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

My dd is 18 and travelling in Asia, and absolutely knew she needed to get travel insurance that covered all the activities she was planning. She's had a few health scares while there so I'm very pleased we have the assurance of insurance.

I'm astounded by how common this is. I've always travelled with insurance even when I travelled in the uni hols as a poor student!

It's just madness not to. I actually work in property damage litigation and you would not believe the amount of people who also don't insure their house and contents, just to save a grand or so a year. More understandable if you're living hand to mouth but one of my cases involved a £2.5m property which completely burnt down and wasn't insured. The owners said they "just hadn't got round to it". These were people of "boomer" age so I don't think it's a generational thing.

Some people are just irresponsible about insurance and think it's a waste of money as it's unlikely to be needed. There's a current thread about two people swapping cars for a week and only having third party insurance. One was a 2024 range rover! Neither seemed to have given a thought to who would cover the loss if it got written off.

I’d be very angry if one of my close relatives went abroad without insurance and left me in the position of deciding whether I had to sell my house in order to continue to pay for ICU treatment for them or let them die.

Having travelled with two people in the last two years who needed expensive medical treatment while we were abroad (a broken limb requiring surgery in one case, and a stroke in the other), I would not even travel with someone who didn’t have insurance. It was stressful enough dealing with the situation and, as it was, I had to put some of the immediate medical costs and additional accommodation and flight costs on my credit card as it took a while to get approval from the insurance company. Luckily I wasn’t travelling with people selfish enough to assume that I would pay out for that without hope of reimbursement.

Absolutely a necessity!! I hate it when I see it, had an accident aboard etc and now need 1000’s! Sorry but travel insurance is relatively cheap.

Absolutely this. It’s such a selfish and idiotic thing to do unless wealthy enough to pay for care and treatment.

Policies are so cheap that it never makes sense to me why someone would travel without it (yes, I understand that pre-existing or ongoing health conditions complicate things, but it’s still an essential cost of a holiday).

My mum had an accident last year on holiday that required a hospital stay, surgery, and not being given fit to fly clearance for about 4 weeks after. I can’t even imagine how that would have gone if she had no travel insurance.

If you can’t afford insurance you shouldn’t be going on holiday, end of.

For older people who have medical conditions the cost can be shocking. And leads to people taking a risk. And thinking about probability etc.

The scandal is the cost for those with medical conditions. And frankly, the incompetence of the insurers who do not even have any sort of grasp of the conditions and risk they pose.

Absolute necessity and I won’t even pretend to hide that fact that I think anyone who travels without is an absolute idiot.

Definitely necessary. For a year or two at the airport the travel company/airline staff checked you had insurance, they should continue that.

I have a friend, now in her 70's, who has 'never taken insurance out' as she 'only' ever goes to Europe. What about if you're ill on the plane, the hospital won't provide full cover on the state. Never mind lost luggage or having to cancel the holiday due to illness.

Going abroad with my parents in the 80s and 90s, I'm not actually sure if they took insurance out or not. I remember going away for the first time with friends age 17 late 90's and we took insurance out with the travel agent at the same time as booking, I don't seem to remember being asked or told about pre-existing conditions etc.

There are some really stupid people around and often it’s our young people who don’t understand that you cannot just drag yourself onto a plane to get back to the UK. I heard some daft moo from the Greens earlier today on the news saying that they would scrap NATO because it’s never used. She looked all of about 12.

The chap sitting next to her had his mouth open saying it’s a deterrent and is working just fine but she was so ‘Green’ she just couldn’t see the benefit of it.

Insurance companies know the risk they pose because they have to pay out for them. If their categories are too generic so you are placed in with higher risk then you need to seek out more specialist insurers.

Agree with this!

I get it through my work but before I did i never once went away without insurance. I find it wild anyone would.

One thing I always mention on these threads and not sure of it’s relevant to you but do you have health insurance? My worldwide annual travelpolicy for the year for the family is €135 as I don’t need to declare any pre existing conditions. It saves the faff of trying to decide if you need to includ the wart you got treatment for in 1999 and the worry of potentially forgetting something

I recently booked insurance for 24hrs on the Isle of Man.

I think it should be a legal requirement.

