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.

You might have to phone them

Our cemetery has long concrete blocks. You can put stone straight away but it is quite a newish one

You must ring them. This is just the sort of thing they'll use to wriggle out of paying if she gets sick on holiday.

Madness
If you had travel insurance that would be the first thing you'd check rather than just bury someone over there

I took my child to hospital in Switzerland thinking we were covered as in Europe. ( before we brexited)

a bumped head cost me £1600

horrified at my stupidity and at how anything more expensive could have ruined us financially

it should be made impossible for anyone to leave the country without adequate travel insurance- but it should cost a lot less!

I have this issue at the moment. I have toe pain but no diagnosis. I haven’t been referred. Gp gave me gout medication but I haven’t actually been diagnosed as having gout. Do I put I have gout or not? My toe X-ray showed incidental mild osteoarthritis so now I guess I need to declare that too. Am beginning to think it’s a weird backward in growing toe nail so that’s annoying that I’m potentially going to have to declare three things on my insurance 😆🙈

This is the first I’ve heard of this story, but to be fair, every time I go away I always get travel insurance but I’m not sure I’ve ever checked if it includes repatriation of my body in case I die out there.

If you’re awaiting a diagnosis you can’t be insured. You can exclude the potential issue, but that can lead to all sorts of complications

You don’t buy travel insurance without checking it covers at least the basics of medical costs, repatriation and reimbursement for cancellation.

Our funeral directors put a very decent Plaque in place , wood and copper - lasts a good year so plenty of time to save for a stone if there's no money . Sure you pay for it as part and parcel of the funeral but whilst we are waiting on mums grave to settle, which this weather isnt helping, ( waiting for the grass to seed and the weeds to be beaten into submission - looks like a wasteland at the moment ) it gives me a focus

Regarding this story, no where does it say the insurance wasnt enough - just the wife's understanding . She is part of a class action so dramatic headlines are required

Step dad took a massive heart attack on the flight from Perth to UK, what saved him was there were five heart surgeons heading to a conference in the uk on board. Flight diverted to Frankfurt , 6 weeks in hospital, double bypass, in a coma for a week, stroke - you name it - he went through it. His insurance covered it all, including me flying out to support mum and to find her digs for the long term ( huge conference in Frankfurt so no hotels ) , repatriation on a medical plane to Southhampton , think mum was down around £500 all in

I know they spent a couple of grand on his insurance as he already had a pacemaker . As far as I remember , they didnt quibble about medical or repatriation, more the comfort end - what she had paid out in accommodation, meals, transport etc

We had a family emergency covered in insurance. They weren’t bad. DM tried to claim every last penny spent after the ‘incident’, and was indignant there were things left unpaid. I thought they were excellent though.
I’m sorry Abt the loss of your mum. Some families are really shocked when the grave settles, thinking something has gone wrong.

I won't now travel anywhere outside of Europe as I'm too worried that an insurance company will find some excuse not to pay out on medical matters. I still pay for insurance cover but without much faith.

At least in Europe the GHIC offers you some protection against enormous costs.

A friend with multiple health conditions booked a holiday there. Hard to know what to say without sounding like you're spiteful.
I check out the health facilities before I book, even in western Europe.

This isn’t true. Staysure and Allclear will insure if you’re undergoing tests or awaiting a diagnosis (as many with complex care and health needs will be), you just need to ring them directly and go through it all on the phone with them and they will issue the insurance (literally just done this myself a month ago and regularly speak to others about it in complex health care forums).

It’s just being sensible, isn’t it. I always google where the nearest health facilities are and look at the reviews etc.

I suspect people don't think it through.

The pictures of the resorts look like beach destinations in Europe or in places that are controlled by European governments - Canaries etc. Same chain hotels too.

It's only when you're there and/or something goes wrong you realise it's actually Africa with limited medical etc facilities.

I would worry about incurring a massive medical bill when overseas on holiday and so always pay for insurance. I think when you are dead, you are dead and it wouldn't bother me to not be flown home if I suddenly died on holiday. I would want to be cremated not buried anyway. Most travel insurance probably would cover being flown home provided they hadn't found an excuse not to pay up.

The odd thing is that often the things you declare make no difference to the cost anyway.

My partner has Crohns disease and even though I've ticked different answers to the questions on this (depending on his current health status) the price never seems to change very much.

I'm convinced the purpose is to trip you up rather than provide a genuine pricing mechanism "oh you didn't declare your ingrown toe nail so we don't have to pay up for your broken collar-bone" .

Some things do and some things don’t.

hrt doesn’t seem to increase it, can’t imagine my toe nail will. But you’re right if i didn’t declare them it would be an excuse not to pay.

but previous blood clots shoot the price up, i wouldn’t be surprised if osteoarthritis bumps the price up.

I’m not waiting a diagnosis. Haven’t been referred and the gp couldn’t give a toss what’s causing my pain. Have just had a lot of shrugs and painkillers and told to go away.

questions seem to consist of, what are your diagnosis, any other medical appointments, and any referrals. So I can answer all of these ok.

My parents lived half the year in Spain and my mother always bought their tickets using AmEx which included travel insurance. For some reason she used a different credit card once which didn’t have insurance (she may have assumed it did). Of course my DF had a stroke and a heart attack. Fortunately they could afford to fly him back on a medical plane (cost about £12,500 back in early 2000s). He didn’t live beyond six weeks but his care was a lot better in the UK than in Spain.
I have type 1 diabetes and my DD (21) has MS. She is currently in Columbia for six weeks, and we were in the US at Easter. It cost £350 to get us insurance for the year with those pre existing conditions, plus my son who has no conditions, paying a bit extra as most individual journeys are capped so needed one that would cover the six weeks. It’s just part of the cost of travelling, like getting a visa or vaccinations, and should be mandatory.

Cape Verde islands are an ex Portugese colony

There is very liitle there apart from sunshine

It is not like the Canary islands, it is very basic.

My condolences to this family

I went to Cape Verde about 10 years ago

These islands are not part of Europe

She believed it wouldn't cover it? So did she even check then?!

It does seem that way. I do think it’s an understandable decision though. A body has to be buried within 24 hours so you need to appoint funeral director ASAP as they need to organise paperwork and plot unless repatriating. If you think the insurance company might not pay / don’t have funds to pay yourself upfront then I suspect you would be recommended/ choose the straightforward local burial.