To share my experiences - being ill abroad - insurance cover isn't the only issue.

[Kingsway]

Shared as an answer on another post. Sharing as part of the risk in going abroad just now.

The insurance may be fine, but have people really thought about being seriously ill, perhaps your whole family, whilst abroad?

I was prevented from flying due to my toddler having chicken pox. It was the worst three weeks of my life.

I couldn't stay in the hotel we were in, as the 'new' holiday makers needed the accommodation.
I was moved again during my stay for the same reason.

I was alone, my DH had to fly back on the original flight, as the insurance wouldn't pay for us both to stay on and the costs of the hotel and return flight couldn't be guaranteed. At one stage the travel company suggested all they could find to move us to was super, super expensive hotel (£600 per night😱) and we were told we would have to pay for my DH - at that point your stay is endless (until recovery and permission to fly) - we just couldn't afford it or take the risk.

The 'local' clinic and chemist were miles away and I didn't drive (without DH). The travel rep didn't want to be near us in case she caught it, so contact was by phone, sporadic and when she was busy, unanswered.

My toddler wanted familiarity, to be cool, his bed, his food. He was really quite ill and I was so worried in calling an ambulance ( how did I do that abroad) in case the insurance didn't cover that particular cost. I realised one of the local clinics that I'd used couldn't be reimbursed by the insurance company, so I had to pay the bill.

I've never felt so alone and stressed with no one to help me. I hardly slept, dumped after two nights of super luxury, into a grotty hotel, in an unfamiliar place, one which I would never have chosen.

When my toddler was declared 'fit to fly' by a doctor ( another whole saga) there was no available seat on flights for another 4 days..the travel firm couldn't tell me when seats would be free, so it was days of packing up, waiting around, sometimes even as far as getting to the airport..to be told no flight.

It was horrendous. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I lived abroad for a while and the uncertainty around insurance made me very anxious the whole time even though we had a great policy. When I was there there was a child of an expat who died of sepsis because they got to the nearest hospital and it wasn't in network so they were told by insurance to move. By the time they got to the next hospital he didn't make it.

@Kingsway Out of interest, who were you insured with?

While your experience clearly wasn't great, there are some points that need further clarification.

Once your child fell ill and couldn't travel, you presumably contacted your insurance company's helpline. Having explained the situation and confirmed what was covered by the insurance, all of the subsequent actions should have been taken by the insurance company (rather than by you or the holiday company and their rep).

Alternative accommodation should have been of at least the same standard as your booked accommodation. The insurance company should have been sorting this out and would have an agent on the ground to arrange this for you.

Likewise the medical care, medicines etc. The insurance company should have managed this and provided you with updates, translations etc.

Finally, the flight home should also have been the insurance company's problem to resolve. If there were no seats on the holiday company's own flights then they should have booked you onto a scheduled flight or even onto a repatriation flight.

Cheap insurance is cheap for a reason, but it really does not cost much more to get good comprehensive insurance with a company that offers what you need - in your case the ability for your partner to also stay with you and your child, the medical support, a dedicated proactive helpline and repatriation.

Nengineer
To be honest I would choose any inconvenience and cost over being killed by the third world NHS

Do you want to expand on that comment or did you write it to deliberately wind people up

taliopolis I quite agree with Nengineer

The only thing I can say I have been happy about was my ADHD diagnosis which I had done through the NHS
Dd asked for her assessment at the same time and we are ending up having to go private because she got a psychiatrist who didn’t listen to her answers, cut her off when she was explaining stuff and altered her answers if they showed any sort of probability that she could be ADHD. Ds thought he was being referred by the doctor he spoke to at the practice but he is now having to go through things again with another doctor. He is having to fill out a form now and have another appointment and they may or may not refer him

A Doctor nearly killed Dh when they mistook an abscess on dhs spleen for a hernia. He told them it wasn’t a hernia, he has had a hernia before and it didn’t look like this. This doctor tried to pummel the “hernia” back inside dhs stomach wall. One false move and the abscess would have burst and killed Dh.
They dismissed his symptoms of bowel cancer and just told him it was stress/constipation and gave him suppositories for months. We ended up having to pay for his cancer treatment as they refused to do anything.
I think we were in the wrong postcode

If you haven’t had any problems then that is great but for many the NHS doesn’t work.

Even friend who emigrated who thought the NHS was fantastic because they treated her ailments and were nice to her.
She has now had experience of her new countries private health care and found the treatment and medication prescribed by the NHS was actually the stuff that was making her ill.

yes. def check the small print.
a relative had a policy that didn't include expatriation. flying home someone with a broken leg costs £££££

And I haven’t my 7 years of shuffling round with a slipped disc. They were treating me for a hip problem,
It again took me going private to actually get someone to look at me.

