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

Just googled the figures.
19.3 percent of travelers from UK to Indonesia get some kind of gastro intestine illness during trips. For most adults it's just a couple of days of the Sickness and D, but for children it can lead to dehydration and serious complications from e-coli and parasitic infections that are prevalent in south east Asia.
The parents are crazy to do a month without insurance.

I've always got cheap ones. As long as it covers you for major stuff, I'm willing to take a hit on things like theft or loss of luggage. I never take anything particularly valuable abroad with me, and if I lost it, I'm sure I'd cope. It's the medical treatment/repatriation you shouldn't skimp on.

I know it's madness. I've nothing else wrong with me either ( and still don't have the cancer)

Thankfully after year 3 it came back down to sensible levels.

And that was worldwide EXCLUDING America

Can I ask how long your trips were though as think might make a difference

It's a total necessity. There should even be a ban on travelling abroad without it.

I have an annual policy. I have all of my medical conditions declared on it (diabetes and Graves Disease, which causes thyroid issues).

DH used to be on the cover too. It did become very much more expensive when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease but we still wouldn't have not had it. On his last holiday (to Tenerife) we had our annual policy plus our GHIC cards. So we were as covered as it was possible to be.

People who travel abroad without it are irresponsible loons.

I'm shocked how many people travel without it. It's not a particular age group that doesn't buy. It seems to be lack of understanding or thinking 'it won't happen to me'.

It frustrates me how many don't understand their insurance & do uninsured things like riding motorbikes in Asia without a licence or getting drunk & having accidents or not extending it if staying longer. Constant go fund me requests.

We always buy an annual policy for all of us, we tend to stay within the uk one year then do 2 holidays the following year so we get it every other year. I have never taken out travel insurance for the uk?!? What would it cover? A cancellation?

It’s getting expensive now for me & DH as we have pre existing conditions which is making it almost as expensive as a trip to Europe, still we do it.

Last big holiday was to America no way would I travel without it there, popping on the ferry to France for a booze run I might risk it.

Which reminds me I need to renew our health cards

I would potentially insure against cancellation if it was an expensive UK holiday. Maybe a large house, and some trips/activities booked, something like that. It would be worth having insurance in case someone got ill and we couldn’t go at all. Or if it was a flight and there was risk of luggage being lost. But obviously I wouldn’t bother with any kind of medical insurance in the UK.

You don't even need to be drunk. Can you honestly say you've never had 2 glasses of wine with dinner on holiday? But insurance could refuse to pay if you then get run over and they test alcohol in your blood

It's madness. If you can't afford the insurance you can't afford the holiday.

I might not bother in the UK, as home insurance / NHS would cover it. Necessary abroad.

Depends how rich you are. Treatment in the USA is very expensive, but treatment in some countries is affordable by UK standards or covered under the European card.

Travel insurance quite often is extortionate or unavailable for people with pre existing conditions or who are waiting for a diagnosis. I would probably risk it for a short European break if the insurance was a rip off and I had plenty of savings to cover unexpected costs.

I think maybe the way holidays are booked these days has an impact. I’m nearly 60, so when I was young (and potentially stupid enough to travel without insurance), holidays were booked at a travel agent. I seem to recall them just adding the insurance on, barely asking if we wanted it or not. It was a given, and I never questioned it.
Now people book their trips online, it’s a step they can easily ignore if they choose to.

@EvilNextDoor The only thing you need to consider in the UK is consequential loss, really - say if you're travelling by train to a concert or something, and you miss it due to a lengthy delay. You'll get your train fare back under Delay Repay, but not the cost of hotels, tickets etc. It's worth getting insurance for things like that, if you're forking out a lot of money.

Idiocy

I wouldn’t consider going on holiday without insurance

@UltimateSloth your GHIC card doesn’t cover being mugged and having your bag stolen, or the airline losing your luggage, or you developing appendicitis the day before your holiday.

This
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Its definately a nessesity! Most hospitals abroad won't treat you until they've see the insurance documents. Its sheer madness going without insurance unless you can afford the medical care which can run into thousands.

Necessity. Insurance during a trip to US saved us 50k in hospital care costs for a broken arm!!!

I wouldn’t go without insurance. That said, main of the go fund me type things are from people whose insurance has refused to pay out over loopholes and technicalities. There can be tens of pages of small print. The last holiday went on, I did a family activity that wasn’t (IMO) dangerous (and nothing bad happened). I later found out when switching insurers that we weren’t covered for it.
my PILs on their last few holidays went without insurance knowingly because of cancer and other illnesses and gigantic costs. They just said, look if we die abroad, just forget about us, we know the risks.

True, but I'd consider getting a bag nicked to be more a nuisance than a disaster, as I never take anything massively valuable abroad with me. I'll happily take a big excess on loss of property to keep costs down.

I saw a YouTube video in which a man had been charged about $1500 after insurance paid the rest - for five stitches on his finger for a cut!

Those are all tiny costs compared to things like medical repatriation by air ambulance or getting helicoptered off a mountain side if you break your ankle.

Insurance is for events where the maximum cost might be over and above what you can afford. That absolutely applies to going abroad on holiday and therefore I buy insurance.

DD 21 went away with her BF for the first time (he’s 24) and refused to go with him if he didn’t have insurance!