Would you travel to Europe without medical insurance?

miamoo

Considering that your OH will be doing most of the driving then I would definitley get travel insurance, you also need to consider if he is well enough to be driving that distance under the circumstances. Even being sat in a car as a passenger for that length of time cant be very comfortable for him.

zagfles

WPC123 wrote: »

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.

I don't care what the majority think, I'm posting my opinions. Personally I have full medical cover which includes all PEMCs, like I wrote above, but if I couldn't get cover for a PEMC that wouldn't stop me travelling to anywhere the EHIC covers. I would be very wary of going somewhere like the US though!

I do think quite a lot of people travel with insurance which doesn't cover their PEMC's, especially if the PEMC is not likely to cause a problem.

zagfles

tyllwyd wrote: »

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.

Don't worry about the controversy, it's what are internet forums for! Better than just getting one point of view.

I think the question you need to ask is how likely is it that emergency treatment would be needed for his condition, and how likely that would be to involve a long'ish stay in hospital or could an alternative to a long stay there necessitate repatriation which wouldn't be possible by normal means (eg you driving). Perhaps have a chat with your GP or consultant. And have a good read of the EHIC website country specific info for NL, link posted earlier.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

tyllwyd

Just to update in case it helps anyone else - we've now sorted out travel insurance. We went to World First, and went through the online screening to declare his pre-existing conditions. It was much easier than I'd expected - a couple of minutes of answering on-screen multiple choice questions.

In the end they quoted us £36 for travel insurance without the PEMCs and £47 with - so that's a big percentage jump in the premium but considering how much the holiday will cost anyway, not a problem.

So obviously I panicked too soon before! Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

Voyager2002

tyllwyd wrote: »

Just to update in case it helps anyone else - we've now sorted out travel insurance. We went to World First, and went through the online screening to declare his pre-existing conditions. It was much easier than I'd expected - a couple of minutes of answering on-screen multiple choice questions.

In the end they quoted us £36 for travel insurance without the PEMCs and £47 with - so that's a big percentage jump in the premium but considering how much the holiday will cost anyway, not a problem.

So obviously I panicked too soon before! Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

A good result, and thank you for sharing your experience of solving the problem.

To answer the question in your subject-line: since even in your case the cost of insurance was so much less than the costs if things went bad, it would not make sense to travel in Europe without insurance.

2gorgeousgirls

I would never travel without insurance, it's not just for treatment abroad, it also covers for repatriation if necessary. Without it, repatriation could be thousands.

Been travelling abroad for 30+ years and have never had to use it but it's money worth spending for peace of mind.

I'm in the process of looking for insurance for USA. With husbands PEMCs, the cheapest quote (so far) is £230:eek:!

callum9999

It's basically gambling though. You are placing a bet with the insurance company that you will get more out of it than you put in, whereas they are betting you will get less out of it than you put in (and they are generally right!).

Great for peace of mind - particularly somewhere like the US - but I'd happily travel without it unless I was doing a vaguely dangerous activity - e.g. I went to Australia for 3 months without it but bought a 1 day policy while there when I went skiing (though I would quite happily forgo repatriation and stay in Australia!).

EDIT: Though if I'm going somewhere without free/cheap access to medical treatment itself for more than a couple of days, I'll buy the insurance then. But a large number of countries have agreements to give British citizens free treatment - even places like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan!

Bob_the_Saver

callum9999 wrote: »

It's basically gambling though. You are placing a bet with the insurance company that you will get more out of it than you put in, whereas they are betting you will get less out of it than you put in (and they are generally right!).

Great for peace of mind - particularly somewhere like the US - but I'd happily travel without it unless I was doing a vaguely dangerous activity - e.g. I went to Australia for 3 months without it but bought a 1 day policy while there when I went skiing (though I would quite happily forgo repatriation and stay in Australia!).

EDIT: Though if I'm going somewhere without free/cheap access to medical treatment itself for more than a couple of days, I'll buy the insurance then. But a large number of countries have agreements to give British citizens free treatment - even places like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan!

And Even more don't

callum9999

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

And Even more don't

So? The vast majority of my travel is to places that do provide free/cheap medical care to British citizens - I'd imagine that's the same for most people.

Bob_the_Saver

callum9999 wrote: »

So? The vast majority of my travel is to places that do provide free/cheap medical care to British citizens - I'd imagine that's the same for most people.

Define cheap