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?!

I think travel insurance should be compulsory and proven at point of purchase of a holiday however I also think travel insurance companies need to be regulated better and their terms regulated better
A friend of mine tripped and broke her ankle on holiday she tripped over someone's bag by a pool and as she had had a drink (a rum and coke) and this was noted in hospital records the travel insurance company refused to pay up as she was "intoxicated"

She wasn't I was there when it happened she she stepped out the way of some running kids who were not paying attention and dsrting in and out of everyone and then tripped over their mother's beach bag that was on the floor

How did you manage that? Were you not in a state hospital?

You cant get insurance if you are undergoing any treatment, testing or awaiting diagnosis. With the state of our NHS at the moment that covers a lot of people.

It was impossible to get travel insurance for our toddler last year who had been in hospital a few times with chest infections and was awaiting her follow up appointment with consultant. We made a decision to go without it. We had cash sitting there if needed and multiple family members encouraging us to go.

If he has an ehic all that would be covered anyway! Assuming he didn't go to a private hospital

That depends, would they expect others to pay for any issues they encounter if they decide to still travel considering the higher risk factors in their circumstances?

The cost of threatment and potential medical evacuation can run from tens of £thousands to hundreds of £thousands. If he can afford that, then fine. If he can't, then who does he think will pay the bills? If there is disability and complex health conditions then potentially even a minor admission could prove very costly.

Plenty of people drive around without car insurance , making it legal requirement doesn't solve the problem, I doubt very much if anyone is ever prosected for it- even when involved in an accident I know they often aren't.

So all of you on the mandatory TI bandwagon know what would happen, right? People would buy the cheapest coverage regardless of their circumstances and tic the box. They wouldn’t be covered for more than a lost pair of flip flops.

So absolutely nothing would change except for insurance companies making money off of these worthless but highly demanded products.

Why is everyone in here looking for a government solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. If someone is stuck in a hospital begging for money that’s on them if they didn’t plan ahead.

People assume that other countries - even European countries - have healthcare like the UK. They do not. The E(G)HIC only covers "medically necessary treatment" (which is not necessarily the same thing as full treatment) that cannot wait until you return to the UK, and that that treatment must be free to citizens of the relevant country (which is often is not). For example, in Greece many tests and scans are only available privately and must be paid for. A friend who lives there (and is Greek) had a short hospital stay in Athens (so not in the sticks) a few months ago and had to pay for a nurse because there aren't nurses available. In many places there are so few staff and ambulances now that you must go private - or there is no treatment available for you.

Bearing in mind that you cannot depend on free, accessible and timely medical care in the UK, why would you assume that this is automatically available elsewhere?

That said I don't see how you can force people to have travel insurance, but I certainly wouldn't be stumping up anything for someone elses lack of it.

Totally agree with you @AusBoundDD
I ended up in hospital for weeks in a foreign country once. Had no symptoms of illness at all before going. Without travel insurance I don’t know what we would have done, as it came to an amount way beyond my credit card limit. It really annoys me when I see go fund me’s for this kind of thing. If you can afford to go on holidays you can afford the travel insurance!

If I'd had to cancel before I paid in full I would have saved around £150 by not having insurance - the insurance was £50 more and the two excesses of £50 each for claiming. Obviously I wouldn't pay the balance without insurance in place.

One other point about insurance, it's not practical to say it has to be taken out at time of purchase in many cases. You can book a holiday in 2 years time for example but policies only cover holidays within the next 12 months so insurance isn't available.

That's interesting. I didn't know the policies are only valid for 12 months. I am not one of life's travellers, so was only going on what Martin Lewis says. I am guessing that many people have travel insurance via their bank these days, so that must be ongoing.

No idea. I was only going on what a previous poster said. Am not sure who pays for the other passengers' inconvenience/additional costs if an uninsured person causes the plane to divert etc. I trust that they won't be out of pocket though.

I cruise a lot and it's usually a condition of cruising that you have cruise travel insurance. I can have it but as I'm awaiting surgery anything to do with that is exempt. Nothing to do with charging higher prices for cover they simply won't insure me. I have had beast cancer. I've had the all clear and the surgery is just cosmetic but that doesn't matter.
I rely on my EHIC but always ensure you get treated in a state hospital should you become ill

It’s nothing to do with you, why are you angry? In the end it’s on her if she has to pay. The family are cheeky to set up
a gofundme.

I used to work in an embassy overseas and the amount of consular cases where folks didn’t have travel insurance was eye watering.
The EHIC may well cover hospital treatment but it’s doesn’t cover repatriation by medical jet.

Well they probably will be. I didn't get anything when I was delayed on a plane as it had to divert due to someone having a medical emergency. Up to me to pay for extra car park fees etc.

Airlines are only required to provide compensation when they are at fault, not when delays are caused by "extraordinary circumstances" beyond their control. A medical diversion would generally be considered extraordinary circumstances and hence passengers wouldn't be entitled to compensation regardless of whether the sick passenger was insured or not. Travel insurance covers the costs of the insured party, not other passengers. I think you might be able to claim something for delays on your own insurance though, depending on the situation.
"Extraordinary Circumstances" actually seems to cover most of the things that are likely to cause flight delays so seems a bit ridiculous to me, but that's the law.

Yes I know this. But was replying to a PP. Luckily it was about a tenner I was out of pocket so not worth worrying about

I agreed with you on this, but now - I’ve just gone to get a new insurance policy for my next holiday. I have an endoscopy in a couple of weeks, but my appointment for my results is not until August, after my holiday. So I can’t be quoted because I’m “awaiting results” on any I’ve tried.

so now my options are to cancel my holiday, or take the risk - it’s a check up for chronic GERD to make sure my stomach is ok , nothing extremely serious.

I can see why people take the risk, I am personally undecided.

I think we do get that it can be pricey but don't go away without money to cover eventualities, don't be that person blocking a hospital bed overseas whilst begging on go fund me's for help. If you are going to go away without Insurance, make sure you can fund care.

It is, but these people are tying up these hospital beds whilst they wait for people to donate enough money for surgeries or repatriation and that does have an impact and the more people do that, the more likely countries will start insisting on having of having adequate insurance before being allowed entry into the country and they will want people to have a minimal amount of cover not found on dirt cheap policies.

They are, their cars get seized and crushed for a start.

Are things like that and issue though, they aren't something likely to put a child in hospital overseas or contribute to an illness happening are they? I'm guessing adults with these disorders are able to buy travel insurance because they aren't ill as such.

It's a dangerous belief that the EHIC covers everything because if it did, why would any European citizen ever need insurance to travel to Europe! If you have to go to the local general hospital to have an x-ray and your fractured arm put in cast or a few stitches put in a cut! It's for basic accident and emergency treatment, if you find yourself admitted to hospital needing surgery or medical repatriation, you or your insurance company will be expected to fund it.