Monday, May 7, 2018
As per ABTA millions of British holidaymakers are travelling abroad without proper cover and are putting themselves at risk.Many are travelling without an insurance, in the past 12 months accounting for around 38% of Britons or 9.9 million.
One in five around 22% stated that they had travelled entirely uninsured over the past 12 months. One in four risked invalidating their insurance by not informing their insurer about the pre-existing medical conditions or they took part in activities that were not covered under their policies.
ABTA is urging the holidaymakers ahead of the summer holidays to ensure that their travel insurance is in sync with their holiday plans.
It was mentioned by the association that people did not opt for travel insurance as they thought it was not necessary and schemes like the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) will provide adequate cover.
However the EHIC will facilitate access to the state medical care but it will not include repatriation deemed to be very expensive.
Travel insurance claim on an average costs £1,300 and ABTA further revealed that one third of the people travelled without insurance and stated that cost was a major factor. One in seven they stated that were adequately insured through their bank.
Mark Tanzer, ABTA chief executive said that it was noted every year that people fall into difficulty because of insufficient travel insurance and many prefer not to choose travel insurance at all. The rest of the lot is unaware and their travel policy doesn’t seem to protect as expected.
Taking part in activities which are not covered and not declaring the existing medical condition can get very costly leading to expensive medical bills that might run into thousands of pounds.
All holiday makers were urged to check their travel insurance and see whether their holiday plans were covered.
Susan Crown from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Travel Aware team added that the FCO cannot pay the medical bills if one gets hospitalized abroad nor can it get them back home.
An appropriate insurance policy is essential and one should know what it covers. It might sound like an added expense but everyone should enjoy their holiday while considering safety.
Saturday, April 27, 2024
