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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Fundraisers for people who have gone on holiday without travel insurance.

131 replies

Sharksbees · 12/09/2018 07:33

Prepared to get flamed but Aibu to think not paying for travel insurance and expecting people to pick up the bill if you are ill is cheeky?

I might be a total bitch but our local media and Facebook groups seems to always have at least one of these fundraisers to bring people home because they've taken ill and have no travel insurance.

I know I don't have to contribute but surely if you can afford a 2K holiday you can afford travel insurance? Ours costs a fortune because we all have medical issues but I wouldn't dream of going without it. If I can't afford it (and this has been the case) we have travelled in the UK instead and if you don't have issues it's as little as £13!

I'm not talking about those where they have taken insurance and it won't pay out BTW but more those who put their pictures up drinking pints of beer but have no insurance.

OP posts:
Lozz22 · 13/09/2018 18:38

I’ve always taken travel insurance out. Never thought having it would ever come in useful but it did about 5 years ago in the middle of the Caribbean whilst on a Cruise. I ended up pretty poorly with a bad case of tonsillitis. Raging temperature, low blood pressure and a racing pulse. Cost me $150 for a course of antibiotics and a weeks worth of paracetamol worked out around £97 in English money and I was able to claim around £47 back through travel insurance

BrendasUmbrella · 13/09/2018 18:43

We're all different, some people prefer to help and some prefer to judge.

I absolutely prefer to judge. It's a stupid thing to travel without.

TomHardysNextWife · 13/09/2018 18:49

I fully agree OP but am feeling very pissed off that we claimed on our travel insurance (well known national company) in June as I was in hospital..... and are still waiting for a payout. We've had form after form after form to fill in; paid our GP £50 for the medical forms; had numerous telephone interviews.... and are still waiting 4 months later.
Meanwhile we are £2.5k out of pocket on our 25th wedding anniversary holiday of a lifetime Sad. I can only hope they are more responsive should you need repatriation etc..........

IrmaFayLear · 13/09/2018 18:52

I agree I would never contribute to crowdfunding. That link to the Derbyshire case - the man's father flew out to be at their besides, and then had a heart attack snorkelling? He clearly wasn't mounting a bedside vigil...

But - I was nearly caught out with ds. I didn't realise that at 18 he had to have separate insurance and is no longer a child in the family group. You sort of assume you are a "family" even if your dcs are adults. I only spotted this fact on MSE a couple of days before we were due to travel and sped to take out the appropriate extra insurance.

Chouetted · 13/09/2018 19:02

I have some sort of congenital eye condition that's completely stable. Hospital don't know what it is, but say I don't need any treatment.

For some reason this makes me unable to obtain travel insurance covering ANY of my preexisting conditions. I'm asthmatic and autistic (the later is relevant as it affects any hospital treatment)... so, yay.

Chouetted · 13/09/2018 19:06

Having said that, I wouldn't be relying on fundraisers - I take credit cards, EHIC, and always make sure I have promises of appropriate support from people. I suppose you'd call that self-insurance.

RainbowCookie · 13/09/2018 19:14

I got stuck in New York for 10 days on 9/11, called the insurance company who said they would cover the hotel cost, so we extended our stay in the hotel.
When we came to claim they changed their mind and said it was an act of terrorism so not covered.
Took us over a year to pay off the credit card bills as New York hotels are not cheap. Makes you wonder if we’d been injured in a terrorist attack would they refuse to pay - probably.

abacucat · 13/09/2018 19:16

Some pre existing conditions no one will cover. Especially if they are very very rare, although not necessarily serious. We have traveled with named pre existing conditions excluded because otherwise we could have never ever gone abroad.

TheCraicDealer · 13/09/2018 19:23

This happens so much there's a charity locally who assist families in repatriation of remains back to Ireland. It's particularly a problem here with the amount of kids that go to Australia, Canada and the US to work and just don't think of getting insurance. The Kevin Bell Trust do absolutely fantastic work (they also help families negotiate all the bureaucracy and logistics) but it would be fantastic if people were more aware of the need for good insurance.

[runs downstairs to check policy wording for next month's holiday]

Chouetted · 13/09/2018 19:24

@abucat How the heck do you get them to do that? i'd be quite happy to travel with everything except autism excluded, but noone is willing to do that.

Lostandfound81 · 13/09/2018 19:46

@Chouetted

Are you saying theee are travel insurance policies that do not cover those with autism?

ilovesouthlondon · 13/09/2018 19:54

I've seen these types of fundraisers for people who have died on holiday and need their corpse flown back. They always seem to have kids too, so a bit thoughtless. I know someone who had to have her funeral conducted in the Caribbean by virtual strangers (she's not from a Caribbean background) because she'd taken ill and died but her family in the UK couldn't afford the bill to bring her back. It can cost around 10k!

PurpleCrazyHorse · 13/09/2018 20:02

@LemonysSnicket We've had travel insurance for the UK to protect from holiday cancellation due to illness/injury. We tend to get it if we have ferry crossings booked for example as getting another crossing can be expensive, expensive accommodation or holidaying with others.

