Free EHIC Discussion

zagfles

dj1471 wrote: »

That's all the more reason to buy travel insurance - the EHIC won't cover repatriation to the UK in the event of death or serious illness. This can be hideously expensive and isn't something most people can afford to self-insure for.

What part of "prohibitively expensive" didn't you understand? He couldn't have afforded cover for his condition. He did have travel insurance, but without cover for his condition. It was a choice of going without being fully insured or waiting at home to die. I would have done exactly the same. The EHIC covered him for state treatment. Luckily he didn't need it.

And as said time and time again, repartriation isn't essential unless you're in the middle of nowhere or somewhere with poor medical facilities. You recover locally. Like you would if 300 miles away from home in the UK.

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

And as said time and time again, repartriation isn't essential unless you're in the middle of nowhere or somewhere with poor medical facilities. You recover locally. Like you would if 300 miles away from home in the UK.

Unless you've fallen off your balcony in Benidorm and broken your neck...
That's why family and friends set up a crowd-funding page to raise money to bring someone home.
Why do they bother when the patient can just recover locally and hop on the first flight home when your broken neck has mended.

maman

zagfles wrote: »

What part of "prohibitively expensive" didn't you understand? He couldn't have afforded cover for his condition. He did have travel insurance, but without cover for his condition. It was a choice of going without being fully insured or waiting at home to die. I would have done exactly the same. The EHIC covered him for state treatment. Luckily he didn't need it.

And as said time and time again, repartriation isn't essential unless you're in the middle of nowhere or somewhere with poor medical facilities. You recover locally. Like you would if 300 miles away from home in the UK.

I understand your response in view of having a terminally ill friend. However, much as they may have wanted a final holiday, looking at it rationally it was irresponsible. If they couldn't afford travel insurance and relied on EHIC then that was fine if they knew they could recover. To put it bluntly, if they could have died abroad with all the expenses that entails then that's abdicating a lot of expense to family and friends.

ericthelobster

maman wrote: »

To put it bluntly, if they could have died abroad with all the expenses that entails then that's abdicating a lot of expense to family and friends

Having sadly been in that situation (ie going on holiday with someone who's terminally ill) a couple of years ago, I can tell you that travel insurance for someone in that position is actually not necessarily prohibitive. Obviously cost/risk depends on many factors, but at the end of the day the most expensive possible claim is likely to be the repatriation of a body, which isn't all that expensive - peanuts compared with the results of falling off a balcony in Benidorm, anyway. No vastly expensive medical procedures are likely to be carried out, and nobody's going to be chartering air ambulances. It's certainly a quantifiable risk and insurable against, anyway.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

Unless you've fallen off your balcony in Benidorm and broken your neck...
That's why family and friends set up a crowd-funding page to raise money to bring someone home.
Why do they bother when the patient can just recover locally and hop on the first flight home when your broken neck has mended.

Probably because they want to go home, not because it's medically necessary. What do you think would happen if a Spanish person did the same? Or a British person on holiday in Cornwall?

zagfles

maman wrote: »

I understand your response in view of having a terminally ill friend. However, much as they may have wanted a final holiday, looking at it rationally it was irresponsible. If they couldn't afford travel insurance and relied on EHIC then that was fine if they knew they could recover. To put it bluntly, if they could have died abroad with all the expenses that entails then that's abdicating a lot of expense to family and friends.

You do realise funerals cost a lot of money in the UK don't you? Someone here IIRC posted about someone they knew died in Thailand, they had their funeral there at a fraction of the cost of a UK funeral. How irresponsible for anyone to die in the UK and leave family to pay the exhorbitant cost of a UK funeral.

zagfles

ericthelobster wrote: »

Having sadly been in that situation (ie going on holiday with someone who's terminally ill) a couple of years ago, I can tell you that travel insurance for someone in that position is actually not necessarily prohibitive. Obviously cost/risk depends on many factors, but at the end of the day the most expensive possible claim is likely to be the repatriation of a body, which isn't all that expensive - peanuts compared with the results of falling off a balcony in Benidorm, anyway. No vastly expensive medical procedures are likely to be carried out, and nobody's going to be chartering air ambulances. It's certainly a quantifiable risk and insurable against, anyway.

Or just have the funeral abroad. People have weddings abroad, why not funerals? In fact, I think I'll aim to die abroad, in a country where funerals are reasonable value. That's proper MSE :money:

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

Probably because they want to go home, not because it's medically necessary. What do you think would happen if a Spanish person did the same? Or a British person on holiday in Cornwall?

Then they need to consider the possibly that they'll get totally !!!!!! and fall off the balcony, break their neck and want to go home to recuperate instead of spending months in a foreign hospital.
And buy suitable travel insurance that means that will happen.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

Then they need to consider the possibly that they'll get totally !!!!!! and fall off the balcony, break their neck and want to go home to recuperate instead of spending months in a foreign hospital.
And buy suitable travel insurance that means that will happen.

What travel insurance covers you for getting "totally !!!!!!"?

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

What travel insurance covers you for getting "totally !!!!!!"?

OK.
Let's do a different scenario for the pedants:

Then they need to consider the possibly that they'll dive - with zero alcohol in their bloodstream - into the pool, break their neck and want to go home to recuperate instead of spending months in a foreign hospital.
And buy suitable travel insurance that means that will happen.