Forum menu
Another one!!! He'd even been refused insurance but still travelled...
My father has been refused travel insurance this last year.
Which means he is only holidaying in the UK home nations from here on in.
Simples.
Not travel insurance but just saw this on a local Facebook group. I almost admire the balls it takes to do this
Some woman posted asking people to donate to her Just Giving fundraiser to clear the finance on her dead father in law's car that her mother in law gave them without knowing it had finance on it
Unsurprisingly she's been torn to shreds in the replies
Potentially 2 underinsured parties here- as a paraglider I have insurance to cover 3rd party liability, but I would be unsurprised if the pilot in this story perhaps scrimped on this otherwise the costs would have been recovered from their cover.
The problem with that story is despite the hope that the 3rd party cover would step in, it is a lot slower to agree cover is in place for an policyholder in the event of a third party claim.
Again, a holidaymaker is running a risk of something adverse happening on holiday by not taking out cover. Had they done so, then their Insurers would likely step in immediately and deal with the medical costs, and then look to recover from the third party/their Insurers.
I find the level of naivety exhibited but some people in these stories incredible.
I'm totally out of the loop on travel insurance costs, I've typically only had bmc type mountaineering cover which is obviously 'a lot'
How much is a week of sun and seaside cover going to be?
Regardless of the foolishness of not getting insured, that has to be up there in the list of ways to receive life changing injuries you'd never imagine up if given an infinite amount of time and paper to write the list.
Slightly more sympathetic to someone in that situation that someone who didn't get insurance and then was the one doing high risk stuff like paragliding.....or getting shit faced and injuring themselves or riding a moped.
We were quoted 45 pounds for travel insurance for a three night holiday in Switzerland next month despite a whole week in Poland costing us a tenner earlier this year, seemingly because this time under medical conditions I declared I take omeprazole for heartburn. Not sure what kind of expensive heartburn related incident they expect me to have but whatever, cba to run the risk.
My bank account costs me £13 p/m. For that I get worldwide travel insurance for me and my family, inc snow sports, AA car recovery UK and Europe, basically free* cash withdrawal and credit card use abroad and a few other thing like mobile phone cover and extended warranties.
I bet a week travel insurance for three to Turkey is about a tenner each. I just don't understand why people would not get it.
*Not free, It still comes out of my bank!!
We were quoted 45 pounds for travel insurance for a three night holiday in Switzerland next month despite a whole week in Poland costing us a tenner earlier this year, seemingly because this time under medical conditions I declared I take omeprazole for heartburn
Wait until you have a few *proper* conditions to tell them about. I've had quotes that are more than the cost of the holiday...
Many 18-30 type holidaymakers may invalidate their cover anyway. In my wasted hours reading small print being drunk is usually not covered. Which rightly or wrongly I would assume to be around the UK drink drive limit.
Assuming no medical conditions it costs buttons. As a healthy 62 year old I got a month cover in the USA for £113 with Snowcard last year after removing all the theft cover
A week in Europe for a healthy person in their 20s must be trivial
Taking the theft cover out roughly halved the cost of cover. Presumably carelessness with property and/or fraud is a large percentage of claims.
I was happy to risk theft as mostly I was away from big cities and I carried a decent padlock and chain.
A week in Europe for a healthy person in their 20s must be trivial
18 year old, including 'activity pack' to cover MTB and hillwalking I'm Austria for a fortnight with Big Cat was £34. Apparently a round of drinks one evening was nearly that.
So not including activity pack would be maybe £20-25
I have just paid about £40 for me and the Mrs for 2 weeks in Portugal in February. We are both in our 50's.
My wife and I are 31 and she has asthma. Annual travel insurance costs just £24, so less than a main course in some places. This includes cruise cover too. It's a no brainer and works out at something silly like £2.08 per trip
. Annual travel insurance costs just £24
I presume though this excludes things like riding bikes, many activities such as swimming etc? I only say that as sister had 'free' insurance via bank and only after a (minor) accident discovered it excluded some real basics
I wouldn't dream of going anywhere without travel insurance - which now means not going anywhere because medical issues would make mine prohibitively expensive these days.
So basically I'd like to get superior and judgemental about these ****less people writing begging letters on GoFundMe or the like, except that I spent many a week hooning around various Greek islands on death-trap mopeds when I was in my 20s and I have absolutely no recollection of the idea of travel insurance even occurring to me.
Just for balance, sometimes when you do have the right insurance, the company then shits on you from a large height...
This one even had Larry the #10 cat backing her.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vl40pvydyo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vl40pvydyo/a >
Even though she had insurance the family had to go on social media to get the insurance company to act properly
Even though she had insurance the family had to go on social media to get the insurance company to act properly
Yeah that's the insurer trying to avoid the costs of US treatment and get her back to the UK and into the NHS
A private air ambulance repatriation from the US to the UK, would likely be over £1 million, so they must really have been racking up the costs in the US to make that the cheaper option
Yeah they've hit the panic button and made a right arse of it there. Given it costs $1,800/night to sit in a (no better than NHS) chair beside someone being treated, I can't even imagine how wild the bills for 5 brain surgeries + care will be
AXA Partners are another one to avoid then (as well as Legal & General, who tried to stitch me up). They are scum
Not expecting to be a popular post but for some balance...
The policy limit is £15m. After a month in about the most expensive type of ICU there is, plus five operations involving brain surgeons, that limit might already be drawing close.
