Is GoFundMe the new travel insurance?

in order to save money on insurance – but that invalidates said insurance so surely cheaper just to not bother in the first place

Yep – and don’t you get asked if you have any pre-existing conditions when filling out the application in the first place?

Think so. Bit rich to claim the moral is not to buy cheap insurance when the moral is don’t lie on the application.

A colleague had a ~300 grand bill for treatment and repatriation after a nasty fall on a corporate trip in China. Biggest hit was for the flight to Birmingham in an air ambulance at low altitude due to collapsed lungs… Think the broken limbs and other injuries were also a bit uncomfortable.

Had to pay for his own taxi to the hospital from the airport though, apparently that isn’t part of “repatriation”.

Still, 20 quid to get from the airport to the hospital isn’t that bad…

Think so. Bit rich to claim the moral is not to buy cheap insurance when the moral is don’t lie on the application.

I agree. If everything in that story is as was printed, then I’m firmly on the side of the insurers

Yes, that liver story, I’ve yet to find any comparison or insurers sites where they don’t ask you to enter medical history before returning quotes.  To say it’s an error is disingenuous, and to suggest she isn’t covered because it was cheap sounds a bit fictional. More like it was cheap because she didn’t declare it.

EDIT, I did some work in fraud in insurance and the company I was involved with had a keylogger on the online claims portal and they could tell if a customer had made multiple attempts to fill the claim form in, changing circumstances or inventory of loss etc. I suspect they have the same tech at quote stage and would quickly be able to see if there had been multiple quotes provided, with and without declared conditions.

Holiday insurance is not just for issues whilst on holiday.

When my mother died in 2018  my brother had booked a three week holiday in New Zealand that would have started about a week before. He had holiday insurance as part of his Nationwide account. She died only about three weeks after her diagnosis and he had arranged the holiday months before. The insurance company paid out nearly  £8000 to cover flights, accommodation booked, car hire etc. with very little hassle when he cancelled for illness of a close family member.

Just trying to renew my motorcycle insurance & the forms have come back incorrectly completed yet again despite me telling them exactly what’s required – so always worth checking the documents when they come through. Just pointing this out as it’s not always the general public who at fault, you can sure as he’ll be sure the telephone script would be ‘lost’ should I make a claim 😕

Wow. I’m sure his family are grateful for your generosity in teaching them a valuable lesson.

Oh dear, not sure how I’ll manage to get to sleep tonight…

I couldn’t care less about his family tbh, I didn’t like the guy and even if I did, a measly donation from me wouldn’t have made a dent into £25k.

Msybe someone on here has learned a lesson though.

It’s fairly simple, check you are covered for the activities you’re planning to do. Every policy I’ve ever had was fairly simple to understand what was and wasn’t covered, and you have the choice before paying for it.

The exclusions related to cycing is “cycle racing” and “Mountain biking – other than trails graded as easy or moderate”

Define “moderate” to a non riding insurance employee responsible for keeping payouts down….

a woman with known medical complaints hasn’t declared them, is going to end up with a big bill, and the family are asking people to help.

We’ve just taken out our travel insurance for a forthcoming trip. No declared issues = £32. Declared our modest, and unlikely to be so severe or quick to come on, issues and it’s £122.

The temptation to save us great….

A Which spokesman says a quarter of travel claims are not paid. In this case it was  a policy taken out when the traveler was already abroad that was the  cause of not being covered.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-67795261

The temptation to save us great….

Mrs C’s underactive thyroid normally adds a fair wack, despite an underactive thyroid  incredibly rarely generating an emergency that would trouble you on a 7 day holiday.

Holiday insurance is not just for issues whilst on holiday.

Which is why it’s great to have an annual insurance and /  or buy the cover shortly after you’ve paid £££. Just cos it has cover dates for when you’re away there is also coverage for other situations that might arise before you leave.

I couldn’t care less about his family tbh, I didn’t like the guy and even if I did, a measly donation from me wouldn’t have made a dent into £25k.

You know that episode of Alan Partridge where he writes his autobiography and every chapter ends with the words, “…and needless to say, I had the last laugh”?

How different insurer’s handle pre existing conditions is a mine field.

lets say you have high blood pressure and don’t declare it. If you then have a stroke or heart attack while away it’s pretty clear your policy is void. But – what about you break your leg?

i have had ski insurance that has stated that pre existing conditions can be undeclared and it doesn’t effect non related claims but I have had other insurance that states any misinformation voids the policy. Most sit somewhere in between and are not very clear.

so if I was to be charitable to Liver lady – maybe she rolled the dice and thought she would go uninsured for her liver condition but something else happened. It’s a stretch and in reality she just took the dumb option to save a few £ but pre existing conditions do require shopping around and reading the fine print

The outlook appears to be that the pre-existing condition has to be material to the loss. So, undeclared finger infection shouldn’t affect a broken leg while skiing.  Same with house insurance, if you don’t have the minimum door lock standard but burglars break in through a window (that are as declared) then it “shouldn’t” void the policy.

Im assuming the lady in the liver story had a medical episode directly related to the undeclared pre-existing condition.  If that is so, then Insurers are entitled to void it.

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

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/chris-connor-4?utm_term=GdepMmK3J&fbclid=IwY2xjawFLu0FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWHt5LiL-FlRXASmScsKZZp86ymm7jIx3S-E-WpWgtDrPWFGpnA7BTCXeg_aem_4XunJ3ibtI-5EkgExlUNCg

And here we go again…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gx57j38ljo

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 feckless 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

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/

^ horrible story about AXA, what a disgusting company.

In addition what about the driver of the SUV that hit the lady, surely they would have some liability (assuming at fault)

Hope she recovers in time, must be dreadful for her family