Holiday Insurance

As we are due to go to Florida in 4 weeks time, I thought it best to notify our travel insurers of the change in my husband's circumstances. I phoned them 4 days ago to let them know he was now taking Bisoprolol to control an erratic heartbeat. They phoned back today to tell me that his Travel Insurance will now increase by £302.54 because we are going to USA! His insurance alone will now be £402

Although the increase shocked me, we will have peace of mind that he will be fully insured for any eventuality that may arise.

Re: Holiday Insurance

Holiday insurance becomes a major item of expenditure as you get older. I found that "Staysure" offered me the best rate for an annual policy covering Europe only.

Re: Holiday Insurance

We are also with "Staysure" and have used them for several years, Alan. From today, the cover for the two of us has risen to £502.81 for this holiday, which has increased well over double of what we paid three years ago when we last went to Florida.

Still, I accept that it's always wise to notify insurers of any health complaint in case anything happens whilst abroad. It can cost $100 just to see a doctor there before any treatment or medication!

Re: Holiday Insurance

Hi Meg, when I made my enquiry to Staysure I told them that I had a minor heart attack 20 years ago and was taking various tablets. They gave me the option of not covering me for heart trouble and I chose that option since I'd had no problems in the intervening time. Should the worst come to the worst I'd be able to pay to be brought back to the UK.

Re: Holiday Insurance

I think you may need to have a look at this. If something were to happen and you needed to come home AND you were not covered by insurance by electing to exclude a medical condition, you are walking straight into a minefield.

It's worth noting that before you fly home, you have to be considered as well enough to fly. If you were to show up at the airport unwell (I am not talking a bad case of the sniffles), the airline may chose to not allow you to fly - obviously from the airline's point of view, they do not want to risk a medical emergency whilst airborne.

This would leave you with two options. Firstly to pay for medical treatment yourself and any stay in the US's very expensive hospitals, racking up very serious debt in the process, or to go with an Air Ambulance, which could cost you just as much. We could be talking something like several tens of thousands of pounds.

But of course, this is all about risk and probability. But it's something to ponder when deciding to take exclusions on previous medical conditions. Personally, I take out as much insurance as I can when travelling. Yes, it's expensive, but it will save you from bankruptcy.

Re: Holiday Insurance

I agree Graham but I never go out of Europe and, as you probably know, medical treatment is free to residents of the EU.

Re: Holiday Insurance

Not wishing to put a dampener on everything, but you need to be careful of that.

Firstly, despite what is supposed to happen, not everyone will accept the EH1C card as a permit to free health care. There have been cases of some hospitals refusing to deal with EH1C cards and they treat people as private patients.

Also, whilst EH1C should provide basic medical cover. This is basically all you will get. This does not necessarily include bed sheets or even hospital food. It certainly does not cover repatriation to the UK. Again, this could mean expensive Air Ambulance to get you home.

Don't get caught without insurance wherever you go.

Re: Holiday Insurance

Alan, a lot of what Graham says rings true and makes sense. My mum's own situation last autumn was an eye opener. For a few weeks my siblings and I were petrified that our insurance claim to repatriate her wouldn't be guaranteed, and out of 4 of us, only myself and 1 other could remotely afford to pay towards the, yes, tens of thousands for air ambulance. My BiL googled the cost and it could have been around £30k!!!

Mum suffered a brain haemorrhage whilst in Cefalonia on a cruise, immediately falling into a coma from which she never awoke, and we were both taken over to Athens by plane. We then had an anxious time waiting to see if her medical conditions were covered, or excluded. Fortunately for us, her condition was deemed to have been caused by something not treated by her GP, or recommended for treatment, so our claim was accepted. She duly came home, after 3 and half weeks, to have her life support switched off after another 5 days, once the family had said goodbye.

In both hospitals - Cefalonia and Athens - AND on the ship, they asked for her medical card straightaway. It covered her treatment, and Athens were wonderful, but not her repatriation. I cried with relief when, back in the UK, I was told our claim had been guaranteed!!!

Do not skimp on declaration, or cost!! I will, from now on, get myself covered for everything wrong with me. Mum's situation has taught me, the hard way.

Re: Holiday Insurance

When we holiday in Europe we always purchase Travel Insurance as well as carrying the EH1C cards ..... at our age it's never worth the risk to rely solely on basic cover.

Re: Holiday Insurance

Hi Mags

I concur with Graham, travel insurance that covers medical conditions should always be purchased to support your EHIC in the event the hospital that you hopefully won't have to visit, won't recognise the card due to the ecomonic difficulties a lot of our neighbouring countries are experiencing.

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I would always recommend travel insurance and disclosing all of your medical conditions no matter how small as this will avoid the Insurers declining a claim and you being left with hefty medical costs.

There has been a case in the news recently of a chap that didn't disclose any of his medical history and now he has been left with a bill of £100,000.

I hope you will find this information useful and that you have a great holiday.

Regards

Rachel