Do you think holiday insurance is a necessity or a luxury?

[faithfultoGeorgeMichael]

Where I live there are an increasing number of crowd funders every year for people who have an accident on holiday and have no insurance. I have always thought this was a minority of people willing to accept this risk but yesterday I spoke to a younger colleague (I am 51, she is 32) who said that no one she knows ever buys insurance and it is seen as a foolish waste of money to her and her friends.

She is off to Indonesia for a month in August with her children - with no insurance!

YABU: I would go abroad without insurance
YANBU I would only go abroad if I had insurance

It's a necessity better be safe than sorry

The US is a different kettle of fish though. Everyone knows healthcare there is extreme.

It is a necessity and should be compulsory.

Mine wasn't an accident abroad, but an accident 3 days before I was due to go. I couldn't walk, so I had to cancel, and the insurance repaid everything in full and I didn't lose a penny. This was a holiday that cost £3.5K, a once in a lifetime kind of thing for us.

Thanks to the insurance, we were able to go at a later date.

That was good I've never encountered insurance that didn't have an excess.

Definitely a necessity.

I would agree with the pp saying it should be mandatory like car insurance but I guess if it was they’d hike up the prices.

Necessity. I have an annual family policy through my bank. Along with other benefits (AA, phone insurance etc) it costs 15 per month.
I see those crowdfunders too and never contribute. People spending 1000’s on a holiday but don’t pay £30 for insurance or people who have insurance but didn’t let them know they’d recently had cardiac surgery.

And you should always get it at the time of booking so that it covers any eventualities leading up to the trip.

Absolutely bonkers to go away without insurance. When we used to travel abroad we had the Nationwide insurance with their packaged bank ac for £15pm. Now we travel in the UK, we don't pay for insurance.

I don't advocate for insurance for everything, we self insure for our dog but I think travel insurance is pretty important.

My private health insurance covers me for medical emergencies abroad, but I always get additinal holiday insurance.

It's definitely the responsibility travellers.

Travel insurance has other benefits apart from covering potential healthcare costs and lost luggage etc.

In some territories - if you're the reason a flight has to be diverted to another destination (through illness or drunken violence!?) you can be held responsible for the costs incurred by all the other passengers because of the diversion. A colleages father had a heart attack on a flight and his insurance covered the costs of all the other passengers impacted by the diversion.

Necessity. It is one of the things you include in the costs of going away. It should be like car insurance - illegal to not have it.

It’s not just illness though. I’ve had my handbag stolen twice while away (once in the UK) and was able to claim back costs on travel insurance for the bag, my make up, phone, kindle, passport, sunglasses, medication, etc. both times about £400/500. The insurance was free with my credit card in both cases but even now I only pay about £50 a year for it (and I have a number of medical conditions).

Even in the UK?

I’ve also claimed for medical costs and travel delays. I’ve definitely claimed back more than I’ve paid for insurance over the years!

Wow if my handbag was stolen I'd likely lose the bag it's ( £9 to replace) and maybe mobile phone ( paid £120 3 years ago) so worth max £30nniw. Doubt that's even more than the excess. Of and a pack of tissues lol

Good question, but yes possibly. I very rarely go abroad, but I always have travel insurance for anywhere I go that involves public transport or paying for accommodation. It's very cheap. If you can't afford £5 for a weekend break's cover, can you afford to go?

It should be a choice. I dont see the sense in making insurance a legal requirement for what is pretty much leaving your house.

When you say "Even if you think you can afford to pay if something happens, you probably can’t ." I would just advocate for having accurate beliefs. These aren't unknowable numbers (but they are large numbers, at least for some destinations)

Probably not that many, although it depends on the destination.

Depends where you are Some places you don't need to pay privately either.Most of Europe Australia and NZ for a start

But if you need an air ambulance home from NZ you are looking at over £250,000

Whilst I do have travel insurance for long-haul I worked out recently that I was probably over-insured.
There was insurance included in the credit card I used to book my travel, my health insurance covers me world-wide and I had an annual travel insurance.
However, I suspect my personal belongings were extremely under-insured and it would have been a nightmare to claim on anything as the insurers would probably start fighting with one another as to who was liable.
It is really stupid to travel without insurance, because the whole point of insurance is to be covered for something that you hope will not happen.

OK? It's my opinion. I didn't challenge yours.

I pay for annual travel insurance which includes some sports

I have never claimed so far

However I have travelled to some off the beaten track places & I believe that it is worth it

I have zero sympathy for people who do not buy insurance & create Go Fund Me pages

You can’t afford not to.