What does travel health insurance cover?

It's very easy to forget just how much cover you need when you go travelling. Maybe you can't take many valuable possessions away with you, so you may not need much cover for baggage. The cost of any cancellations is only usually the cost of the holiday, which isn't going to be much at all. But one of the things that you really can't control is your health. You could become ill or suffer an accident whilst you are abroad, and then you can be liable for a wide variety of costs, and they can mount up into many thousands of pounds. What's more, unlike the loss of some possessions, you will need medical treatment in an emergency, and in some countries you can't get anything without paying first.

In the countries of the EU some other specific countries, there is, as explained elsewhere on this site, an E111 form which gives you the right to the same level of treatment as residents of those countries - which could mean it is free or might mean that it is offered at a nominal cost. Obviously, around the UK, your hospital treatment should be on the National Health Service. But in places like the USA, the cost of medical treatment can be enormous. You've got doctors fees, then hospital fees, including the cost of any operations, medicines, and inpatient costs. You also have the costs of any rescue, be it in an ambulance or a helicopter.

You then may have the cost of getting you back home - because you may need a special air ambulance to bring you back to the UK. This, obviously, is not cheap. If you do come back on a scheduled flight, then you may need to be placed on a bed across three seats, which you will have to also pay for. But before you come back, you may need to spend a period of time in the country where you suffered your illness or your accident. The costs of keeping you in that country need to be borne by insurance, and the cost of friends and family being transported to that country to visit you also needs to be covered.

Decent travel health insurance cover should leave you only a phone call away from knowledgeable, understanding and caring people, who are multi-lingual as well as experts in dealing with the matters of travel health. You cover, which should total more than £1m to be comprehensive enough for all possibilities should cover all of the above, and even dental costs. They should have their own doctors and nurses nearby to check you and make sure you are receiving the appropriate treatment.

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Travel Insurance

Insurance & Loans

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What does travel health insurance cover?

© AskFinancially.com 2008

Travel Insurance

Insurance & Loans

Copyright