New research from ABTA shows that 40% of young people aged 18-24 travelled abroad uninsured within the last year. That’s a 9% year on year rise compared to the year leading up to May 2016.
Across all age groups, 25% of travellers travelled uninsured, up 3% from the previous year.
36% of uninsured travellers simply thought they didn’t need travel insurance.
What even is travel insurance?
Travel insurance usually comes with two main features:
- Cancellation cover – often the most overlooked part of travel insurance. You wouldn’t buy a £4,000 car and leave it uninsured, would you? The same goes for your holiday. Cancellation cover will refund you the cost of a holiday if you are unable to travel due to illness or any other reason which may be covered by your individual policy.
- Medical expenses – medical treatment abroad can be majorly expensive. Medical cover will pay for treatment and repatriation to the UK if you fall ill or have an accident. Make sure you declare all pre-existing medical conditions though! See below.
What to watch out for?
There are a few key things to consider when buying travel insurance
- Buy straight away – to get the most from travel insurance it’s important to buy a policy as soon as you have booked your holiday. Don’t leave your very expensive purchase uninsured!
- Excess – some inexpensive policies may have a higher excess than a slightly more expensive policy. You might find that for small things, such as prescriptions abroad, the excess is higher than the claim.
- Disclose all medical details – failure to disclose all medical details, no matter how minor or insignificant you may feel they are, could result in your claim being dismissed. See below on what you need to disclose.
- Are your medical issues covered? – all policies bought through PayingTooMuch.com cover your pre-existing medical conditions providing you have declared them. However, some bought elsewhere will not. So, if you fall ill because of your dodgy heart, you may not be covered.
What medical conditions do I need to declare?
You will need to declare a medical condition if you or anyone else insured on the policy have ever received treatment for any:
- Respiratory conditions (relating to lungs or breathing)
- Heart conditions
- Any neurological conditions (including stroke and epilepsy)
- Cancer
- Blood circulatory conditions
- Any diabetic conditions
- Any renal, liver or kidney conditions
- Any psychiatric or psychological conditions (including anxiety, stress and depression)
- Any medical condition for which you have received surgery, in or out-patient treatment, tests or investigations in a hospital, clinic or GP surgery within the last 24 months.
- any medical condition for which you have been prescribed medication in the last 5 years.
What if it all goes wrong?
Below are a few of stories from ABTA of when it’s all gone wrong. Families often turn to ‘crowdfunding’ to raise the required money to bring a loved one home.
- Craig Lindley, 35 from South Yorkshire fell ill in Thailand, as he travelled without insurance his family are raising funds to bring him back to the UK to continue his treatment. They have raised over £30,000 – https://fundrazr.com/cvDA5
- Dorset Grandmother Esther Jones was taken ill on the way to Australia. She travelled without insurance and her family are trying to raise £50,000 – https://www.gofundme.com/kqxhct6s
- Gareth Harnett, 30, a builder from Kent went on a five day holiday with friends to Phuket and suffered from a heart attack. He didn’t have travel insurance. His friends are trying raise £15,000 – https://pledgie.com/campaigns/19116
How to get travel insurance?
You can apply online for travel insurance using our online quotation tool, which allows you to manually add all your medical conditions yourself. Alternatively, you can give our helpful Sussex based team a call on 01243 784000. They will be able to help and guide you through the entire process.
