The winter sun and skiing season are starting. Insurancewith are urging people to remember to take out travel insurance or, if you have any medical conditions, holiday insurance for pre existing medical conditions.
Latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show that last year travel insurers paid out £375 million. This was to meet the cost of emergency medical treatment for UK travellers who fell ill abroad. Breaking this down, it is equivalent to £5.3 million for each week of the year. According to the ABI, this cost has increased by an astonishing 270% over the last six years.
The figures show that stomach upsets, ear infections, allergies and heart problems are the most common illnesses requiring medical treatment abroad.
This hi-lights the importance of declaring your medical history when purchasing holiday insurance for pre-existing medical conditions. Failure to declare something, e.g. an allergy, to your travel insurance for pre-existing medical conditions provider could result in your claim being declined. This could happen if the claim could in any way be attributed to the allergy.
To draw attention to the serious cost of falling ill abroad, the ABI have given some individual claim examples. These include £84,000 to cover the cost of treating a tourist that suffered a heart attack while abroad. There was also £54,000 to treat a holidaymaker who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder whilst in the US. A further cost covered their repatriation. Another claim was £20,000 for the cost of treating a man who had a heart infection and bleeding on the brain whilst in Spain.
Nick Starling, Director General of insurance and health for the ABI, said: “The biggest cost if something goes wrong on your holiday will not be a lost passport, delayed flight or stolen camera. It will be medical treatment if you, or someone in your family, gets hurt or falls ill. Medical costs abroad can run into thousands of pounds, which makes travel insurance absolutely essential.”