My=mentioned

This is precisely why I backed out of going on holiday in March 2020 - 2 days before the Foreign Office banned travel to the country I was going to - and by doing so, lost my money but saved my sanity!

A number of years ago we went on holiday to mainland Spain. Within 1 hour of arriving at our accommodation, DH had an accident requiring the emergency services - only having visited the area before we knew that the emergency services wouldn't come to where our villa was. Only option was to ring travel rep and get her to sort a rescue of some sort. Dh was taken for medical treatment in the back of her car. I had to accompany him as should he have needed inpatient treatment I would need to care for him overnight as the hospital nursing staff apparently wouldn't. I had to bring the water from our welcome pack with me as we would not be supplied with anything by the hospital. DS ( who was 8 at the time) had to spend the night with friends who had fortunately hired the villa next door.

I certainly learned many lessons from that holiday, the most important being never expect UK standards/treatment in an emergency when in another country. Thankfully DH was OK but the lack of emergency services to help him could easily have ended in him being paralysed for life.

We were visiting family when I needed to see a doctor for a declared condition. DH's cousin took me to hospital paid the bill on his credit card and DH paid him back with cash later. The insurance company wouldn't pay. We had all the hospital records, prescription, invoices with my name on them.
There was nothing in the policy warning about this. Most insurers will do everything possible to avoid paying IME.

@Nengineer

To be honest I would choose any inconvenience and cost over being killed by the third world NHS

What a pathetic comment.

@Bythemillpond - I’m surprised an insurance company is still covering your dh for pneumonia…. for three incidents! Surely you have to declare this beforehand and premiums will be very high.

RedHelenB

What is so pathetic. I know in my family alone they have killed people with their incompetence over diagnosing a heart attack.
They have left me personally in agony for years because they refuse to listen or refuse to look at you.
They have told Dh he shouldn’t be frightening himself with his self diagnosis of bowel cancer. They refused to test him. In the end by the time he couldn’t walk and the cancer had spread they then turned round and told him they could treat him as he would be an ideal candidate for a particular surgery but if he wanted it then he had to pay for it.(I don’t think we were in the right postcode)
Otherwise they could put him on a care pathway which would have resulted in his death.
We wiped out our savings to save him.

I’m still asking, Bythemillpond, how much your travel insurance is because with all your health conditions - pneumonia, cancer, hernias, ADHD, slipped disc - your insurance must be astronomical.

DottyHarmer

He took a job at a multinational insurance company and used to travel the world with his work so was covered under their policy.
He used to pay US health insurance as he worked over in the States more than he worked in London and got a highly discounted holiday insurance for us.

We haven’t been on holiday since he has left and am thinking it is going to be an enormous consideration. He also has type 1 diabetes and terminal cancer (he has had the terminal diagnosis for 5 years but we paid for an operation that could potentially have saved him so only time will tell)

Sadly with multiple conditions few insurance companies will touch you. Specialist ones will be charging £1k+ a week for all those conditions.

@Nengineer

To be honest I would choose any inconvenience and cost over being killed by the third world NHS

Oh don't be a goady mare.

I have a long list of preexisting conditions including recent cancer treatment. I am resigned to insurance that costs many hundreds of pounds. I priced up an annual policy recently at £600. In spite of paying all this I still dread needing health care abroad (I never have, it's always been otner members of the family!). I read up on local hospitals and health care before booking.

DottyHarmer

Or we could just leave him at home.

@Nengineer I'd hope any 'third world' country would just not let you in.

I’ve been ill twice abroad - once as a teenager with bronchitis, lovely Austria doctor & hospital but I couldn’t understand anything and parents couldn’t stay with me. Super frightening.

Once in Thailand with anaphylaxis- lovely doctors and nurses but an awful, dirty hospital, middle of knowhere. It wouldn’t and hasn’t put me off going abroad again but it now know to pay the extra for better insurance.

Having had multiple cycles of IVF abroad, I hear you.
DH and I are traveling for a year around Europe at the moment. We decided on only having the EU free travel card thing as we're in our comfy campervan and couldn't be arsed with the cost. But who knows. It might bite us in the arse.

@Bythemillpond

FlowerArranger

He has never been offered a pneumonia vaccination. Is their one?

Yes there is - it may be worth him contacting his GP to see if he's eligible

I became seriously ill in a foreign country when I was a teenager, I spent 10 days in hospital and nearly died. We were lucky we knew people locally who could translate, but my parents were well and truly stuck at a hospital in the middle of nowhere, with no local knowledge to find food, as we were far from a touristy area.

Also the insurance only paid out for me!