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?!

You and family have hundreds of thousands of pounds sitting around should the worst happen to your family member?

Do you have potentially millions in the bank to cover all eventualities, including the possibility of medical evacuation? If the answer is no then he is just being irresponsible.

Do they really need to be brought back to the uk or is that a preference ?

I agree not having travel insurance is idiotic, noone is forcing people to contribute to those fund me type websites. If it's a chance they're willing to take then it's on them. If people want to help them, that's also on them.

But for every story you read of someone who needs funding/rescuing who hasn't got any travel insurance, there's a story of someone who did take insurance out but the insurer won't pay out because of some health condition they'd forgotten about/didn't think was relevant to declare and for which the underwriter uses it as an excuse not to pay out - leaving them uninsured when they thought they were.

So if it is made compulsory then the industry will need a complete overhaul.

This is frustrating. Yes, he and my wider family have the money to pay for this

No, it should not be illegal, it should remain a choice. Otherwise as a PP has already said, the price will just go up. I’m fed up with paying the price for other people’s stupidity as it is. If others want to do so via go fund me, then that’s their choice too - it’s not hurting anyone.

My disabled 80 year old Mum can't travel to America because of this reason however she can still get European insurance it just costs a bit more and she works it into the cost of her holiday. Most insurers cover long term conditions you just have to declare them and pay extra. If your relative is at risk surely they should be extra vigilant in getting insurance as they're more likely to need it! 😬

Agree we’re going to Croatia next week and insurance cost us £30 for the three of us, overall holiday is £1100. So if you can afford a holiday you can afford travel insurance.

I can't believe that anyone except family would contribute to Gofundme and other begging methods when some uninsured idiot ends up with huge medical bills. I realise that some with longterm conditions may find it unavailable or unaffordable, but most of those we hear about just didn't bother, or didn't want to pay the extra few pounds.

What would happen if they got ill abroad then? Food poisoning? Car accident? Appendicitis? They would be bankrupted by the medical bills. Madness to travel without insurance, particularly if your already not in the best of health.

We had a family member who though this. They had repeated (predictable) medical emergencies overseas, up to and including getting on a plane knowing they weren't fit enough fly and risking causing the plane to divert and the cost of that. Never any insurance.

We explained to them, if they got ill again, they would have to totally rely in local treatment. If they died overseas, that is where they would be cremated. The irresponsible trips soon stopped

Possibly if not willing to pay for insurance people could sign a waiver, then provide proof of funds cc card with 10k or something. If you go abroad and fail to pay medical bills I think they should confiscate your passport on return to UK to avoid a repeat.

There are companies that offer insurance with health conditions, if costs more, alternatively no don't travel abroad, if you become unwell on the flight everyone on that plane gets delayed, flights cancelled, it's selfish and irresponsible.

It's the go fund me pages set up for this type of thing that should be banned. Why don't people ever have to pay for their own bad decisions anymore?

I see this a lot, out of interest if he becomes ill with one of those conditions or an unrelated one who do you suggest should pay?

86% in favour. Christ, the nanny state in full swing. A lot of you are apparently happy to pay to protect people from their own stupidity and line insurance companies pockets at the same time.

I despair - whatever happened to letting people take responsibility for their choices?

I totally agree. My dad had to come home in an air ambulance after an accident. Well over 30 years ago. Apparently it was £30k back then. His lovely travel insurance covered it all without a quibble. Churchill.

There is specialist travel insurance for people with medical conditions.

You are incorrect. My husband can NOT get travel insurance. It is not a matter of cost, he would pay it. He has tried many specialist companies but is considered too much of a risk.

Perhaps not. But if he does travel and there are health issues presumably he's set enough money aside to cover the costs himself.

They don't cover everyone though

I often didn’t bother when we had reciprocal emergency cover with European countries as the only time we needed medical aid our E111 or updated equivalent covered it. I would now especially for countries with poor health care or activity holidays. I don’t pay towards people who have just taken a gamble and lost though unless I know them.

Except they aren’t taking responsibility for their own choices. Year after year there’s GoFundMe pages, Daily Mail articles with sad faces of friends and family and people begging the British embassy for help abroad when their loved one gets ill/injured without insurance. No funds to pay your own way and no insurance should = no travel

Doesn't he travel abroad, who pays if he needs medical help