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?!

Please note that many insurance policies now include within dangerous sports activities such as cycling, hiring bikes, segways etc. It isnt just the obvious!

You should have been able to dispute that as I assume they were fit to travel when you took out the insurance, or if they dismiss you, take it to the ombudsman.

Nope... As others have said... Not EVERYONE is insurable...

Tried to get a fortnight cover for elderly relative... They refused cover when the premium breached their highest premium bracket... Of £7000 for a WEEK!

I find this hard to believe. We’ve literally been on two holidays in the last few years with very sick family members with complex illnesses (one a wedding) and managed to insure them. Also after some difficulty insured my husband who had taken part in a clinical trial operation which set all the underwriters a flap. Still got insured though.

You usually can get it through a specialist insurer. It costs way more of course, but I’ve been covered for an array of long term (and serious) conditions.
Bloody expensive but i wouldn’t go abroad without it. If you have serious long term conditions then there’s a good chance you’re going to need treatment while you’re there, and then you’re screwed.

Why do any of you care if other people are insured? 😂

People can decide for themselves but I'll never contribute to go fund me if they get caught out.

One week insurance in USA cost DH over £100 last year which was probably no more than 10% of the cost for flights and room only accommodation.

Can you explain how if he had insurance it would stop a delay to other people on the flight?

It doesn't and the airline is usually responsible for absorbing the cost for delays, accommodation, meals but other insured passengers insurance might cover these, this is for emergency medical situations, the airline wouldn't pay for any treatment to the uninsured passenger, they can also refuse passengers who they believe are too unwell. I don't know if other passengers or the airline could sue someone privately if they were delayed ,or put in danger because a passenger ignored medical advice not to fly.

It’s easy to say just get insurance, when you can get it for £20 online. I always thought the same until I started being investigated for various health issues.

I’m not going into my medical history but insurance would be hard for me to get right now and ridiculously expensive. Yet the chances of me getting seriously ill on a week away are extremely low. So yes I took the risk.

The way things stand for me currently, the insurance cost would be more than the trip itself in most cases. As most of my trips are short breaks to Europe. So then it’s not really a case of, if you can afford the holiday you can afford insurance.

It doesn’t affect you personally if people do a GFM. You don’t have to donate. People make their own risk assessments. You only hear about it when things go wrong but lots of people do travel without insurance and are fine, as I was. I wouldn’t go to America uninsured, but I don’t want to go there again anyway!

Trouble is - for me the insurance is nearly as much as the holiday cost because of heart problems. So I do not go abroad.

No, this should not be law.

I paid for insurance for our family. The cheapest quote was £800. Several companies were several thousand pounds. We have several pre existing conditions.

Our policy does have a lot of exemptions, well they all do. But at least we have tried.

But that's not the point. If he went knowingly that he is unwell then why should other people suffer on his behalf? Totally selfish.

You did though 😂

I’ve declared mine and it didn’t actually cost any extra. Incidentally it’s the condition they wanted to know about (obesity) which is ironic as I’d never declared my weight before going on medication. I also wondered how many people in the only just obese category have declared that??

There are specialists who do travel for long term conditions / serious illness.

My mum was able to get it with diabetes, glaucoma and terminal cancer.

Although I do think there should be regulations about what is and isn't covered. A friend went to Australia on a 'working holiday visa' a lot of the insurance for working holidays actually excluded manual labour.

One of the main things many people on working holidays is fruit picking.

Of course it wouldn't. There isn't a monopoly insurance provider. There are hundreds of companies which will all be competing on price.

Pretty much yes!!! What’s going to happen if he needs medical treatment when abroad? Can he afford to pay for it??

Also pretty much all are invalid if you have alcohol in your body, and that's any amount. So who rarely goes on hol and drinks nothing!

When you’re elderly, and have moved home a few times, it’s possible that your previous medical records are not passed on to each GP practice you’ve registered with. Even when you get a copy of your records not every single little thing is mentioned that is on your main records. A PP said she was refused because she had for to mention a small patch of eczema- that’s scary. It’s perfect possible to have forgotten conditions that resolved themselves or were not treated.where does it all end?
Surely all that should be necessary is to list any significant medical conditions that you had or have now, any past surgery, accidents and present medications . Any minor illnesses in the past and recovered from are not relevant now. It’s a wonder they don’t penalise us for not mentioning nappy rash sixty years ago. It really puts me off going abroad, especially to America, if some forgotten triviality from the past is going to rear its ugly head from way back in my records if I make a claim!

A friends DS travelled without insurance, he became very ill, was hospitalised and she ended up forking out over £50k to pay hospital bills and repatriate him. Anyone knowingly travelling without insurance is an absolute idiot.

Totally agree with you - would never travel with out it. Had a really nasty coach crash in turkey 20 odd years ago - had insurance thank god - but shows that anything can happen! Get good cover - it’s selfish and irresponsible not too

I think it’s above a certain level that the claims are invalid. Insurance companies know that most are going to drink alcohol on holiday. It’s when you drink too much, fall off the balcony, go swimming or do other activities made dangerous by too much alcohol in your system that it’s a problem. In these cases insurance are right not to pay out.

It was your friends choice to take the risk and effectively self insure