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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:
Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/04/2018 14:27

Well it’s not the breaks is it? You’re free to travel without insurance and take the risk if you please

With some holidays that's perfectly true, and all's fine until something happens, when too many discover they're not happy to accept the consequences and expect someone else to pay

A friend's family are now in a huge financial mess after paying for their dad's hospital treatment during his latest uninsured holiday ... and despite the family's pleading he still keeps booking more, knowing how hard they'd find it to abandon "poor old dad" to his fate Hmm

RoadToRivendell · 09/04/2018 14:28

Puzzled - IMO, insurance is on the radar in the USA in a way that it's just not here, and I'd even wager that the average American would have exercised an insurance policy by the time they're middle-aged (I have rather a lot - I've had a great run with my pet insurance in particular!).

When I started my first 'real' job in the US, in addition to health insurance (obviously) I also took a policy against disability, as well as a policy against fire/theft in my (rented) flat. This was all normal, my friends did the same.

RoadToRivendell · 09/04/2018 14:29

But sure, insurers hate to pay out. You have to read the small print.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/04/2018 14:37

IMO, insurance is on the radar in the USA in a way that it's just not here

Yes, I've noticed that myself; once again it's a different mindset, maybe influenced by less expectation that "the state will step in" and a greater acceptance of things being down to the individual?

TheyMostlyComeOutAtNightMostly · 09/04/2018 14:55

The US insurance industry is much much more heavily regulated than the UK industry - possibly because it’s so much more important in a country which doesn’t believe in a socialised state safety net.

Some bits of the UK industry ((PPI, extended warranty, mandatory purchase travel insurance, credit hire shenanigans on motor insurance claims) have been genuinely iffy in the past (or even today), which has poisoned the public image of the industry even for legitimate, competitively priced products like standalone travel and bog standard motor.

tillytoodles1 · 09/04/2018 15:06

My neighbour had booked a holiday but hadn't got round to getting insurance. She slipped and broke her leg at home, then couldn't fly. They lost over £4000.00.

Sty90 · 09/04/2018 15:10

I used to get travel insurance every time. However the one time I tried to claim the insurance company squirmed out of paying.

Now I only get insurance for risky trips, however I live in the US and only really travel back to the UK to visit. I stay with family and have access to the NHS so insurance is not needed.

2Brieornot2Brie · 09/04/2018 15:13

We had a holiday of a lifetime booked 3 years ago. My husband had a (thankfully minor) heart attack 3 days before we left. We got back the whole cost, over £7k less £50 excess each. It would have been a lot of money to lose.

VladmirsPoutine · 09/04/2018 15:17

@sofato5miles What if you didn't have 20k knocking about in your accounts?

RustyParker · 09/04/2018 15:18

What's the deal with insurance via a current bank account? Do you have to notify them before you go on holiday?

I have pre-existing conditions so I really should speak to them and presumably pay extra if they are accepted. Just wondering how good the insurance from bank accounts actually are?

viques · 09/04/2018 15:20

Sty90. If you are normally resident in the USA then you do NOT have access to the NHS. If you need hospital treatment here you will be allowed to have it but will be expected to pay. And they do check.

Roussette · 09/04/2018 15:21

squishee let me know if you want the name of who we used. My DH is nearly 70 (although really doesn't look or act it!), we have worldwide for a year, excluding US but including cruise holidays and for the two of us I pay about £138 (for a year) with an extra mini policy attached to the main one covering my DHs heart problem at £55. They were Which magazine recommended and we've used them 3 years running now.

Does anyone know how much going to the US impacts on prices? I really don't want to go whilst Trump is there but we might have to next year ... I'm just curious whether it would go up by much for worldwide Including US, as opposed to worldwide excluding US.

Sty90 · 09/04/2018 15:28

viques

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

UndomesticHousewife · 09/04/2018 15:35

For bank account travel insurance you need to tell them about any pre existing conditions, if they can cover you there may be an additional charge for that condition. I think that insurance needs to be renewed after a year or do you call them and tell them there’s no change etc and cover continues otherwise it could lapse.

For us to go to USA it would have been £800 for two weeks, this is because it’s all private health care and very expensive.
Also for example Greece is cheaper to insure than Spain for the same reason. According to the insurance man in the phone.

We could only book our holiday after dds test results were back as they wouldn’t have insured her for that. I insured on the day we booked as I was caught out before by not insuring in time.

RoadToRivendell · 09/04/2018 15:44

Yes, I've noticed that myself; once again it's a different mindset, maybe influenced by less expectation that "the state will step in" and a greater acceptance of things being down to the individual?

Yes.

specialsubject · 09/04/2018 15:51

sty90 not only are you not eligible for NHS use, if you don't insure and have to cancel you lose the lot.

VladmirsPoutine · 09/04/2018 15:56

Does anyone have any idea of how this hypothetical situation might play out?

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.

She doesn't have any insurance at all. The cost for her care obviously is in the thousands which she can't afford and neither can any of her relatives in the UK. She won't be able to fly back in a normal plane seat so will require a medevac.

Would she be made to stay in Oz till she could pay? How would they square this with her over staying a holiday visa? What happens even if a potential go-fund-me doesn't stump up enough funds? Would this mean her staying in Oz potentially indefinitely till she arranges the funds?

Frazzled2207 · 09/04/2018 15:57

If you have hundreds of thousands sitting in the bank to pay for the medevac helicopter then I suppose fair enough. For almost all of the rest of us it's a no brainier IMO.

That said my dad is an otherwise v healthy 70 year old who's pretty much uninsurable due to a pre-existing condition. He goes away for short (3-4 day) jaunts every now and then.
Although he knows it's risky, he totally understands this and fortunately has money to sort things out in extremis.

Aroundtheworldandback · 09/04/2018 15:59

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

UndomesticHousewife · 09/04/2018 16:18

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

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/04/2018 16:18

The US insurance industry is much much more heavily regulated than the UK industry

And a darned good thing too; as you suggest, it's not for nothing that some UK insurance companies are seen as a bunch of shysters, and it sometimes seems there's hardy a product they've sold which hasn't been the subject of some enquiry or other

Trouble is we need them, so all we can do is make absolutely sure that everything's in writing (personally I register anything I need to send) and read the small print as well. Admittedly it's a pain, but then taking responsibility often is

newmumwithquestions · 09/04/2018 16:31

I don’t bother with typical travel insurance because when I’ve had things stolen on holiday I haven’t been able to jump through all the hoops (police report, original certificates, photos of me using the item, proof of condition) to get reimbursed.

I do bother with medical insurance and if I’m driving abroad I make sure my car insurance covers this.

newmumwithquestions · 09/04/2018 16:33

Just to add I’ve been in hospital in a couple of different countries. Once I claimed, once I didn’t as again it just wasn’t worth it (private room in general hospital, 5 day stay).

Tartsamazeballs · 09/04/2018 16:36

If you've got travel insurance with a bank account check what you're actually covered for. When I worked for a tour operator a few years back we wouldn't accept bank account travel insurance because they didn't actually cover everything that we needed to be covered. That might have changed now though.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/04/2018 16:39

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

I imagine a lot depends on where you are; for example VladmirsPoutine mentioned Australia, and while they have a reciprocal health agreement with the UK which covers emergencies, it apparently doesn't cover use of the ambulance service or medivac

In other places, though, it's probably not so much that they'd "let you die" as that you might well die while they argue over what to do with you ... and in some nations' public (as opposed to private) hospitals, that might not take very long Hmm

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