To think that it should be illegal to go abroad without travel insurance

[AusBoundDD]

A friend has just put a plea for GoFundMe donations on our WhatsApp group as one of her cousins was involved in a car crash whilst on holiday in Spain, ending up in hospital with multiple bad fractures. He was uninsured so the family have been left unable to pay for his hefty ambulance fees, surgery, hospital stay etc. To make matters worse he isn’t fit to fly commercially and instead needs to be medically evacuated home to the UK via private air ambulance.

It feels like a yearly occurrence - someone begging for help to get their relative home after they’ve been stupid/naive enough to leave the country without adequate travel insurance. Surely it should be like having your passport - you can’t board a plane or gain entry to a country abroad without it?!

If he can't afford to pay for the treatment he might require, yes.

Yes.
If he can’t get insurance, they’re not insuring because of comorbidities. Then definitely shouldn’t travel abroad.
Rather foolhardy doing so.

um.... OP's suggestion is way too big brother for me.
Ignore a GoFund page if you don't like it.

I don't think it's quite that black and white. Whilst I agree it is generally very unwise and I would never contribute to a Go Fund me for a "regular" person who just didn't bother taking out travel insurance I think there are exceptions. A friend of mine revisited her honeymoon destination with her terminally ill husband a few years ago. He couldn't get insurance for any amount of money but they could afford to pay for a medical repatriation or (more likely) return of his body if he died. They knew the risks and had plans to cope with the worst case scenarios-they wouldn't have been dependent on anyone else. He died fairly soon after their holiday but they had a wonderful time leaving my friend with very happy memories. Had insurance been a legal requirement they would not have been able to leave the country.
To be honest, I transiently considered going on a short break without insurance myself last year. I was awaiting a CT scan and then some (very routine) surgery. Most insurers refused to cover me as soon as I ticked yes to "are you awaiting any investigations or treatment" and the quotes that I did get were astronomical. The chances of my condition causing any kind of emergency whilst I was away were miniscule- I wouldn't have been going if I thought otherwise, and I do know what I am talking about! At worst a flare up would have meant extra painkillers and a day by the pool instead of being able to manage a busy day sightseeing.In fact given that I generally improve in warm weather the chances of a bad day are actually less in holiday.It really galled me that I was having to pay through the nose simply because I was scheduled for an investigation that is always done before the operation I was awaiting and put me at no greater risk of needing expensive care whilst away than anyone else. But obviously I was at the same risk as anyone else of having an accident/developing appendicitis/losing my luggage etc and if I had not declared my pre existing condition I wouldn't have been covered for any of that either. So I had no real choice but to suck it up and pay nearly as much for my insurance as the whole of the rest of the trip. Fortunately I could afford it but I do have sympathy for people in a similar situation with a lower income. Not that I am saying I think it's a sensible decision but I can see why people do it.
I think there's also a problem with people taking out inadequate cover. They tick the box and pay a few quid for the basic insurance when they book a holiday and are not aware of the exclusions. A few Go Fund Mes I have heard of in recent times have not been people who didn't take insurance out but who have for some reason or other discovered they're not covered for whatever has happened to them. I sometimes have a bit more sympathy for them. I'd always urge people to read the small print very carefully as in my experience insurers of all kinds will do everything they can to minimise or avoid payments.

They can take the risk and travel abroad but shouldn’t expect anyone else to pay their medical bills if they fall ill whilst away and / or can’t get home.

Yes. Absolutely. What would he do if he fell ill while away? Is he a millionaire who could pay for private treatment or repatriation?

Sometimes those of us with long term illness, chronic conditions or (in my case) disability have to accept the life limiting nature of our situation.

I don’t see why it’s anyone else’s business whether someone has travel insurance or not.

You don’t need to contribute to a go fund me and the government doesn’t step in to pay, so it’s just up the person if they’re willing to risk it.

No I don’t think it should be mandatory. If a person gets ill or has an accident, the bill will have to be footed by them or their family. No one is forced to contribute to an online fundraiser.

There are also some people with multiple health conditions who can’t get insurance. Obviously they’re taking a risk by travelling but if it was mandatory they’d never be able to leave the country.

If people are daft enough to travel without insurance, they’re usually the ones who have to pick up the bill.

Because when that person returns to the UK than they are out responsibility

Also the UK is treating people for free

It still exist and there is no reason for not taking it!!

It doesn’t mean it would all be free. But you certainly shouldn't need to pay for everything

Seems like there is a GoFundMe for everything these days! It’s non stop.
I wouldn’t contribute to this … a decent level of travel insurance can be found quite cheaply and there really is no excuse not to have it.

They are whether the person is taking an insurrance or not. Once back in the U.K., theyre back into the nirmal system. The insurrance won’t cover anything then.

Why, did he go to a private doctor? He would have had HSE cover in ROI, and maybe paid for the trip to A&E only which was €100 last time I had to use it. Plus €80 a day if you stay in hospital, max €800 a year.

If they want to travel abroad they make sure the funds are there to pay for healthcare by some other means. Expecting others to pick up the tab is both entitled and pathetic.

It should certainly be illegal for insurers not to pay out for spurious reasons.

A lot of the suggestions in this thread remind me of the adage that "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong".

How are they taking responsibility for their choices when a Go Fund Me page has been set up begging for other people to pay their medical bills? 🙄

It would be unwise to travel abroad. I've been told everyone can get travel insurance. Perhaps at a price though.

Well, yeah? I can't afford to travel abroad at all, but if I could I'd get travel insurance because I'd be scared not to. Travelling isn't essential, although it's a nice thing to do.

Because nobody has to pay in to a go fund me. If you do, you are taking responsiblity for their choices, not them.

Why is it seemingly so hard for people just to ignore this? So bizarre.

We were quoted £5k for a week's insurance to go to Greece at one point. The reason? Dh had seen the dr recently due to a spate of nose bleeds. He had been prone to them as a kid. All was investigated and put down to a combination of having a heavy cold at the same time as hayfever. So nothing hanging over him which could have been sinister - he'd just got a cold plus hayfever. A few nosebleeds would have cost us £5k.

We ended up not going (family reasons which became apparent before booking) but that quote sticks with me.

Edited to say £5k, not £5, at end of paragraph.

That's a bit weird that you would get that quote when it's not something you have to declare

As are people who have been taken ill/had accidents on holiday and are insured. You don't generally get all your care in your holiday destination and once you're home the cover doesn't continue. If you need surgery abroad or break a limb etc then your follow up and treatment of any complications will still almost certainly be done by the NHS.
And for things that are going to be long term, in my experience insurers are usually keen to repatriate as soon as possible. I've been on the receiving end of quite a few repatriations from ICUs in other countries over the years and although repatriating a ventilated patient is very complicated and extremely expensive it's not as expensive as several months further ICU care and rehab. The insurers are usually pushing to get expensive patients off their hands as soon as they can. Plus of course insurance has limits. It may sound like policies provide a vast amount of cover, but end up on ICU in, for example, the USA and it will get eaten up at quite a rate.
Not that I am condoning not taking out insurance, but both the insured and uninsured are likely to end up back in NHS care when they get home anyway.

They wanted to know about any recent investigations. So we told them.