Why do my parents think they need an air ambulance if they get covid

[onlychildhamster]

My parents live overseas in Southeast Asia. In a country which was thought to have handled covid well (at least in 2020 but there are a lot of cases and deaths now;85% vaccination rate but you can only eat in restaurants in vaccinated groups of 2 and masking is compulsory even outdoors).

We haven't seen each other since 2019 due to the pandemic.. however they have opened up travel and basically you can travel to the UK from my home country without hotel quarantine. I have been married for 6 years but never celebrated my wedding because I wanted to buy my flat in London first before spending money on a wedding(especially since I would need 2 weddings in 2 different countries due to family). My synagogue wedding ceremony in London was scheduled for 2020 but basically has been delayed indefinitely due to the situation. But now there is no reason to delay any longer as they technically can come without a long and expensive hotel quarantine.

But my parents are now saying that they need to buy insurance that would cover the cost of an air ambulance from London to Asia in case they get covid and go into ICU (they are fully vaccinated, my dad is 58, my mum is 57). Firstly, I don't even think such insurance exists (to cover such a huge expense; at most it will cover the costs of medical treatment in London and based on what I read on the NHS website, coronavirus treatment is free even for visitors). Secondly, why would it be better to airlift you to a country 14 hours away just because you might have to wait a few hours in A & E (even if the wait is 12 hours, it makes no sense).

My DH thinks they are just saying they don't want to come. I am not so sure, do any of you have parents who are paranoid of covid and how do you handle it? Thanks.

From the gov UK website:

No charges for coronavirus (COVID-19) testing, treatment and vaccination
Overseas visitors to England, including anyone living in the UK without permission, will not be charged for:

testing for COVID-19 (even if the test shows they do not have COVID-19)
treatment for COVID-19, including for a related problem called multisystem inflammatory syndrome that affects some children
vaccination against COVID-19
No immigration checks are needed for overseas visitors if they are only tested, treated or vaccinated for COVID-19.

You shouldn’t ever travel anywhere without insurance that will cover a medivac back to your own country. Of course there is insurance that covers this!

Air ambulances don’t ferry people abroad! There’s no such insurance.

I have no idea why they would think that, they would be treated locally. They should carefully examine any travel insurance though as a lot still has the standard pandemic exclusion or update covid exclusions.

Although I do know of someone whose insurance paid out more that 350 thousand on a medical claim including an international air ambulance. Not covid related though. They were treated overseas but couldn't travel home commercially and needed an air ambulance to get back after several weeks - so that is a genuine consideration, not the treatment but travel after the treatment.

However it is quite a thing for them to be hung up on - I suspect it is not the main reason. They may have deeper concerns about the UK covid situation in general.

@FictionalCharacter people are definitely transported internationally in air ambulances!

In the specific case of a critically ill covid patient in the UK, however, it seems unlikely.

I used to work in the medical/travel insurance industry.

I believe your parents are describing medical repatriation, which would be the norm on a decent standard travel insurance policy for other unforeseen illnesses. The catch is that it sounds as though it can be tricky to get cover for covid (I've just done a quick Google).

If you become unwell overseas (a standard example might be flu/pneumonia, heart attack or a broken leg) your travel insurance should cover the cost of treatment in the country you're in, plus it will also cover the cost of repatriation to your home country in the event of a long recovery (either by standard flight accompanied by a doctor or nurse, or by air ambulance).

In essence, I'd say your parents want reassurance that they can both get back home to Asia if they become unwell. It's not so much the treatment in the short term, but long term consequences of illness (being stuck away from home) that they're thinking about.

@CakesOfVersailles that's what I was thinking. My dad sent me the policy he was looking at and it does have medical evacuation- silent on what they would actually pay out for and only covered equivalent of £75k and my dad said he thought air ambulance would be more than £100k (I can believe that). He also sent me an example of someone with severe covid (in his 60s) who needed to be airlifted from Indonesia and had to crowdfund to fund it. But the UK isn't Indonesia and I can quite imagine that in Indonesia it's a different situation

Repatriation is fairly standard in travel insurance.

@FictionalCharacter

Air ambulances don’t ferry people abroad! There’s no such insurance.

A (decent) standard travel insurance policy will cover the cost of an air ambulance between countries for unforeseen illnesses and accidents.

But the UK isn't Indonesia and I can quite imagine that in Indonesia it's a different situation

Best healthcare I've ever received was Thailand. You never know the quality when you have the money to pay. He's sensible to want to know how much repatriation is likely to cost vs be reimbursed.

I assume they mean they want cover for medivac to their home country, which is just common sense when travelling abroad. We always buy comprehensive travel insurance that covers medivac when visiting family who live in Asia and the US.

For example, if one of your parents caught Covid in the UK and was hospitalised, they may still have long-term health consequences even when they were ready to be discharged. It’s theoretically possible they may not be able to fly commercially for a period of time because of their health and may need medical support to get home. Most comprehensive travel insurance includes medivac, although whether it would cover Covid I don’t know.

In essence, I'd say your parents want reassurance that they can both get back home to Asia if they become unwell. It's not so much the treatment in the short term, but long term consequences of illness (being stuck away from home) that they're thinking about.

This. People who end up in ITU with covid are very much not stable enough for a transfer back to their home country. But they will not be in any state for a long-haul flight in economy for some considerable time afterwards. Your parents are being very sensible to make sure that they are adequately covered if the worst happens.

I don’t think your dp’s are paranoid.
I’m due to visit the UK soon and I’m more scared now than I was last summer.
COVID is running riot in the UK, I know many more people with it now in the UK than ever before. My dh is very worried about me using public transport when I’m over. Brits abroad refer to the UK as plague island.

