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?!

Well the GHIC card will give anyone the same care in a state hospital as any Spanish Spanish citizen

It depends whether those conditions are a risk of becoming an issue when away, it's stupidity to take risks when there's a likelihood of ending up in hospital overseas because why should anyone else pick up the tab? If it goes wrong, it can cost certainly more than 10k! I follow a traveller that took ill overseas and his hospital bill was about £2k a day! If you as a family are happy to cover the bill between you then go for it but don't rely on go fund mes and block a hospital bed overseas.

You don't stay in hospitals overseas at potentially thousands of pounds per day!

Save enough money to personally pay for anything, falling and fracturing a wrist will still entail a bill if you aren't insured! Make sure you can pay for yourself!

You save money to cover treatment before you go! You have to be responsible for funding yourself!

That’s highly unlikely unless it’s terminal! I have several long term conditions and have to pay through the nose for insurance but that’s why I’m more likely to need it than the average person. It’s irresponsible to go without it quite honestly. Why should others contribute to a go fund me because you chose to go without it! I’ve seen 2 such cases on the news only today…

Being an illegal overstayer isn't great advice! You basically gained entry to a country by deception! If they want to see you have a flight back in the next 30 days it's because your visa status probably doesn't extend beyond 30 days! Not only ate you telling people to break immigration laws, you are telling people to buy cheap worthless insurance! A YouTube traveller I follow ended up in a Thai hospital unexpectedly for 5 weeks before being flown home, his insurance had to cover £100,000 and he was in trouble for illegally overstaying!

Some of the attitudes to insurance on here really indicate the lack of knowledge and common sense!
It's like the question of "should I not travel then if I can't get insurance" - the question is how are you going to self-fund any medical bills if anything goes wrong!

I do also question how much people think medical bills can be! It's not just a few hundred quid! It can be £2000 a day whilst in hospital. A YouTuber I follow took ill overseas and 5 weeks in hospital and repatriation cost his insurance company £100,000! Be aware of what you may have to fund for yourself or a family member!

Steer clear of dirt cheap policies because they'll not cover much, read all the policy to see what it covers before paying such small sums of money!
Also be aware of what can invalidate policies, such as hiring mopeds or quads etc! You won't be covered if you get into an accident on something like that! Winter sports requires extra cover so don't be thinking that your £5 policy covers riding around on a deathtrap moped or quad.

If I could not get travel insurance for any medical condition that I had, I would not want to travel abroad. Accidents happen, you can get an infection through no fault of your own which requires hospital treatment, then what do you do?

Where was I an illegal overstayer? You obviously haven't a clue

Yes “access” it as it is free at the point of delivery. But they will be billed.

No they won't. The NHS doesn't have the facilities to bill for A&e visits

You booked a flight to pretend you would be leaving in the next 30 days and then cancelled it and you posted it on here as advice for others to try! Not once did you make it clear that you still left within the 30 days, why did you need to book a flight and cancel it if you weren't cheating the system! Not that you can cheat it because when you enter with your passport, the system is going to know you haven't left in the stipulated time frame and flag you up!

What else can you expect me to deduce from your comment as per the way you wrote it!

They won't be billed for A&E, but any follow-on treatment required (e.g. surgery to remove that appendix... etc.) - there's a "cost recovery" group in most trusts IIRC.

I did leave within the 30 days. By BUS but I hadn't decided what date I would leave when flying in. You can actually extend the visa exemption while in Thailand as well. It's not unusual .And it's not passport control in Thailand that ask you, it's SOME airlines. Malaysia Airlines being one of them. In fact the ONLY airline that's asked me

Why angry? Not your problem

My big worry is thinking I've taken out adequate insurance and then finding out we're not covered! DH has osteoarthritis in his hip which I obviously declared. It then turned out that as he was waiting for a hip replacement they wouldn't cover him, luckily I'd double checked as that part wasn't clear. I have a problem with my foot that no one seems to be able to diagnose despite X-rays, MRI's etc. Insurers won't cover it as it's undiagnosed so I have to exclude it which is ridiculous as I know what caused it, just not while it's still a problem.

Staysure pretty much unsure anyone. They did when worked for them

If any follow on treatment is needed. And I think very few people actually pay it

Our son had a serious life limiting condition and when 11, we wanted to take him and his siblings to the USA for a final big holiday. We tried really hard to get insurance cover for him but is was absolutely impossible, even with the assistance of GOSH and charities that are often able to assist. This would have been his third holiday there and we had paid over £3,000 for him the previous two times when he had been a little more healthy. In the end we decided we would take the chance and flew out in May 2005 to attend the wedding of the lad my wife had been a nanny to years before. He had a dream holiday and better still, the California sunshine and healthy living improved his health noticeably. We were fully aware of the financial catastrophe that awaited us should an issue have arisen but are so glad in retrospect that we did go ahead. His younger siblings we of an age where they now have good memories of him and of that time, and recall his relative good health during those three weeks. He passed two years later but his siblings still talk of that holiday. In general I do agree that travelling without travel insurance is a daft thing to do but sometimes there it is simply not available at any price. I would vote for a gratis global travel insurance policy for life limited and terminally ill people of all ages, to be covered by the countries either they fall ill in or are from.
This is just my opinion and others may think me a fool. I'll take that, you would not be wrong to think it, but it remains a precious memory. With Brexit, even a nice long EU holiday would be off the cards for most people not in good health.

If you say so

I do say so

So what would happen if they were taken ill abroad or had an accident? Would you pay for any hospital treatment and medical evacuation etc?

I know someone who was on holiday with his DW and his DM. On the very first day, DM suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and died. The insurance company did everything they could to try and avoid paying for the body to be brought back to the UK. She was in perfect health and hadn't seen a doctor for eight years. The insurance company did eventually agree, but it was all unnecessarily stressful.

That's a very valid point. I bet a claim of that sort would run into thousands of pounds. Airline costs, plus claims from the other passengers for inconvenience and any extra associated costs.