Would you travel to Europe without medical insurance?

zagfles

busiscoming2 wrote: »

Im having this dilemma too. My DH has pre existing which although he is fine now and has been for the past 4-5 years, he is very expensive to insure the PEMC.

We have been going abroad for the past nine years and have chosen policies which cover everything except the PEMC. Trouble is is excludes a lot of other possible illnesses/incidents due to the nature of the PEMC.

It really is a gamble.

Yes, but let's face it, we all take a lot of other gambles in life, and with much more than mere money. I'm sure if someone asked "is it safe to drive" you'd get people posting stories of fatal car crashes. Thousands of people are killed or seriously injured on the roads each year.

Strange how some people don't seem to worry about gambling with their lives, but think you should take zero risk of financial loss.

Pollycat

zagfles wrote: »

The OP can't get insurance, not to cover the PEMC anyway. That's the whole point of this thread.

The OP said they were going to Europe. And you gave an example of an incident outside of Europe. The OP questioned whether the EHIC would be enough. And you quote an example of a country which isn't covered by the EHIC.
Do you actually have a point which is relevant to the OP?

I think you might be wrong with the part you've bolded - at least according to the OP's post from 13/7 at 9:12 am (which incidentally was before yours above)

tyllwyd wrote: »

I think maybe I was too quick to assume he couldnt get any insurance - I'm going to have a look at more specialised insurers to see if we can get cover for a car accident etc even if we have to exclude cover for his ongoing condition.

Dunroamin

It might have been useful if the OP had actually stated which country was being considered.

zagfles

Pollycat wrote: »

I think you might be wrong with the part you've bolded - at least according to the OP's post from 13/7 at 9:12 am (which incidentally was before yours above)

Read the last sentence "...even if we have to exclude cover for his ongoing condition.". I think initially the OP assumed they couldn't get any insurance, but now realises they can but it'll exclude the PEMC. Which is what I said earlier, and above "The OP can't get insurance, not to cover the PEMC anyway."

So why do think I'm wrong?

WPC123

zagfles wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't worry too much. ?

zagfles - I think your earlier advise to the OP is the 'problem' insofar as I believe the majority of MSE users believe travel insurance (whether it be Turkey, EU, Europe whatever) is necessary in addition to the EHIC cover.

Pollycat

I think the OP has made a lot of assumptions about whether or not her OH will be able to get insurance - either including or excluding his PEMC.

It would have been more sensible for her to ring round to see exactly what she could get and how much it would cost before posting on here - imho anyway.

In her 2nd post she brings in timescales to get medical documentation as an issue.
I wonder how long this trip hd been booked before the thought of insurance occurred to them.

I think it's probably less that he can't get insurance and more likely that they are not willing to pay the premium.

I can't see anywhere in this thread that the OP has said that an insurer won't insure them.

And that's why I think you're wrong.

For clarity, the 3 posts on this thread by the OP are below:

tyllwyd wrote: »

We are in a situation where due to various reasons it is going to be very difficult to get medical insurance for my OH for a trip to Europe. We've got EHIC cards, and we aren't bothered about cover for cancellation or for lost/damaged property etc. How big a risk would it be to travel without the insurance?

Very difficult.
Not impossible.
No indication that she has spoken to any insurer.

tyllwyd wrote: »

It's not the cost of the insurance - he's got an ongoing chronic condition and recent complications, so any insurer is going to want to get more information from his gp and two different consultants, so the chance of getting a response from all of them in time is not good. And if they then excluded any pre-existing conditions from the cover, then the insurance would be pretty much worthless to us anyway.

"Any insurer is going to want.....".
Not "All insurers I've spoken to want....."
"if they then exclude any pre-existing conditions..."
Not "They will exclude any pre-existing conditions..."

tyllwyd wrote: »

Thank everyone - it is a great help to hear some other points of view to try to get things straight in my head.

I think maybe I was too quick to assume he couldnt get any insurance - I'm going to have a look at more specialised insurers to see if we can get cover for a car accident etc even if we have to exclude cover for his ongoing condition.

She assumed that he couldn't get insurance.
Not she has been told by every insurer she's rung that he couldn't get insurance.

And that's why I think you're wrong.

brodev

20 years ago we bought a house in Spain. Since then my wife and I have spent up to 6 months a year there. As we both have PEMCs we discovered that insurance was extremely costly. We decided to self insure. In other words we put a sum of money aside to pay for repatriation etc. Other than that we have used the EHIC with good results. I do appreciate we were in the happy position of being able to put some money aside but we knew hundreds of pensioners doing similar to us without having put money aside. A lot depends on the country you are travelling to and to the state of their medical services.

tyllwyd

Wow, I'm not used to generating so much controversy when I'm not even here.

OK, to be more precise ... we are a family of 4 booked to go to the Netherlands by car at the end of August. My OH is the main driver, although I can and will drive if necessary. He's got an ongoing stomach problem which has meant surgery in the past, and as a result of that surgery had a hernia which has been repaired but now reoccurred so he is on a waiting list for surgery again. That's why I was so pessimistic about getting insurance, because at the moment the situation is fluid and we don't honestly know ourselves if he'll be well enough to travel anyway.

I totally agree that the best thing to do is to ring round insurers, but it's quite daunting to face answering medical questions, and I'm worried that if I give the wrong answer by mistake we'll end up with invalid insurance anyway so that's why I posted here first. I'm thinking back to when we took out life insurance, it took ages to get letters through from doctors, but I'm hoping we won't have to go through all that. I obviously don't want to pay over the odds, but the cost of the premium isn't the biggest problem.

So at the moment it is all on hold, waiting for us to decide whether or not we are going at all.

SandC

It's definitely worth looking into further and I'm sure it won't be as labourious a task as life insurance - you never know until you start looking into it.

I will give an example of how travel insurance is really worth it in usual cases though. In 2005 my brother was on his honeymoon in France, no pre existing conditions, healthy as anything. Got taken seriously ill with lung problems, ended up in a coma in intensive care, stayed in the country for 8 weeks by which time they considered him to be well enough to get back to the UK but only accompanied by a doctor and delivered to the airport by ambulance, met by ambulance at the other end and straight to our local hospital.

The EHIC would cover only the medical treatment. His wife stayed there for the duration and was able to have her accommodation and expenses (taxis to hospital and her flight home with him - which was business class and he needed a row of seats to himself) covered. With a little assistance from me in the UK the insurance company and the hospital working together sorted out the logistics of getting him from one hospital in France to local hospital here and in the right department under care of the correct consultants.

You take a risk that the overseas hospital is prepared to give the patient a bed in the hospital until they are medically fit to fly under normal airline rules - not sure that would happen to be honest.

Just a warning that illness can happen to anyone unexpectedly.

busiscoming2

Have a quick look on Travelsupermarket as they do a comparison of PEMC insurers.

I have had a lot of trouble but have just managed to get my DH covered for much less than I thought with Columbus direct.