My neighbour went to China and broke her ankle out there. Thankfully her husband made sure she was insured and they covered her month stay in the hospital and upgraded her flight back for comfort. Another person I know died on holiday and didn’t have insurance. The family had to pay thousands for his body to be repatriated.

I always get insurance. I think it is true many British people don't underatand that not all healthcare anraod is like the NHS.

A few years ago at a music festival in France I helped a young man who had suffered an eye injury (really freak accident - it was hot and a champagne bottle behind the bar exploded and he got hit around the eye with some glass) he didn't speak French and didn't understand why the paramedics who had been called were asking about insurance before they took him to the nearest hospital.

It was a bit awkward when I had to explain to them he had neither insurance or a GHIC and to him he would have to pay for the ambulance.

I’m 36 - always travel with travel insurance. It does vary which I go for depending on what I’ll be doing on/what type of trip it is. Backpacking with scuba diving, big hiking trips etc - I get a very good insurance package. An AI holiday to Europe, I go for a cheaper one (although still always check it includes whatever I need it to).
I don’t know why on earth people would pay towards someone’s go fund me because they were stupid enough to go on holiday without insurance.

Boomers, or anyone a little bit older, are just seen as being old fashioned and out of touch nowadays.

Recently I was on the thread of the woman who wants to get married now in a civil ceremony, but keep it a secret and hold a fake wedding in two years time once she's saved up. The purpose of having the secret ceremony is to "legally protect the children". I pointed out that if it was that important to protect the DC then she'd have had the ceremony before the kids were born. I was told "It's 2026. I'm a millennial and have had a roof to buy and children to birth". Their thinking is all arse about face. Insurance is never needed..until it is.

Absolutely essential .

mine costs a fortune as I have many preexisting health conditions but such is life - I have to pay a lot for it.

my healthy teenage daughter - i think was about £30 for the annual worldwide policy. It’s a bargain when you think it gives millions of pounds of medical care and getting you home in the event of an accident.

you have to be crazy to travel without a medical policy - as you never know what will happen and for most people it really isn’t all that expensive.

and if like me it is expensive - you suck up the cost and pay it and accept it’s part of the cost of travel or if too expensive then you don’t go.

personally I would never give money to a crowd fund to pay for treatment where the person didn’t have insurance. I am sorry when people get hurt or ill - but their predicament is within their control as if they had insurance they could get treatment and get home. (My friend was taken very suddenly ill in USA whilst on their holiday - no history of anything but ended up in icu - touch and go at one point - and they were eventually flown home with a nurse etc - excess paid of course - but essentially all paid for by insurance) maybe that makes me a heartless soul - but I just can’t see why you would rely on the goodness of others to get you home / pay for your care - rather than take out a simple policy. Most of us will never use it - but it’s there as we never know what will happen.

I think you should have to present your medical insurance policy on entrance to any country when you go through passport / visa control.

anyone who travels without insurance is insane and I think it should be made compulsory that you have to have medical insurance to travel.

Two different things here:

Comprehensive international health insurance = absolutely essential
Travel insurance for lost bag or missed flight = not essential and quite often a waste of money

No age- I know a few pensioners taking a risk as insurance is very high for older people with medical conditions such as heart disease. One has gone to the states without any cover despite having a history of COPD and a pacemaker

Beware T&C’s. Friend’s 18 yo son hired a scooter in Thailand. Had bad crash. Insurance refused payout as he didn’t have scooter/ motorbike licence in UK.
medical and repatriation costs were £50k

Do you think age is a factor?
No, Both dons have been travelling independently since they were 18 and had insurance in place when I asked them if they had it. Both times I was about to go into the advantages of sn annual policy but they had already sorted it out.
I do our policy every February whether we are about to go away or not. I know its fine then. I only have to inform them if there is a medical change.

I have always travelled with insurance. I have annual world-wide cover with my bank account which is comprehensive and they will provide me with a certificate, if required. I checked with them last year when I went to South America due to altitude but, as I wasn't trekking, there was was no need for extra. I've recently been put on meds for high blood pressure and disclosed it to the insurer as I have a trip coming up in the autumn. Have never claimed but would never dream of going away without it.

@honeylulu - a few years ago I had to speak to a neighbour about some damage from their side and was stunned to hear they didn't have insurance!