Quite frankly the thought of being ill in the UK is terrifying. Your NHS is overstretched, gp’s won’t see anyone, A&E is working flat out constantly. In September more than 5000 patients waited over 12 hours on trolleys for admission to a ward. The UK currently has a treatment waiting list of 5.7 million!
I think those of you living in the UK don’t realise how bad your healthcare looks to us who live elsewhere.

And I’m a huge supporter of the NHS!

As people have said, yes insurance covers this to some extent and there is a whole repatriation industry- it’s not a rare thing. Mainly if the care cannot be provided to the same level in the place you are. In many countries there can be excellent care provided and some insurance companies would not cover the transfer in that case. And yes you are looking at many many $$$$

He just needs to get better insurance, he’s right that 75k is low for repatriation. Mine has a £10 million limit on medical claims, with no specific limit within that for medical repatriation.

But honestly, is it really about the insurance? I think you need an open discussion with them about whether they’re just too scared to travel full stop. It’s not nice to think that they’re more scared than they are excited about your wedding, but it sounds like that’s the case.

They don't want to get stuck in the U.K. basically and want assurance of being able to get home rather than indefinitely be stuck abroad until they test negative. I live in Singapore which I'm assuming is where your parents are from given the description. I am British, mid 40s, lived all over the world, used to travel every week for work. We are coming home to the U.K. for Christmas and I'm nervous about it as are the vast majority of my friends who live here. Honestly, I think it's really hard to explain the mindset here. As you know it's a tiny country. None of us has been more than 15 miles from our house for 20 months. We've been in tiny groups of 5 or 2 for the entirety except a couple of months at 8. Every death is reported and until 2-3 months ago was unusual headline news. We've gone from a zero Covid strategy and fear messaging to one of opening up practically overnight and people here are really nervous while simultaneously fed up and overwhelmed with travel envy and island madness!! There is a shame associated with catching Covid. It's really really draining and makes you worry about travelling. There's a lot of negative press about the U.K. which has taken a polar opposite stance and seems hugely out of control, there are loads of articles and discussions around what travel or medical insurance to get when travelling. In the U.K. and Europe you are coming out of 3rd waves, we are basically entering our first. I'd just try to be as understanding as possible and help them find good insurance.

@Capferret

I don’t think your dp’s are paranoid. I’m due to visit the UK soon and I’m more scared now than I was last summer. COVID is running riot in the UK, I know many more people with it now in the UK than ever before. My dh is very worried about me using public transport when I’m over. Brits abroad refer to the UK as plague island.

Quite frankly the thought of being ill in the UK is terrifying. Your NHS is overstretched, gp’s won’t see anyone, A&E is working flat out constantly. In September more than 5000 patients waited over 12 hours on trolleys for admission to a ward. The UK currently has a treatment waiting list of 5.7 million!
I think those of you living in the UK don’t realise how bad your healthcare looks to us who live elsewhere.

And I’m a huge supporter of the NHS!

PS and also agree with every word of this

paranoid of covid

Sensibly cautious and practical, covering their bases, not wishing to expose themselves to unnecessary difficulty or poor health outcomes...

It’s not nice to think that they’re more scared than they are excited about your wedding, but it sounds like that’s the case.

It's not nice to think that their offspring is ridiculing and questioning their valid concerns during a pandemic, which most people worldwide do take seriously. Still.

Agree with others that thing there's a lot going on here and motivations aren't clear.

Also agree that air ambulances and repatriation are generally standard on a travel insurance policy. But what policies don't cover is someone getting ill in a particular country and deciding that actually, they'd rather be at home and treated in their own country. The NHS knows what it is doing with Covid, in the incredibly unlikely event that the OP's relatively young parents needed admitted to hospital. They would struggle to convince a travel insurer that their quality of care (offered free of charge) in the UK was so poor that the only option was a £100k special medical flight back to their home country.

Their insurance will already cover things like having to cancel their original flights home because of (any) illness, needing a row of seats to be flown with a plaster cast or something. As others have said air ambulances would only be used if the patient was too unstable to be flown on a commercial flight (perhaps with a nurse/doctor accompanying them) as the costs are so high.

It seems that the OP's parents have been reading all the hype about the UK being "plague island", where everyone has covid and nobody cares. If they are anxious types of people anyway, they may well be terrified by the prospect of a visit, however much the OP reassures them. So it's that either they're terrified, don't want to visit for other reasons, or a combination of both.

To be fair in my friendship group of 15 odd families only 3 families don’t have anyone with Covid in their family atm or have never had it. It’s absolutely rife here amongst teens and kids who are passing it to double vaxxed parents so a person from Singapore would be right to be wary.

Isn't that just standard medical insurance? If you're taken seriously ill abroad you have insurance that would get you home.

Some insurances aren't covering Covid atm, so is that where the extra cost is?

@MagicWorkout

Isn't that just standard medical insurance? If you're taken seriously ill abroad you have insurance that would get you home.

Some insurances aren't covering Covid atm, so is that where the extra cost is?

Only if it's medically required though. No travel insurance gives you the option of picking and choosing which country you want to be treated in.

Only if it's medically required though. No travel insurance gives you the option of picking and choosing which country you want to be treated in

That was kinda my point..I know medical evacuation is a thing but for extremely ill patients but my parents have a healthy BMI, my dad in particular jog for miles daily. They would also have had their booster Vax jabs by then. In the unlikely event that they end up in ICU, would the travel insurer consent to an air ambulance just because they think the NHS is too overwhelmed?

Only if it's medically required though. No travel insurance gives you the option of picking and choosing which country you want to be treated in

I think they would usually transport you home once medically safe. They don't leave people stranded in hospital overseas indefinitely. A friend's father who fell down the stairs in a holiday home, spent a few weeks in hospital abroad, but insurers did move him to a UK hospital (by helicopter) once they could.