To think that people are idiots for not buying travel insurance

[MenyMeny]

Maybe it's because of the numerous high profile cases of people dying abroad but I don't understand why so few people seemingly buy travel insurance.

I've seen at least three cases where people have passed away with no travel insurance and are now fundraising to cover costs.

I was also on a SM post where numerous people were saying how they never bought travel insurance as they "didn't see the need" even when they admit to travelling abroad numerous times a year.

Frankly, if you can afford a trip abroad, you can afford cover or AIBU?

Once when I was a young adult I went on a trip without insurance because I thought I was too broke to pay for it, and was backpacking so wouldn’t lose my bag.
i was a little ill with a cough when I left the uk, but after two weeks backpacking and living some nights in a tent had full on pneumonia and was in the mountains in Austria miles from a public hospital with only a private clinic available to treat me. It was humbling to have to phone my mum and dad and beg to be bailed out.

ever since then I have always booked insurance! It got us back from Rome when I started to miscarry while on holiday….

Indeed! We benefit from travel insurance included in our bank account (which we don't pay a fee for, so our cover is free) and last year, got the cost of a week in a holiday cottage refunded by the insurer after my partner fell and damaged her back so badly she couldn't sit in the car to travel there.

For those saying you should prove you have insurance, have you not learned from this thread that insurance is very nuanced and one size does not fit all? Who is going to check with your doctor that you have not made an error in declaring everything or police the amount of alcohol you drink on holiday..and read the small print of the policy you 'chose' We are all meant to be responsible for ourselves as adults

There was one recently in our local paper complaint that " red tape" was stopping her insurance paying out.

She had lied about a pre existing medical condition to get cheaper insurance.

I will never contribute to these go fund me begging things for people who don't have insurance.

I collapsed in America almost 20 years ago. An ambulance, one night in hospital and a scan cost $6000. Insurance paid in full, I was also bitten by a spider in America once and had to have an insect removed form my ear when in Africa . I can’t remember how much those two smaller things cost but insurance paid out again. I used to travel overseas a lot.

My bank travel insurance will no longer cover DH as he's been told he needs a hip replacement. It's annoying as we've had the insurance for years, long before he was told.

Due to a pre existing condition that I now have my travel insurance costs as much for one trip as our annual multi trip whole world used to cost unfortunately. I have never donated to a go fund me for the insurance sob stories.

haven't RTFT but as @ChubSeedsYorkie says, the time to buy it is when you buy your holiday. People seem to think that they won't need it till they are abroad but if the worst happens before the holiday, you are likely to need it to get the cost of the holiday back if you can't go for an insured reason.

That's the way the cookie crumbles, you have had good value cover in the past. Many 'included' policies had age restrictions. Getting older increases risk and applies to other insurance too..inc Motor and Pet

This is something you already have to do before boarding a cruise ship, so there's no reason it couldn't be done with flights

Unfortunately the whole thing's part and parcel of the mentality that lacks all responsibility and feels it's always up to someone else to sort out whatever goes wrong, so I don't really see it improving any time soon

We never travel without insurance and I have had cancer. I cannot fathom people who don't. We just factor the cost into the price of the holiday.

We usually use insurers who specialise in pre-existing conditions and when we spent a month in Aus two years after my cancer diagnosis, the cost was around £250. Expensive, but a small price to pay compared to having to fork out thousands for medical costs while abroad.

I'm not the poster you quoted, but was able to google this in less time than it would have taken you to post your question.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/tourist-died-after-void-travel-insurance-meant-family-couldnt-pay-12k-medical-bills/news-story/e17374095397a58e655410114dcc4d47?amp

As they cover people up until the age of 80 (and above for an additional fee) you'd think they might be more accepting!

Also get crowdfunding campaigns where someone took out insurance but injured themselves doing something which isn’t covered by the level of insurance they took out - such as quad biking.

Yet the price of the next level which covers quad biking is something very small like £7. That £7 not paid results in £70k fees!

The article linked above, the insurer refused to pay out because the holiday maker hadn't declared hospital treatment 3 yrs earlier. The hospital treatment had nothing to do with how he died.
Where do you stop at declaring things? I can't even remember half the treatment I've had in the past.

That’s awful. If it’s true as bad as the doctors were the insurance company were pretty awful too and I wish they’d have named the company to get them some bad publicity.

It seems some insurance companies do everything they can not to pay and catch people out on small print. It’s deeply unethical especially in life or death situations.

It should work for people leaving the UK and entering.

I agree it can be costly, but it’s important and should be taken into account when deciding on booking a holiday.

DH has travel insurance with his bank. He called them up to recently updated them on the dates of our planned holiday, all our medical issues and the treatments we are currently waiting on. Luckily it didn’t cost us anything this time but before when we used it and declared DC had been diagnosed with asthma we had to pay £25 extra. I always print our travel Insurance documents as I like a hard copy. However I may go over the paperwork again just to check after reading some of this. Thanks people.

Had an annual policy for as long as I can remember. Only buy cover for what we actually need; accident, medical stuff, repatriation alive or dead and travel etc issues. Luggage, personal possessions and other kit are covered by house and/or caravan policy.

I think we've claimed once, Mrs B lost her glasses when a dinghy she sailing in with a friend capsized. Paid in full, no quibble.

Risk is exclusions. Go rock climbing on an excursion and you might not be covered. Fell walking is OK but mountaineering with ropes is not. Cycling might be a problem if you go seriously off road.

Drunkenness and balcony falls catch out lots of youngsters even if they are insured. I seem to remember a lad who fell from a balcony in the US suffering nothing more serious than a broken wrist. That however required screws and bill running in tens of thousands of dollars.

It is possible to get insurance with bi polar.
I booked my mum's holiday insurance. I looked on one of the comparison websites. I put down her physical conditions and also bipolar - there were follow up questions such as whether she has medication and whether she takes it.

Several policies came up although they were all extremely expensive.

We ended up buying a policy from a US firm that doesn't ask about pre-existing conditions.

I wouldn’t dream of going abroad without travel insurance. I always ensure my young adults have it. Such a selfish attitude expecting others to contribute. I wouldn’t contribute to repatriate someone if they had no travel insurance

Oh that's good to know. Can I ask if you checked the small print because if it's a pre-existing condition and then that is what makes her ill that is where the problem arose for me. And also many places we won't ensure mental health conditions at all.
Also if you wouldn't mind would you be able to tell me the name of the company that would be really useful! :)

I'm Irish and Aer Lingus are striking/ working to rule right now. I've seen a good few posts on SM groups giving out that people now that they can't get insurance to cover their flights. Well of course you can't why would an insurance company insure that. Buy the holiday, buy the travel insurance.

Even at 20 going backpacking I bought travel ins that covered medical and repatriation if the worst happened. I think some people think that, that's covered by the gov when you hear on the news 'consular assistance is being provided' doesn't mean they pay for it

You need to be scrupulous about declaring stuff. It is very clear on that if you read the terms.

I had to declare seeing a consultant earlier this year - it was referral from my dentist about a lump in my mouth. It turned out to be benign - a blocked salivary gland. But it still needed to be declared.

I think you just need to look at it as a perk of the past, like youth ;) I have to say I'm not sure how a dodgy hip inreases their overall risk as you are less likely to be doing otherwise hazardous activities I would think. Breaking a hip whilst abroad would be very expensive so maybe more at risk of falling generally