Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Should we cancel holiday now insurer has excluded DS's medical condition?

55 replies

ConflictofInterest · 23/04/2024 15:25

We've had our first family holiday abroad booked for nearly a year. I bought travel insurance on the day I booked the holiday which was recommended. A few months ago my DS had an accident resulting in fractures. The insurer has said that they won't cover his fractures, so any new injury to the same area or medical treatment needed related to the fractures wont be covered. I've not traveled much so I'm now not sure what to do. What would other people do in this situation? Should we cancel the holiday? We don't have the money to pay for medical care if it's needed, but he's healed well and we've got no reason to expect he would injure the same place again.

OP posts:

Somepeoplearesnippy · 30/04/2024 13:21

Travelling without full insurance is courting disaster. I know two families who risked travelling on European holidays without insurance. Fit, healthy, no existing conditions, just a long car ride away - what could possibly go wrong? One person had a stroke so they got emergency treatment on holiday but were not covered for the necessary medical transfer back home. In the other instance, tragically, a young man was knocked down by a car and killed outright. The family could not afford to have his body repatriated.

in both cases they eventually raised the money needed by maxing out credit cards and Go Fund Me appeals to friends and family. I cannot imagine the level of stress and anxiety that must added to these awful situations.

on a happier note a friends daughter went travelling around South America. At the last minute she bought a travel insurance policy from a machine at the airport (due to the nagging of her travel companions). A week into her two month trip she was in a RTA and broke an arm and a leg. Her last minute purchase covered all her treatment and also funded her parents flying out to care for her during her recovery.

letsgoskiing · 30/04/2024 17:05

samarrange · 23/04/2024 16:48

Anywhere that accepts the GHIC, treatment will be essentially free. There might be some doctor's bills to pay and get reimbursed depending on where you are, and a prescription for paracetamol might not be covered, but in most countries a hospital won't give you a bill because they are not set up to take payment from anyone — they bill their national healthcare system.

Switzerland could be a bit tricky because it's like an American system with universal insurance coverage, but in Spain for example the system is just like the NHS, you go to a public health centre or hospital and the treatment is free right there. It's absolutely not a reason to cancel your holiday. (It might, however, be a reason to take less expensive travel insurance next time — you should be able to find a policy that assumes you have a GHIC and only adds things like repatriation.)

Do make sure, though, that you are using the public system. Every country's system is different in this regard. In France there's no real distinction between public and private from the consumer's point of view. but in Spain if your hotel calls an ambulance it may be from a private clinic, and Spanish private medicine is like BUPA, very swish but a completely separate system and not covered by the GHIC.

OP, can you say which country you are going to? I think gov.uk or nhs.uk may have a page for each country on how to use the GHIC there.

Edited

And repatriation if needed? can be tens of thousands if you can't get on a normal flight.

letsgoskiing · 30/04/2024 17:05

spudnik1 · 30/04/2024 13:18

I have annual travel insurance. Found out I was pregnant in January with a holiday booked for May. Rang and told them. Anything pregnancy is not covered whilst on holiday. I am sure if I tripped and broke a leg they would.blame the pregnancy and not pay out.
As we are going to Spain, have a ghic card we will risk it for a week.

But I will not be using that particular insurance company again.

Just buy a new policy and declare the pregnancy.

berksandbeyond · 30/04/2024 17:06

ByUmberViewer · 23/04/2024 15:32

I've had cancer which is now completely cured but still get quoted stupid extortionate rates for travel insurance.

I just travel without insurance now.

They don't pay out anyway.

so what’s the plan if you have an accident or heart attack? Let me guess… go fund me!

samarrange · 30/04/2024 18:29

letsgoskiing · 30/04/2024 17:05

And repatriation if needed? can be tens of thousands if you can't get on a normal flight.

Show quote history

True, but that was always the case with the EHIC too, and the premiums are low because it's a much rarer occurrence than needing a short hospitalisation.

I'm not arguing that people don't need travel insurance. But they don't need the medical part to be as comprehensive as they would have done if the EHIC/GHIC system had not been saved from Brexit.

A lot of people think that they now need the same levels of coverage as if they were going to the US, which for people with chronic conditions (or the OP's son) can be impossible to get because of exclusions, which the GHIC doesn't have.

Flip

1 2 3