To go on holiday without travel insurance

[purplesalad]

My mum is elderly and we’re planning on going on holiday within the EU( 2weeks).
Mum is a citizen of that country and has dual passports for uk and over there.

As she has pre existing medical conditions, her travel insurance premium is pretty high and she has said she would be entitled to free medical treatment should anything happen over there.

Despite her pre existing conditions, she keeps well and is independent, lives alone and never been admitted to hospital here.

She wants to risk it but I’m worried. At the same time I feel that travel insurance companies would look for excuses not to cover in the event and it would be not worth the paper it’s printed on.

What are your thoughts and experiences please, mumsnetters ?

Definitely get it. It's not just health that can go wrong.

How expensive is it?

I’d be quadruple checking her entitlement to free healthcare

I’d check her entitlement to healthcare, but also does she have anywhere to recuperate there after being ill should anything happen?
travel insurance I’m assuming would get her home, but free healthcare would be just that.

Why don't you get a quote and see how much it is. My family have existing conditions and insurance in the EU is really cheap.

It's not just about covering ill health, I was unfortunate enough to be involved in a coach crash abroad, serious injuries, had to have special transport to get home. The cost was eye watering, thank goodness I had insurance.

Over £600
twice the cost of airline ticket !

go fund me is full of people who thought they were covered and be fine to risk it

Yep

This 100%
I'd never travel without insurance.

If she was unwell and needed months in hospital, would she be happy to stay there? If she died, would you be happy to have her buried there?

If the answer to both those is yes, so you don't need medical cover, you don't need repatriation cover, and you presumably don't need cover for luggage etc, then go ahead.

But if you would want her repatriated to the UK, get the insurance

Yeah my costs have soared too since my cancer diagnosis 5 years ago.

The fuck am I paying £600 when I know full well they'll do everything in their power not to pay out.

That’s what my concern is.
Being stuck there, not well enough to travel and me having to get back for work etc.
She does have relatives she’d stay with but I wouldn’t like leaving her.

I wouldn't risk it, so many other things the insurance will cover. Have you looked at the companies which specialise is cover for pre existing conditions. I recently bought insurance through a company called Insure with, the founder has secondary breast cancer so is well aware of travel insurance challenges.

Get the insurance. So she’s covered for medical treatment. What is she needs an extended stay in the country? What if you need to stay with her? How is she going to get home?

It is beyond idiotic to go away with pre-existing conditions and not be covered.

Have you tried a few different companies. That seems a huge amount of money but imagine a scenario where she is ill on the plane and you land in a different country. Healthcare and repatriation would be considerably more than £600.

My husband was acutely unwell last year while in an EU country and was admitted to hospital for urgent surgery and was in hospital for 2.5 weeks. The hospital was €1000 a day, plus surgery, hotels for me, repatriation... I dread to think what we would have paid if we had no insurance.

Don't risk it.

Exactly as being actually resident in the country is the criteria for receiving fee care. All those who retired to Spain to live and nipped back to the U.K. now and again weren’t eligible!

I second looking into more specialist travel insurance companies. The more general ones can be really expensive if you have a medical condition. FWIW we have also used insurancewith.

Don’t risk it. What would happen if the worst happened and she passed away over there? How would you get her home? Would cost a fortune!

My father was hospitalised two or three times in the US over the course of a year. Had to rebook his flights as they wouldn't let him fly without the all clear from the hospital. Each one amounted to tens of thousands of USD. Never at any point was there any question of the bill not being covered by insurance. The bills were sent to them, they paid.

His premium increased massively the next year but the idea that insurance companies are always looking for a way to turn down claims is not the case. Get the insurance.

I get the point about repatriation but in terms of healthcare, won't she have an EHIC card. The plane is most likely to land somewhere in the EU so her healthcare will be covered, I would have thought.

If it's anything like the NHS cover for British nationals who do not live in the UK, she'd be liable to pay for all but emergency treatment - so if she tripped over and broke her ankle, that would be free, but if the x-ray showed she had another condition that caused the break and she wasn't fit to fly home after a fortnight with a plaster cast or needed to be flown back first class for the leg room/with a nurse because she was extremely ill, etc, etc, that would be many, many thousands.

I don't think it's worth the risk.

I know my travel policy covers me and one extra person if I need to stay for longer for medical treatment. Without insurance, you staying would not be covered.
Definitely try different companies. An annual policy just for me varies between £150 and £475. It's just not worth the risk travelling without

You’ve also got to remember that the insurance covers the cost of you not being able to go if she is unwell before hand. Other stuff is also usually lumped in eg personal liability, luggage, other cancellation issues.