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 ?

EHIC isn’t relevant now, because of Brexit. And most countries don’t have completely free healthcare like in the U.K. so you have to pay upfront or have some insurance.

Shop around and speak to a broker, you can usually find cheaper insurance if you have a ghic card and a higher excess.

You shouldn't have paid for hospital, surgery etc if it was essential- we have a reciprocal agreement with the EU for these things.

Hotel and repatriation yes.

Op really you should speak direct to who ever you want to take insurance with. Ask them the questions because mumsnet can't guide on you something like this. We don't know the rules of the country your mum is going to, you need to direct your questions directly to the places involved. It's all well and good getting treatment with no cost but what if your mum needs to be brought back home due to illness? Who will pay for that?

Travel insurance covers more than health - if nothing else get a policy that will cover things like your luggage. But really, I would strongly, strongly recommend getting travel insurance that will cover as much of her health stuff as possible.

I work for a travel company and I hear horror stories. I have been the rep on the ground trying to sort things out when a guest is majorly ill or has a massive accident without insurance - it can be truly horrendous.

Is she eligible for healthcare beyond the GHIC?

What would you do if she took majorly ill and could not fly home without a medical flight?

I just leave this information about EHIC cared here...

www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/apply-for-a-free-uk-global-health-insurance-card-ghic/

I wouldn't travel overseas without insurance, ever. The consequences could be life-changing.

Just get the insurance, based on a family member’s experience of needing to be medivaced home after breaking her neck.

Get the insurance. If she falls very ill and needs repatriation to the uk it could cost you a small fortune.

We went on holiday and DSD got chicken pox when we were there. She needed no medical care (other than a fit to fly note). But she couldn’t fly home till after the last spot scabbed over. Our insurance paid for the extra nights in accommodation, new transfers to the airport, and a new flight home. The flight home was to a different airport 50 miles from home. The insurance paid for the taxi, door to door. We would never have been able to find the money for all that, and I was so in incredibly grateful we had the insurance.

I've been in the situation to be repatriated with a sick relative. Thankfully i didn't have to worry about the cost because we were insured. It's not just the paying for it it's the organising it. Where would you even start by yourself. My relative was not old either it was totally out of the blue

Indeed. A friend took her very healthy mum to a Greek island when we were still in the EU. She tripped and broke her ankle.

Her insurance paid for her private hospital bills - including evacuation from the island to an Athens hospital - and for my friend's lengthy hotel stay while mum was in hospital having surgery and then recovering until deemed fit to fly. And then paid their return to UK transport costs.

Thank you all. You’ve convinced me and will be getting her insured !

@Vinorosso74 and@scissy I’ve tried calling Insurancewith but they’re closed so I’ll try them tomorrow.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve not come across them before and the online form said it would not cover one of the conditions ( which is low risk) but will for the others so maybe will be cheaper.

Exactly this. Our local paper is always running stories on people needing money.
She must have some pretty serious medical conditions or be high risk, no way would I go on holiday with an elderly lady with no insurance it's a liability.
The heat alone kills would you be able to fully relax?

I would recommend StaySure, Avanti, CoverForYou, Saga, PayingTooMuch, and Medical Travel Compared if you’ve not already tried them

Personally I have always included/taken out insurance on the day I booked my holiday.

I'd be thinking more along the lines of who's going to bale your DM out if something did happen to her and she needed any treatment, especially if hospitalised for any length of time.
Could you/your family afford the costs?

Have you done a comparison? Compare the market now has a search for travel insurance with medical needs.

Hate to say it OP, but repatriation is not cheap!

We have had good quotes from Coverwise for a family member with a pre existing condition.

The hospital was private because the state / public hospital was over an hour away and once my dh was admitted, he wasn't stable enough to be moved. Once he was stable he was transferred to another hospital for surgery but just for one night for the surgery then back to the original hospital.

I’m confused, is she travelling within the EU country she is resident in? If so then she wouldn’t need additional insurance, if she’s travelling outside her country of residence then she would be a fool to risk it.

What company are you looking at for £600 but you say shes in good health altho does have some medical conditions?

Get it. I was in a freak accident on holiday which resulted in a 2 week private hospital stay abroad until I was stable enough for the 4 hour private air ambulance flight back to the UK. All paid for by insurance.

I agree and tbh I was judgey about them but flipping heck £600 is astronomical for travel insurance.

Also, the hotel costs were £500 for 2 nights. Our original hotel had no room, so the insurance had to arrange and i moved a few times but easily would have been thousands of pounds. I don't know how much repatriation costs.