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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:
NowToWork · 09/04/2018 09:27

Lots of things are rackets, travel insurance is not one of them imo.

wonderstuff · 09/04/2018 09:30

I think that having ‘free’ healthcare here makes people complacent. I’d never travel abroad without it myself - the cost of repatriation if anything happens is scary enough without the huge cost of medical treatment.

stateschool · 09/04/2018 09:33

Depends where you go. In EU you don’t really need it if you’re healthy, in US get it because their health care is f-Ing ridiculous so even a minor accident can cost thousands. Our DC had an overnight stay in a US hospital for something minor - the bill was $10k. Insurance took care of it...

DeathStare · 09/04/2018 09:36

In EU you don’t really need it if you’re healthy

As PPs have pointed out - healthcare isn't free in the EU, it just costs the same as whatever it costs local people (many of whom may have private health insurance in some countries). You could still be left with thousands of pounds worth of bills.

Being healthy doesn't really make much difference - nobody knows when they are suddenly going to get ill, including something which could require (expensive) surgery such as appendicitis. And you never know when you could be involved in an accident.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 09/04/2018 09:37

Really stateschool? Last year DH had hospital treatment in New York for a burst ear drum- A&E visit, examination and prescription. admittedly not kept in overnight but fairly minor all the same. It cost £70. The excess on the insurance was £100 though so no claim.

My best friend has just had a baby, 4 night stay and emergency c section, in San Fran. Cost for her and baby was £10k. What on Earth did you DS need $10k worth of treatment for in a night?

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/04/2018 09:38

In EU you don’t really need it if you’re healthy

But what if you fall and break a leg and can't sit in a normal plane seat?

Conditions like meningitus or appendicitus can appear in otherwise healthy people with no warning.

Killed or injured in a road accident?

Death of a relative the day after you get there and you need emergency transport home for the whole family?

Still think you don't need travel insurance in the EU? For the sake of a few quid that will be a small fraction of even the most budget concious foreign holiday, it's a no brainer.

yikesanotherbooboo · 09/04/2018 09:39

We have had to use it twice; once when DD developed conjunctivitis in US and without treatment would have been unable to fly with all the entailed expense( > $1000 in any case!) and once whenDS1 had a skiing accident and needed to be flown home.
I have seen loads of cases where preplanned holidays have had to be cancelled and insurance has coughed up.
My DNeice got chicken pox abroad and had to stay for an extra week with her mother.
It's common to have to recourse to it and really irresponsible not to purchase unless you are wealthy.
By the same token people often baulk at the cost of vaccines and anti malarial treatment even though they are paying upwards of £500-1000 for their overseas trip.this lack of logic is dangerous and irritates the hell out of me!

Roussette · 09/04/2018 09:40

But how can anyone say that you don't really need it if you're healthy and only travel to the EU. The EHIC doesn't co ver you when you get bitten by a rabid dog, you fall from a balcony, you break your leg in a bad way.... if you can afford all the medical bills, the extra month long stay for a relative to sort it all out, the air ambulance home at worst, or extra seats on a plane at best.. Fine!

I wouldn't be risking it!

NameChangeAgainAndAgain · 09/04/2018 09:40

I've travelled without insurance loads of times! Now I'm married, DH is quite practical and makes us sort this out, but when I was single I travelled on a shoe string and not getting insurance was one of several methods to save money. All is well. Don't judge. It won't affect you if someone needs insurance and doesn't have it. It's their mistake to get over.

Roussette · 09/04/2018 09:42

My Uncle was in Spain when he had a stroke/heart attack. Without insurance, I have no idea how he would have eventually got home. It's madness saying you don't need it in the EU.

NameChangeAgainAndAgain · 09/04/2018 09:43

Ps. When I was a student and travelled in the holidays, etc... it was only a select few rich kids that got insurance. When you are travelling to Europe by national express for around £10, insurance is over double the cost of the travel!!!

implantsandaDyson · 09/04/2018 09:44

A relative of mine died in an accident whilst on a short break to mainland Europe. They were only nipping over for a few days, which they did every few months, they never bothered with travel insurance. They always figured, they were never that far from airport, they never paid a lot for flights so if they ever had to cancel a holiday it wouldn't be that big a deal.

