Expensive school trip - why do schools do it?!

[Beach1983]

Cut a long story short, letter has come home with school trip for 8 days that is approx £2500 that doesn’t include food/spending money so guessing £500 extra for that, so all in roughly 3k.

Am I wildly out of touch for thinking that £3000 for a school trip for one child is ridiculous? (This is regular state school not private btw).

I feel annoyed with the school for putting parents in this position as obviously the kids want to go and (they say) all their friends are going so parents feel hugely guilt tripped into these things even if financially it’s a struggle!

Just needed to vent really and see if people share my views!

I’d rather take the 3k and go on a family holiday to New York to enjoy together 😛

I'd like to think that any parent who's child needed medical care requiring hospitalisation would absolutely pay the costs and also be on the first flight to be with their child without hesitation.
I know the health system is bad in the US and doesn't work the way it does here in Australia, but surely, the child would receive care regardless of insurance and would then be following up with the parents for payment?
If that's not the case, it's way worse than I thought.

I'd like to think that any parent who's child needed medical care requiring hospitalisation would absolutely pay the costs and also be on the first flight to be with their child without hesitation.
I know the health system is bad in the US and doesn't work the way it does here in Australia, but surely, the child would receive care regardless of insurance and would then be following up with the parents for payment?
If that's not the case, it's way worse than I thought.

Well in that case they can pay insurance, far less than the cost of a flight.

@Mummyisntmyonlyname That does make sense... but I have never seen insurance as an "optional extra" on a school trip. The NHS in the UK means that private medical insurance is relatively rare compared to other countries. Although some people do have "travel insurance" policies, a lot don't.

(I've lived in the US. Trying to actually claim anything on health insurance was a nightmare.)

It’s always been like this

I’m going back 7 years but a ski trip was £2.5k
You could pay it over 3 years

we could of afforded it but didn’t see it as value for money so didn’t

Yes, but the chance of needing hospital treatment would be low? If it weren't, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my children anyway...

In the UK, we have the NHS so most people are used to not paying a penny if their child get ill/injured, we don’t even see a breakdown of costs. The concept of paying for medical care is alien to most people.

Emergency flight to the US - £1k maybe? Medical bills in the US often run to hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for big accidents. Hardly anyone could stretch to this, even those who can afford £3k for a trip!

I have often seen things online where people in the US have not received the care they need and even died as they didn’t have medical insurance. No, they don’t treat you and worry about payment later. There is not a chance a UK school would take kids there and let parents opt in or out to the insurance!!

Imagine the shitstorm if it happened. And the school would cop it. No school would be OK leaving it up to frankly slack parents who would take that chance.

I'd refuse to travel to the US with a friend who chose not to have insurance, never mind being responsible for a child who didn't (while simultaneously being responsible for another 20 kids, in another country). You're being massively ridiculous @Mummyisntmyonlyname . You can't expect a teacher to be making decisions about a very poorly or badly injured child, on the spot, that could cost the parents hundreds of thousands of pounds.

All pupils need to have the same insurance policy, so that the person leading the group is in full knowledge of what it covers. They simply cannot be familiar with each child's policy exclusions etc.

I actually don't think that's all that bad for 8 days (8 days way too long for just nyc through), they are maybe going somewhere else too? If that's the case they will have a private coach probably which will be v expensive, the insurance will be a lot and they will need at least 2 member of staff, more likely 3 to cover also.

Yes, but the chance of needing hospital treatment would be low? If it weren't, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending my children anyway...

Accidents happen (from a broken ankle because you fell awkwardly to something more serious).Weird things happen(sudden asthma onset , seizures,fainting ,rashes ,allergies etc.)Common things happen(bacterial or viral), but you can't just pop over to your GP for those as you would at home.

On DD's residential a child got very ill and spiking a very high fever that they couldn't bring down. They were in Wales so a member of staff took her to A&E. She got seen,assessed and a prescription for antibiotics given. It was just tonsillitis and all free. The child was fine and after a day of rest and starting antibiotics she continued her activities.

In America , you'd have to pay for the visit,any tests done (to check for bacteria for example )and prescription. It wouldn't be as bad as even one day stay at hospital of course, but it can still cost a good chunk of money.

Anybody who travels to the US without insurance is an idiot. To send your child there with none, well, you probably shouldn't actually be a parent.

I once fell ill with tonsillitis there - docs consultation and antibiotics were nudging $70+ and this was in the 90s

My mind is blown by the poster merrily suggesting going to the US without health insurance to save money is somehow an option. Are you absolutely mental?

The one time we went I was so paranoid the insurance would hold I literally read out every medical issue we had ever had to the lady at the insurance company on a recorded line. She said I was right to some of the claims they paid out were “as much as a house”.

It is way worse than you thought.
No insurance, no treatment.
Parents also may not have the tens of thousands of pounds needed for the treatment - especially if they were struggling to find the 3K needed initially for the trip.

It’s not mandatory. If no one signed up then the school would stop offering the trip. There must be interest otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Do it if you can, don’t if you can’t.

And no, isn’t a holiday for the teachers. In fact it’s more stressful and exhausting than a normal week at school.

Do that then

Nope this is not how it works in the US at all. I have a family member living there. Their middle class neighbours with what they thought was good health care have list their house to the costs of their child's cancer

Schools clearly don't expect everyone to be able to access a trip to New York- Most secondary schools have around 300 pupils per year group- it would be impossible to run a trip for them all.

There are some seriously bizarre attitudes to teaching. And some worrying levels of anger!

You need to grow up and stop believing everything you read online that reinforces your prejudices.

Erm - ok. Happy to be educated here, which bit am I wrong on?

That the UK has an NHS so we aren’t used to paying for care when kids are sick or injured?
That medical bills in the US can run in to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a big accident/hospital stay?
That most people don’t have hundreds of thousands in the bank to pay for their child getting ill abroad with no insurance?
That people in the US struggle to pay for their care if uninsured?
That in the US they wouldn’t treat someone who is uninsured? I do hope I’m wrong on this point I have to say. it would be great to hear that US hospitals put patient care above finances.
that UK schools wouldn’t go abroad without insurance for all of the above reasons?

not sure what prejudices I have shown to be honest?

One of the schools I considered for my dc told prospective parents that they did not run any foreign trips. Their reasoning was that their student cohort was drawn from families who routinely took foreign holidays and there was no realistic educational benefit.

We didn’t choose that school in the end but I was impressed at how sensible the principal was.

That in the US they wouldn’t treat someone who is uninsured? I do hope I’m wrong on this point I have to say. it would be great to hear that US hospitals put patient care above finances.
If you don't actually know why are you posting misinformation?

There’s plenty of misinformation on this thread, not sure why you’ve decided to pick up on one thing i said.

I guess my understanding of what would happen if you didn’t have insurance was based on my life experience and conversations with people about this sort of thing. I was under the impression that you require insurance for medical bills in the US due a lack of NHS type structure, or you pay it yourself. My own experience of most services in most countries is that if you cannot pay for something you can’t have it, I guess I generalised this to include medical care. As most people can’t pay bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds without insurance , I assumed they’d refuse to treat you (as would be the case for private medical care in this country). I assume you’re saying I was wrong and that you’ll get whatever treatment you need in a timely manner and they’ll worry about recouping the costs later?

That said, I still am not clear on what prejudice I’ve shown, and I still think my point, that a UK school would not allow a pupil on a school trip without adequate insurance due to risk of a large medical bill, is correct.