Global Health Card

TELLIT01

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

GHIC only covers hospital treatment and would not pay for repatriation (for example) in the event of serious illness or injury.  It would seem you friend made two mistakes.  Firstly not declaring all illness and secondly not reporting the medical situation to their insurer promptly.  I understand why it wouldn't be the first thing his wife thought of but it needed to be done promptly to avoid the situation they ended up experiencing.

Why would you need to declare an illness you've recovered from? Seems a bit extreme. Do you declare all illnesses you've had and recovered from? 

You have to declare whatever the insurer requires you to declare.  Some may want information covering the last 2 years, some 5 years, some more than that.  If you don't comply with their requirements it's highly likely that the insurer will refuse to pay out.  That's why you may need to declare an illness you have recovered from.  The travel insurer I use has a massive list of conditions which don't need to be declared.

zagfles

Pollycat said:

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

jenny63_2 said:

We are a couple in our late 70s and visit our holiday apartment in Mallorca usually five times a year always with travel insurance. A friend of ours suffered a stroke at 3 in the morning in Tenerife, called an ambulance and was taken to nearest hospital where he stayed for five days. Their insurers refused to pay the 7,500 euros bill as it was a private hospital and he had not declared a URTI three months ago, which had cleared with anti biotics. It was an emergency and his wife was unaware that the hospital was a private one and the travel insurance did not cover private hospitals. I have never heard of this before. My question is do we need travel insurance at all as we do not need cancellation, loss of luggage, repatriation etc. The Global Health card covers us for all treatment in a public hospital. My friends experience has unnerved me and with the increase for over 80s I feel it is not worth. Has anyone else had this experience with not being covered for private treatment?

How do you know you don't need insurance for repatriation? 

Because they go to countries that have hospitals, perhaps.  

Repatriation:

If you have a medical emergency during your holiday, you might need to be brought back to the UK early. This can be very expensive, but repatriation insurance can offer a helping hand.

Key takeaways

• Repatriation travel insurance covers the costs of getting you back home in an emergency. This can include medical emergencies, accidents, or even political unrest.

• Repatriation can be expensive. Travel insurance helps cover these costs, which can include transport, medical attention during transport, and even an escort.

Repatriation And Travel Insurance | MoneySuperMarket

Would a hospital cover those costs?
Of course it wouldn't.

My friend's Mum fell downstairs - in Spain - and was in hospital for several weeks and was flown home in a private jet with medical staff in attendance.
She had repatriation insurance.

People should really understand what repatriation means and the potential cost before deciding they don't need it.
Especially someone in their late 70s. 

Wonder how Spanish people cope if they have an accident in Spain? Do they airlifted to the UK? OP even has an apartment there. Personally I wouldn't class repatriation insurance as "essential" whatever anecdotes you can find. I'd be happy to recover locally until I could travel home by normal means. Similar to if I had an accident in the UK 300 miles from home. 

That's just a silly comment.

An apartment in Spain (or anywhere) won't be much use if they are unconscious in hospital.

And what if your recovery takes months, even years?

I can find lots of anecdotes of people crowdfunding to raise money to cover repatriation after a family member has been taken ill or had an accident. 

Comparing an accident in Spain by a UK citizen to one in the UK is nonsense.

You may not consider repatriation insurance cover essential but at least now the OP can consider if they still think repatriation cover isn't needed for them.

Like, err, one in the UK then. So what's the rush back to it. 

Yes, OP can. Personally I have insurance which does cover repatriation, but if in the future it ever became prohibitly expensive because of pre-existing condition, it's not going to stop me travelling to countries still covered by the GHIC. It's not essential. Come up whatever anecdotes you want, I can assess risk. Just like anecdotes about people dying in car crashes every year won't stop me driving. Even though I consider death even worse than financial ruin (yes I know, not very MSE is it  ) 

zagfles

TELLIT01 said:

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

GHIC only covers hospital treatment and would not pay for repatriation (for example) in the event of serious illness or injury.  It would seem you friend made two mistakes.  Firstly not declaring all illness and secondly not reporting the medical situation to their insurer promptly.  I understand why it wouldn't be the first thing his wife thought of but it needed to be done promptly to avoid the situation they ended up experiencing.

