Another day, another person with inadequate travel insurance

[JulietteHasAGun]

So very sadly a British man has died in Cape Verde while on an all inclusive Tui holiday with his wife.

She believes his travel insurance wouldn’t cover repatriation of his body so has buried him in an unmarked grave over there and had to come home without him. Which must be very distressing for her. I do sympathise but also think why on earth don’t people get adequate travel insurance. I know it’s expensive as you get older and have pre existing conditions, etc.

friend of mine it cost 5k in travel insurance for her mum to go to Florida for 2 weeks when terminally ill but they paid it. I pay £hundreds for Dd due to her medical issues.

If i couldn’t afford it I wouldn’t go. They could have gone to Spain and had a cheaper holiday, then afforded holiday insurance as well plus being covered by ghic…..though obviously that wouldn’t cover repatriation.

Have to say I’m surprised Tui didn’t help out as they have their own planes especially because there’s lots of rumblings about Brits dying in their hotels over there due to Norovirus, stomach bugs being rampant in their hotels and this guy died after a severe episode of d&v.

Yes because you’re on medication.

I think the travel insurance system needs to be more regulated. As it’s based on risk there should be a way for them to access your medical record and give you a price based on their assessment. That way no wriggling out…

Apparently Cape Verde has a strict 24 hour local burial policy as they lack the infrastructure to store bodies. I can see how under a time limit and in shock / grief this would be a struggle. Insurance companies are excellent at telling you to claim upon return etc. If you don’t have 5k+ on hand or however much it costs then I’d say the sensible decision would be local burial.

Yes because there is a big box of information about repatriation. And oh yes, i rang and asked. What happens if one of us dies ? I had the conversation. I didnt wing it and hope it didnt go tits up. Cos im a grown up who doesnt try excuse my shit decisions.
Im fully aware being sick and being dead are 2 diffwrent things.
Thats rather the point.

I actually think that we British people are very often safer abroad than we are in the UK. Because in many parts of the world they have a health service that actually works. You don't have to wait 10 hours for an ambulance and then spend 24 hours sitting on a hard chair in A and E. However, if you don't come from the country, you expect to pay for the medical treatment you receive (one of the problems the NHS has is that people who are on holiday or whatever just seem to be able to turn up at A and E and get free treatment).

There is no crematorium on Cape Verde.

I have a health condition and pay for insurance.
And if you cant afford to protect your family then you dont go.
Why on earth would you think otherwise.
How irresponsable.

It's quite possible that they knew that repatriation of a dead body wasn't included in their insurance, and took the risk, because of the additional cost. I personally don't think that repatriation of a body is important - that person is dead, regardless of where they are buried or cremated. So I would see that as a risk I was prepared to take.

To be honest though is that not something you need to consider before travelling?

Especially when you choose to go to a place like Cape Verde, where the local population lives in unbelievable poverty and the entire islands are basically just the hotel industry? We went there about ten years ago and did a tour of the town. It was awful, there were kids who looked like something out of a UN advert and people begging for money off us in the streets. The tour guide bragged about how they’d be adding a cruise ship terminal soon and it would mean more tourists would come - for what?! It’s awful.

I don’t see the problem being buried abroad ? I’d be dead.

We never travel without insurance, but I’ve never checked if it covers dying/repatriation. It’s always getting ill/hospital/luggage/flight cancellation or delays thats worried me. Must read closer next time!

If I was unable to obtain insurance, or it was extremely expensive, I personally would take the risk of going to a country in the EU without insurance, unless I had a serious health condition which was likely to escalate. I would pay the one-off cost of repatriation if necessary. If I died, I'd be happy to be buried or whatever abroad. We have the protection of the European health card in the EU, which covers emergency healthcare. I was actually recently on a 1.5 year waiting list to see a consultant over a possible medical condition, which I turned out not to have. You can't get insurance cover if you're waiting to see a consultant. I did the sensible thing and didn't travel, but regret it. Even if I'd had the condition, it wasn't particularly serious and wouldn't have impeded travel - but they refuse to insure if you're waiting for any kind of diagnosis.

I know people who take a lot of comfort from visiting the graves or where the ashes were scattered of loved ones. I think it's not unreasonable for those grieving to have a bit of a say...

That's got very out of hand. And there are remembrance benches everywhere now, regularly replenished with bunches of flowers. It all feels very superstitious.

