. You can get multi trip insurance that covers you for everything for a year. That way you don’t even need to think about insurance until the renewal comes round.

MsJane - but why would you want insurance for a day trip or for travel in your own country anyway?

I was very glad to have insurance for travel in this country when I broke my ankle.

we had a car accident 100 miles from home. luckily no injuries, but car totalled.
travel insurance paid for night in hotel and train back home the next day.

VitaminC Do you know anything about autism and how it affects travel insurance? It seems to count as a preexisting medical condition, which seems insane.

@MissMoneyPlant I've not had to handle any claims relating specifically to autism in the 4 years I've been doing this job and I wouldn't really consider it a medical condition any more than dyslexia, say. There is no treatment for it and we certainly have patients with other disabilities who are covered by travel insurance policies, so I can't see it being an specific obstacle to obtaining insurance.

That said, there are a certain number of medical conditions which are often closely linked to, although not caused by, autism - such as anxiety disorders.

I wouldn't handle a case any differently from a non-autistic patient with an anxiety disorder, though. I.e. ongoing treatment or hospitalisation within the past x months (depending on the clauses of the actual contract) would mean you wouldn't be eligible for repatriation or reimbursement of medical care for an anxiety attack unless specifically covered in the policy.

Again, this shouldn't affect claims for any other conditions, and there are contracts (most notably group contracts) which do cover all pre-existing conditions. We often have claims from patients with severe cognitive disabilities, living in group homes, who are badly unsettled by being taken away on holiday and have panic attacks or even epilectic fits, due to the stress. Their contracts specifically cover this and we organise transportation back to their residential facilities once they've been seen by a doctor and treated.

That was answered with my professional hat on, btw.

I actually do know quite a lot about autism, as the mother of a now-adult child with ASD!

Having worked in travel, I can't tell you the number of situations I've seen where people don't have it...including dozens of young lads injured on mopeds in Greece, elderly couples who get pneumonia, pregnancies that go wrong on holiday, children with horrendous ear infections and the very worst...fatal car crashes where one half of a couple was killed outright. The most common answer was 'we didn't know we needed it'. As an ex overseas rep, the situation was so upsetting and many of the above mentioned people simply assumed that either the holiday firm or the British Consulate would pick up the financial pieces - they don't.