Why would you need to declare an illness you've recovered from? Seems a bit extreme. Do you declare all illnesses you've had and recovered from? 

You have to declare whatever the insurer requires you to declare.  Some may want information covering the last 2 years, some 5 years, some more than that.  If you don't comply with their requirements it's highly likely that the insurer will refuse to pay out.  That's why you may need to declare an illness you have recovered from.  The travel insurer I use has a massive list of conditions which don't need to be declared.

Common cold? Is that in the list?

zagfles

marcia_ said:

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

jenny63_2 said:

We are a couple in our late 70s and visit our holiday apartment in Mallorca usually five times a year always with travel insurance. A friend of ours suffered a stroke at 3 in the morning in Tenerife, called an ambulance and was taken to nearest hospital where he stayed for five days. Their insurers refused to pay the 7,500 euros bill as it was a private hospital and he had not declared a URTI three months ago, which had cleared with anti biotics. It was an emergency and his wife was unaware that the hospital was a private one and the travel insurance did not cover private hospitals. I have never heard of this before. My question is do we need travel insurance at all as we do not need cancellation, loss of luggage, repatriation etc. The Global Health card covers us for all treatment in a public hospital. My friends experience has unnerved me and with the increase for over 80s I feel it is not worth. Has anyone else had this experience with not being covered for private treatment?

How do you know you don't need insurance for repatriation? 

Because they go to countries that have hospitals, perhaps.  

 You are so hysterical 😂🤣😂🤣😂

Can I give up my day job? 

TELLIT01

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

GHIC only covers hospital treatment and would not pay for repatriation (for example) in the event of serious illness or injury.  It would seem you friend made two mistakes.  Firstly not declaring all illness and secondly not reporting the medical situation to their insurer promptly.  I understand why it wouldn't be the first thing his wife thought of but it needed to be done promptly to avoid the situation they ended up experiencing.

Why would you need to declare an illness you've recovered from? Seems a bit extreme. Do you declare all illnesses you've had and recovered from? 

You have to declare whatever the insurer requires you to declare.  Some may want information covering the last 2 years, some 5 years, some more than that.  If you don't comply with their requirements it's highly likely that the insurer will refuse to pay out.  That's why you may need to declare an illness you have recovered from.  The travel insurer I use has a massive list of conditions which don't need to be declared.

Common cold? Is that in the list?

I'm not going to play your silly games.  Check the details on your own insurance policy.

zagfles

TELLIT01 said:

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

GHIC only covers hospital treatment and would not pay for repatriation (for example) in the event of serious illness or injury.  It would seem you friend made two mistakes.  Firstly not declaring all illness and secondly not reporting the medical situation to their insurer promptly.  I understand why it wouldn't be the first thing his wife thought of but it needed to be done promptly to avoid the situation they ended up experiencing.

Why would you need to declare an illness you've recovered from? Seems a bit extreme. Do you declare all illnesses you've had and recovered from? 

You have to declare whatever the insurer requires you to declare.  Some may want information covering the last 2 years, some 5 years, some more than that.  If you don't comply with their requirements it's highly likely that the insurer will refuse to pay out.  That's why you may need to declare an illness you have recovered from.  The travel insurer I use has a massive list of conditions which don't need to be declared.

Common cold? Is that in the list?

I'm not going to play your silly games.  Check the details on your own insurance policy.

Err, I have. See above. Your insurance sounds pretty rubbish, TBF, if you have to check a "massive list" of conditions you don't need to declare rather than a short list you do. 

marcia_

zagfles said:

marcia_ said:

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

jenny63_2 said:

We are a couple in our late 70s and visit our holiday apartment in Mallorca usually five times a year always with travel insurance. A friend of ours suffered a stroke at 3 in the morning in Tenerife, called an ambulance and was taken to nearest hospital where he stayed for five days. Their insurers refused to pay the 7,500 euros bill as it was a private hospital and he had not declared a URTI three months ago, which had cleared with anti biotics. It was an emergency and his wife was unaware that the hospital was a private one and the travel insurance did not cover private hospitals. I have never heard of this before. My question is do we need travel insurance at all as we do not need cancellation, loss of luggage, repatriation etc. The Global Health card covers us for all treatment in a public hospital. My friends experience has unnerved me and with the increase for over 80s I feel it is not worth. Has anyone else had this experience with not being covered for private treatment?