Anyway, I imagine that most places where cremation is available would send the ashes to a relative if the relative paid for that service.

Lots of hot countries do, even with modern infrastructure. A relative of a friend living in Spain died while we were visiting them and the funeral was the next day.

The widow probably wasn't in the right state of mind to start reading travel insurance policy small print or get help from a rep or the consulate. I'd find it very surprising that travel insurance doesn't cover repatriation, there's a certain level of cover that's included as standard.

And despite what people have said, I don't think it's the default that they'll refuse to pay out unless there's been significant negligence or failure to disclose, eg if he went abroad with an undeclared terminal illness. DP was diagnosed with a condition that caused him to have to cancel a sporting holiday and the insurance company paid out without quibbling, despite him not saying he'd been to the doctors in the past two years when he had and him being a poster child for the condition he developed as an unhealthy middle aged person.

I think the point the PP is making is not everyone feels that strongly about repatriating a body. If i die abroad not fussed what my family do with my body i certainly wouldn't want them incurring huge costs trying to bring my dead body back!
So its just not a priority for everyone and maybe some people who buy cheaper insurance that covers less have a similar point of view to me.

I actually worry about having visitors from abroad and something happening to them while they're staying with me. Because I think that people from other countries in Europe just assume that we have decent emergency healthcare here, like in their home countries. And we really don't. At some point something bad is going to happen to a tourist and the news will get out and affect the British tourist industry. It's a bit like the potholes and the run-down towns - people visit the UK and discover that they're no longer in a first world country.

I agree - I find this story very odd frankly. It sounds like she hasn't actually checked if her insurance would cover it or not so that detail is very strange- why hasn't she checked? I wouldnt bury someone in a country I didnt want to because I thought the insurance "might not" cover it- I would be checking first if it actually did or not. I am wondering if she actually didnt have any insurance at all.

Its incredibly sad of course and I feel for her, but I also think to go on holiday when you are mid 70s to a place where food poisoning is rife and to not double check your insurance is extremely fool hardy. It seems like there were already lots of concerns about health and safety there so I dont know why they stayed. I wouldnt have done if I had been as concerned as she was- the story makes it sounds utterly horrendous so I dont know why they didnt just fly home.

My travel insurance costs almost as much as my cruise holiday because I have so many medical problems, but I'm paying for peace of mind. Even if you need treatment for something like awful food poisoning you're not covered if you didn't tell them you had a history of something else totally unconnected. Valid travel insurance is a must and I hate all the posts on just giving asking for donation towards medical costs.

Most travel insurance will either pay for repatriation or for a modest funeral in situ ( the costs are pretty much equal).

I normally agree when people post these threads about someone having no travel insurance whatsoever, the gofundme’s for people who’ve been in accidents who just had no insurance are infuriating. However, this does sound a bit different in that they did in fact have insurance, it just didn’t cover the right things. To me, that’s more of an innocent mistake. Loads of us take out insurance without checking the fine print of what is included as we assume it covers what we need. Not saying that’s the most sensible thing in the world but it’s more understandable and excusable than just doing nothing (to me anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️)

I think this is a little unfair - you can of course go on holiday without insurance if you wish but then you cant really complain if something like this happens.

Thats the entire point of insurance isnt it? if the risk of something dreadful happening is too awful to comprehend then dont risk it.

There are plenty of lovely places to go in the UK- it's not like you can only have a good time outside of the UK or that the entire UK is some horrible dump of a place! You can still have a relaxing break away with your family here to make memories

Maybe they had insurance, but a cheaper version? In my student days I was audiotyping in a law office and it opened my eyes - insurance companies (be it medical, or travel) will do everything in their power not to pay - for example in those days (1990s) there were lots of adverts on TV - buy a 3.99 per month cover and you are medically protected. The amount of people who took it to mean literally 'fully covered'. So many people were duped. Insurance companies will always try to get out of paying, unless very expensive insurance is bought - I read an article where it says that some US insurance covers suicide (!!!!) but annual charges are $70K pa. Crazy world, insurance.

I think 24hrs is common in hot places for obvious reasons…conversely we had North American/canadian borders neighbours for awhile, her mum died and I said oh you’ll be going home for the funeral, no - turns out the ground freezes so hard they can’t even dig a grave with a digger, so people who die over winter just have to be warehoused until spring!