If the patient is likely to need long term care, then a decision to repatriate sooner leaves funds available for that long term care. Care won't be on the NHS as the treatment started privately. A few more weeks in the US, with potential for even more expensive operations might mean cover hits the limit and there is nothing left to pay for continued care, let alone repatriate.
AS Mashr says, US medical expenses are beyond the comprehension of most of us in the UK. Those policy limits of $10m or $15m seem may like telephone numbers but they can easily be breached. The NHS insulates most of us from the harsh reality of medical insurance and cover limitations.
I doubt the US hospital is sparing the expenses either as they know they have a pretty much guaranteed $15m to draw down, from an insurer they are unlikely to work with again. Kerching.
A private air ambulance repatriation from the US to the UK, would likely be over £1 million, so they must really have been racking up the costs in the US to make that the cheaper option
its nothing like that expensive. Maybe just nudging 6 figures, but not even close to £1mm https://www.iasmedical.com/north-america/air-ambulance-usa/
its nothing like that expensive. Maybe just nudging 6 figures, but not even close to £1m
A story from years ago, c.2012 was repatriation from New Zealand via private air ambulance (coma, life support) was in the region of £187,000.
That's a massively more complex flight than transatlantic.
For years, medical expense cover was either 5m or 10m and noone got anywhere near. Even £1m was massively high. But with US intensive care being somewhere $10-$30k per night, for a month that's knocking on £700k just for the bed.
So, while I doubt this one will go near 15m, it's going to be chunky. And it may end up going back on the driver, but insurance coverage over there isn't like the UK and it's simply not as "simple" as it is over here.
For years, medical expense cover was either 5m or 10m and noone got anywhere near.
Yup, they basically throw in the big numbers just for marketing. Many, many, moons ago I worked for Direct Line. Their record at the time wasn’t even £200k, as they always took the “repatriate asap” option instead.
@paddy0091 There was a thing on the War on Cars a while back about US car insurance often having very low (by EU/UK standards) third party claim limits, so even if it paid out, it might not go all that far.
And as also mentioned US healthcare costs are considerable.
its nothing like that expensive. Maybe just nudging 6 figures, but not even close to £1mm
It's literally what I do for a living, but thanks for the insight
Care won’t be on the NHS as the treatment started privately.
Really - I've known plenty of people injured overseas that received necessary ongoing treatment for the injury on their return to the UK within the NHS.
Closer to home I saw a gofundme recently for a fella who had a pretty bad accident while mountain biking.
Guy is self employed and is now not going to be able to work for some months while recovering.
I know it's not the big ticket figures of overseas care - but surely if your hobby can potentially wipe out your income you would get some insurance for that? Seems madness not to!
Gran with serious health conditions declines to get travel insurance due to being quoted £3k (although can afford 4 week holiday to Florida!) Can anyone guess what happens next?
Care won’t be on the NHS as the treatment started privately.
This used to be the case but is so no longer
TBF the daughter seems to come across quite well.
She does, unfortunately she is absolutely in a no win situation there.
Oof, that's going to be expensive. 5 days intensive care then weeks on a lesser ward in a US hospital. That 50k target ain't going to touch the sides.
The daughter doesn't come across that well of you follow through to the go fund me page, she only bunged in fifty quid. 😀
That’s a sad story and must be awful for the daughter who tried to convince her not to travel without insurance. I wonder if the sons had similar advice? It’d be heartbreaking to have to leave her there.
I suppose one takeaway from that story is that it explains exactly why the premium quoted was “high”, in so far the risk of a medical issue has come to be. Close call there for underwriters not being taken up with the quote, terrible call for the family not taking it out.
Stupidity.
What happens if they cannot pay ? I dont think the US has debtors prisons, and would any debt collection work here :/
Maybe someone just has to declare themselves bankrupt, like plenty of Americans do.
Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, accounting for 66.5% of bankruptcies:
(Sauce - Google AI search result).
What happens if they cannot pay ?
AIUI (but could well be wrong!) the hospital have a duty to stabilise the patient, but not to provide any ongoing treatment. This is because they can't actually force the patient/family to pay the bills. So the family just need to cover the repatriation expense, the gran never returns to the US, and the hospital writes it off. Best-case scenario possibly?
From that latest story, the family got the price of repatriation down to £111k (or less with a commercial flight). And there's a company quoted elsewhere on the thread saying about £140k ish.
Just mindful that @BoardinBob works in the industry, but said the repatriation cost would be around £1m.
Can you explain why there's such a difference in the rates being (apparently) charged?
Another one. Quad biking this time.
Saw someone mentioned bank account-bundled insurance earlier.
Thought I'd chip in with some praise for Nationwide's Flex Plus account, (which is now £18/month)
It comes with worldwide family cover for the whole year - includes winter sports etc. I've claimed quite a few times - most notably when my son went headfirst into a pavement in Vermont and needed stitches on his face. Panicking, I told the hotel not to call an ambulance after reading some horror stories about the cost and mentally quadruple checking that I had checked that we were covered. Got the bleeding under control and drove him to hospital. 8 stitches in his forehead then we had to find a clinic a week later in another state to take them out. Bill came to about £3k. Insurance paid out really quickly with very few questions.
I've also claimed for lost luggage, xrays and extra nights in hotels due to delays and they often don't even want to see proof of payment.
Also has UK and European AA cover for the whole family which on it's own would be a big chunk of the annual fee. plus mobile phone cover that sent a new phone next day after I lost mine.
Insurance industry has a bad reputation in the UK, but I've really been happy with this service so thought I'd share.
Another one. Quad biking this time.
It's always their "dream holiday" and never just a normal "all we could afford to be honest" holiday, innit?