Am I being nasty..

[coolma]

..or do I feel a bit about the girl who has broken her back in Corfu and is asking for public donations to get home for treatment because she didn't have holiday insurance? Surely, nowdays, insurance is an absolute essential for travelling? I expect I'm being horrible but I really think it's a bt much...

I agree with most of you that you shouldn't go without insurance but if the insurance companies made the policies a bit less scary then many more would buy them. Typically, you fork out a fortune only to find that your not covered when you need it. Either that or theres a whopping great excess!!

Needless to say..... i won't be sending a donation either. School holidays have totally cleaned me out!

FFS! Now I see what the 'nest of vipers' really is.
Has it not occurred to anyone that the 'gullible' public as someone puts it is kindly and compassionately giving money to someone in need simply because they want to make things better for this poor girl? And this is no different from the appeals on MN for a load of strangers to contribute for something an MNer needs/something to make their life a bit better at a desperate time of their lives. Yes, the girls family could perhaps have tried to stump up the cash themselves, but £16k is a lot of money for one family. A couple of pounds from each person who donated isn't going to make a huge dent in their budget, but will have a huge impact on this girls short term future.

Catty MN at it again :(.

teth, you can do this but not this. Because the bolding only works if there is a space before the first *

My old boss's son had a car accident in Spain whilst on holiday. He broke his neck, and subsequently died in hospital due to substandard care (she was my Director of Nursing so had a good idea of the comparable standards). I don't think it is particularly wise to decide that the care someone is receiving is necessarily good without any knowledge (regardless of the country, as sadly poor care can happen anywhere). This girl is probably going to be in hospital for a very very long time. The cost of repatriation is unlikely to decrease, whilst the costs of trying to support her in a foreign country will be high.

I've never taken out travel insurance when visiting Europe because of the E111 card and reciprocal care arrangements. I don't think it is that unusual a decision to make, and many of my friends and colleagues have had emergency type care in Europe. There is no requirement for travel insurance to be taken out. I've always had it when visiting countries without public health care or reciprocal arrangements (especially when visiting the States), and I was incredibly glad that I did when I managed to break my arm and jaw in the States. But otherwise I've never received emergency care anywhere, and would not consider it a high likelihood (my accident came from mountain cycling, so so element of risk was involved).

As i said, be thankful that you are in a position to be sure your family and friends could raise £16000. I know mine couldn't. But of coure, none of you have ever done anything stupid and lived to regret it.

Gosh, I didn't expect this.. I'm pleased I wasn't the only one feeling a little irritated.

You can buy instant insurance at the airport.

I agree about insurance being unclear. DH and I have travel insurance through our joint bank account with LloydsTSB and I couldn't even tell from the policy whether it covered DD. I'm almost certain it did but we were going to the US and I didn't want to chance it so I took out another policy elsewhere. Madness.

I went to bed last night before seeing that LRD is under the impession I called her "stupid"

am re-reading my posts and nope, not seeing it anywhere

1. I thought Corfu was Greek, but let's not split hairs.

1. If this holiday was booked online the purchaser would've had to tick the "I have arranged my own insurance" box. If bought by phone or in a shop they'd have had to give verbal agreement.

1. I can't comprehend asking strangers for money for this. Friends & family can chip in, or heaven forbid they dip in to their house deposit fund... which brings me nicely to point 4.

1. A poster asked if the woman should sell her house? Yes she fucking should. That's what you do when life goes tits up! Whether it be a parking ticket or a bust boiler.

A friend's brother was killed just outside the car rental at Miami airport when getting on the freeway - body needed to be repatriated. Another acquaintance needed a triple bypass in the US - this was over 10 years ago and it was over 250,000 USD medical costs alone. Seeing a doctor abroad is small-fry - getting home (dead or alive) is the problem!

(thanks differentname- I think it is unjust)

Will those piously saying that they should have raised the money themselves accept the fact that they did?

Just because you don't like the way the raised the money doesn't mean they didn't raise it.

I am so very very glad I live in a country where no-one will ever have to say 'don't call an ambulance, I can't afford one'.

LRD no-one has called you stupid. AF has called you naive, but if you have never booked or been on a foreign holiday as an adult then maybe it is something you have not come across. Travel insurance is not expensive. Don't let it stop you from going on holiday.

was pretty stupid not having insurance.

Corfu hospital is grim! they also do not have nurse care...you have to look after your relatives (as is wash them, take them to the toilet etc)you even have to supply your own toilet paper

Travel insurance for an adult in Europe is about £20-30. For a child it's less - about £15. For the USA (because medical care is more expensive) it can run up to £40. But the trick is to get an annual policy if you are planning to travel more than twice - around £50 - 70 per year.

We have ours through the bank, so it costs us nothing but is very good cover.

In terms of understanding policies, get hold of the policy and send an email to the insurance company saying 'I don't quite understand this, could you confirm I would be covered if: , etc. and keep their reply safe. Their staff will answer in more plain english than the underwriters.

In terms of percentage costs of your holiday it's probably less than buying breakfast for your family at the airport . And yes you can rely on emergency care on an E111 but rehabilitation is not always covered and repatriation will never be covered. As Elenio has pointed out, sometimes not even nursing/bedding is covered beyond the basics.

Nor will repatriation of the body. We've just been through this because MiL is in Australia and she's very old. We spoke to the insurance company and they told us that in the event of her death they would give us the choice to have a funeral over there and fly a couple of us out or repatriate her body (it's actually cheaper for them to fly two of us out business class than fly her body back). (She's not dead btw, she just wanted to know so I phoned them).

However it's worth saying that you need all members of the party to be covered. If your spouse breaks his leg and needs to be hospitalised and you miss your flight, it's your insurance that generally covers this. So it's worth asking about a 'family' policy or a 'group' policy so administratively it's more simple to organise.

I agree with Elenio. I have had the misfortune to spend time in Corfu hospital and it is a dreadful place. (mind you I am confused with all this talk of Spain, is she actually somewhere else??)

I don't know about the doctors this girl will require, but when I was there the doctor I needed had failed to turn up for his shift and the patients were just left waiting.

Not a place you want to be with a broken back.

From what I've read, they seem like decent folk. I think the crux of the matter here is that it was a surprise holiday booked for them, and I think I read that they left pretty much straight after the wedding.

Tis a bit different to them sitting at home trawling through holiday and insurance deals.

I feel very sorry for them, it's an absolute horrendous psoition to be in, and would have thrown in a few quid had I known about the appeal.

sorry if this has been answered but how did she manage to fall off a balcony?

She went out to get fresh air.

travel insurance for europe is very cheap, we pay about 30 pounds multitrip per year for a family of 4.
I could be sorted out via phone or internet in minutes, so the family giving them the holiday as a surprise should not be an excuse.
I would not be without it, as it also covers liability for which there a funny laws in some countries.
poor woman, though, I hope she recovers quickly.

what and just fell over the edge?

Apparently it was a low balcony. Probably drunk as you don't just fall over balconies.

3' allegedly. Not sure how tall you are but personally I'd not stumble over that...

AnyFucker, I said my not knowing about insurance didn't make me stupid. You said it was hard to believe I didn't know about - well, I didn't, why does it irritate/confound you so much?