I thought hearing that someone I loved had died suddenly and trying to explain that to kids etc would be the hardest and most heart breaking thing I'd have to deal with for a few weeks. Trying to get an uninsured body home and trying to deal with the financial fallout of that process came very close.

amusedbush · 09/04/2018 09:46

I always have travel insurance anyway but a couple of years ago I tripped over a cobble in Paris and fractured my ankle. I didn't have it seen to until a month later in France but it made me realise just how easy it would be to rack up medical bills abroad.

Trooperslane2 · 09/04/2018 09:47

You are fucking NUTS if you don't have insurance

A relative of a relative died 4000 miles away and the medical bill and subsequent repatriation meant that the family home in the SE of England had to be sold and not a penny left.

Wise up!

Trooperslane2 · 09/04/2018 09:48

It's £60/year for the three of us.

You'd spend more on a nice meal out - I can't get my head around it.

embod · 09/04/2018 09:49

I take out an annual policy for myself and my kids. Have just returned from a holiday in the states. My son came down with chicken pox just over a week before we were due to go but luckily got a fit to fly note the day before we left. It was a stressful time but knowing if we had to cancel because of it the insurance would have covered the costs helped. Can’t understand not having it, especially with children.

Raglansleeve · 09/04/2018 09:50

DMIL visiting one of her sons and his family who live in Florida was taken ill and spent 6 nights in hospital. She had insurance but had not mentioned pre-existing condition (condition was not why she was in hospital). The hospital treated her as she could show them proof of insurance, but then the insurance company refused to pay out because of pre-existing condition.

She was hounded for payment by the insurance company/hospital for US$140K until she died 5 years later - she couldn't have paid anyway, she had no assets, but she was made miserable by the constant harassment. Her son and his family in the US were also hassled by the hospital.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 09/04/2018 09:50

Whose home was sold? Who forced the sale?

I have 2 friends recently whose fathers died abroad. They were buried there. The cost and hassle of repatriation wasn’t considered worth while (they all had insurance- it was used there instead)

NowToWork · 09/04/2018 09:51

Namechangeagain I ve been on the coaches across Europe myself and took out insurance.

Travel Insurance is even more important if your family can't pay to solve your problems.

yikesanotherbooboo · 09/04/2018 09:51

I understand NameChange but travelling abroad was out of your price range if you couldn't afford insurance. You were young, fit and healthy and your belongings were worth peanuts so you didn't prioritise insurance. I 'm pretty sure I did the same years ago but it doesn't mean it wasn't irresponsible. A young, fit person can fall off a moped!

NowToWork · 09/04/2018 09:52

It's the cost of a few of beers.

stateschool · 09/04/2018 09:52

Yes Sprinklesinmyelbow REALLY - several hours in A&E, admitted to a room ( once it was confirmed we could pay for it) released the following evening. They chased us the whole time for a credit card pre authorisation - but insurance said we’ll deal either it don’t pay anything up front. IV, nurse, doctor, some oxygen, minor drugs. Bill was well over $10k but that’s probably not what the insurance people actually paid - hat was the rack’ rate. They had everything listed on the bill - right down to the tape holding the Canula in place and the gloves the staff wore for examination. Don’t even think about going to the USA without medical insurance it’s really not with it.

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 09/04/2018 09:52

Depends where you’re going and who you are nowtowork

Personwithhorse · 09/04/2018 09:55

There was a recent article in the Guardian about stag dos - until recently just drinks in the pub. Now often involving server all days abroad. The death rates of people on these trips was highlighted, young men who die from falling from balconies or one example high someone who died in the night from a combination of cocaine and other drugs.

Who pays for the return of their bodies if this happens, let alone the future of their families - although use of illegal substances many invalidate their insurance.

BarbaraofSevillle · 09/04/2018 09:55

A young, fit person can fall off a moped

True, but also be aware that standard travel insurance is unlikely to cover things like riding a moped, or working, as someone has mentioned upthread.

It's always worth reading the small print, at least read the policy summary and the 'hazardous activities' section to make sure there aren't any exclusions that would affect you, even if you don't think you will be doing anything particularly dangerous.