We have an annual policy now anyway, that covers UK and overseas.

starryskies78 · 13/09/2018 20:03

I absolutely agree BrendsUmbrella.

I pay a fortune for travel insurance because of pre-existing condition. I wouldn't go without it. Like others have said, if I couldn't afford it I wouldn't go. We were due to go to Nz next year but insurance has priced us out of it as it would have been £1500. I wouldn't dream of going without though.

What especially got me was a few weeks ago a couple were crowd funding for the male who had jumped off a balcony into a pool and damaged his back, they didn't have insurance. That's just ridiculous on two counts. Why should people be asked to contribute to this kind of stupidness.

Pinklady1982 · 13/09/2018 20:09

This is a very sore subject for those of us that work in the travel industry... it is always discussed and recommended at time of booking, and you should take it out straight away. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people we get calling with their sob stories and expecting us to cover their bills as they didn’t take out insurance, but think we should pay them being their travel company. One customer even threatened to take us to court, but I think they finally realised they were at fault, so didn’t hear anything again. Sorry peeps, but you have no one to blame but yourselves, everyone knows you need to get insurance, why even take the risk!?!?

Chouetted · 13/09/2018 20:12

@Lostandfound81 No. I have an unrelated, undiagnosed, stable condition that makes me uninsurable for any preexisting conditions, including autism, because I'm waiting to have my 3D vision tested by an orthoptist. Once I've had this test, the eye clinic will see me again and consider what they might do next. I've been waiting for this for years, as understandably, they prioritise other people with more serious conditions.

Since I can't stop being autistic, as far as I can see, that makes me uninsurable for virtually anything that might ever happen to me medically. Even if I just fall down some steps and break my ankle, that's likely to be because of my dyspraxia, which is linked to my... autism.

fatimashortbread · 13/09/2018 20:22

I have an annual policy for travel which includes the UK. If I had to cancel a holiday in the uk cos of illness it would reimburse me the accommodation costs and any booked travel

emmakc1977 · 13/09/2018 22:22

I genuinely forgot to buy insurance for a weekend in Spain with DH in June. I’d been manic at work and we were selling/buying house so was super stressed. I just totally forgot until we got there, then spent whole weekend panicking I’d get I’ll or run over. I’ll never forget again!

Kate0902900908 · 13/09/2018 22:42

YANBU!!!
This also winds me up!
Our insurance is hundreds due to medical issues that have to be covered and to go away without insurance is completely irresponsible. If a holiday can be funded surly insurance can. People take risks hoping for the best I understand this but at the end of the day you have to make sure if things go wrong your covered full stop.

This might seem really harsh but people over 50-60 not having insurance to cover funeral costs. In 2 years my friend almost lost everything paying to cremate and fund funtals for mother, father and step father. 2 deaths expected and 1 unexpected but was over 60 years. Grieving and an only child she literally had to sell up to sort everything out. It was so sad.

People should always make sure their child/children have at least enough to pay for the funeral

pinkstripeycat · 14/09/2018 06:22

I used to work in travel insurance. It’s a minefield but if you read the info you’ll be ok. Many folk don’t want to take responsibility for themselves. People do lie or withold info as they don’t want to pay and those who find their insurance is Invalid as they haven’t declared a condition say it wasn’t their voice on the previous recorded phone call! People don’t declare conditions controlled with medication as they think it’s gone or got better. People don’t read the paperwork because “who reads all of that?!” They ask why didn’t you tell me xxxx - because we can’t read you a 50 page booklet over the phone. insurance websites provide the info telling you exactly what to do but people don’t read it. Most people do read all the bumf and do travel fully insured so it can be done. It’s the ones who haven’t read their stuff or can’t be bothered that come unstuck. EHIC doesn’t everything ie expensive treatment or bringing you home if you die - it’s the decision of the hospital as to what it will cover

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 14/09/2018 08:45

We need a 'thigh rubbers/finger waggers' board here so all of these type threads can go on them.

What's the point OP? This doesn't affect you in any way. It just sounds what it is, nasty, impotent judgement.

Atlantea · 14/09/2018 09:18

What's the point OP? This doesn't affect you in any way. It just sounds what it is, nasty, impotent judgement.

you could apply this to almost every thread here - but if the OP makes someone think, shit i need travel insurance, because i thought i was covered for travelling in Europe, or that they didnt need it for another random reason, then its a job well done

TheWinterofOurDiscountTentsMk2 · 14/09/2018 09:20

I'm still wondering what these people are supposed to do, if they have fucked up and stuck abroad ill or injured or dead? You not only don't want to contribute (fine) but you want nobody else to help them either.
So what do you expect them to do exactly?

starzig · 14/09/2018 09:32

Sometimes people fail to read insurance correctly and, for example, do a dports thst is not covered. Sometimes people don't realise they have to declare an illness etc...

Atlantea · 14/09/2018 09:56

I think this is more about those who either don't know or don't care about travel insurance than those who make a simple mistake on their insurance