How do you know you don't need insurance for repatriation? 

Because they go to countries that have hospitals, perhaps.  

 You are so hysterical 😂🤣😂🤣😂

Can I give up my day job? 

 Please don't, this type of humour doesn't go down well on stage. Certainly gives laughs on the forum though 

Pollycat

At least the discussion on potential problems without repatriation cover may have helped the OP decide what to do - regardless of some rather odd views expressed on the thread.

sheramber

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

zagfles said:

Pollycat said:

jenny63_2 said:

We are a couple in our late 70s and visit our holiday apartment in Mallorca usually five times a year always with travel insurance. A friend of ours suffered a stroke at 3 in the morning in Tenerife, called an ambulance and was taken to nearest hospital where he stayed for five days. Their insurers refused to pay the 7,500 euros bill as it was a private hospital and he had not declared a URTI three months ago, which had cleared with anti biotics. It was an emergency and his wife was unaware that the hospital was a private one and the travel insurance did not cover private hospitals. I have never heard of this before. My question is do we need travel insurance at all as we do not need cancellation, loss of luggage, repatriation etc. The Global Health card covers us for all treatment in a public hospital. My friends experience has unnerved me and with the increase for over 80s I feel it is not worth. Has anyone else had this experience with not being covered for private treatment?

How do you know you don't need insurance for repatriation? 

Because they go to countries that have hospitals, perhaps.  

Repatriation:

If you have a medical emergency during your holiday, you might need to be brought back to the UK early. This can be very expensive, but repatriation insurance can offer a helping hand.

Key takeaways

• Repatriation travel insurance covers the costs of getting you back home in an emergency. This can include medical emergencies, accidents, or even political unrest.

• Repatriation can be expensive. Travel insurance helps cover these costs, which can include transport, medical attention during transport, and even an escort.

Repatriation And Travel Insurance | MoneySuperMarket

Would a hospital cover those costs?
Of course it wouldn't.

My friend's Mum fell downstairs - in Spain - and was in hospital for several weeks and was flown home in a private jet with medical staff in attendance.
She had repatriation insurance.

People should really understand what repatriation means and the potential cost before deciding they don't need it.
Especially someone in their late 70s. 

Wonder how Spanish people cope if they have an accident in Spain? Do they airlifted to the UK? OP even has an apartment there. Personally I wouldn't class repatriation insurance as "essential" whatever anecdotes you can find. I'd be happy to recover locally until I could travel home by normal means. Similar to if I had an accident in the UK 300 miles from home. 

Repatriation would cover flying a body or ashes back to UK.

If you had a stroke and were left medically unfit to fly independently  a repatriation flight with medical personal may be required to get you back to UK
 
While You may be content to stay in a foreign hospital for years the OP said ‘we’. A partner may not be so happy to have to leave you there after the regulation 180 days stay allowed. 

sheramber

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

zagfles said:

TELLIT01 said:

GHIC only covers hospital treatment and would not pay for repatriation (for example) in the event of serious illness or injury.  It would seem you friend made two mistakes.  Firstly not declaring all illness and secondly not reporting the medical situation to their insurer promptly.  I understand why it wouldn't be the first thing his wife thought of but it needed to be done promptly to avoid the situation they ended up experiencing.

Why would you need to declare an illness you've recovered from? Seems a bit extreme. Do you declare all illnesses you've had and recovered from? 

You have to declare whatever the insurer requires you to declare.  Some may want information covering the last 2 years, some 5 years, some more than that.  If you don't comply with their requirements it's highly likely that the insurer will refuse to pay out.  That's why you may need to declare an illness you have recovered from.  The travel insurer I use has a massive list of conditions which don't need to be declared.

Common cold? Is that in the list?

Most policies ask for information about anything you have consulted a doctor about so if your cold was so bad you went to the doctor then yes you tell them.

If a couple of paracetamol  or a lend up was enough then as you didn’t consult a doctor , you don’t need to tell them.

What you must do is answer the question honestly and update if necessary.