# travel insurance- is it worth the effort?



## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

When visiting UK do people bother to take travel insurance including health cover? 
I always have, but now it is getting ridiculous, the cost of it and transport to the airport is now the same as the flight!
Because of pre existing conditions and past conditions which are no longer a problem, (but the company bump up the premium anyway) a 23 day stay now costs 200 euros for the two of us..
Surely only present conditions which require medication and/ or treatment are of concern, not something from years ago from which a full recovery was made.
I spent an hour undergoing the third degree yesterday, and felt thoroughly stressed afterwards, and was left feeling that I might have forgotten to mention something vital, like the nappy rash I had 67 years ago!
God help us if we ever go to the USA or Australia, we'll have to sell the villa to pay the travel insurance!


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## Number 6 (Sep 24, 2014)

If you are a Spanish resident have you thought about applying for a Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea (TSE) - Equivalent to the UK Ehic card. Like in the reverse situation with visitors coming here, it won't give you all the benefits of travel insurance but should give you piece of mind health wise.


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

Remember to check the credit card you buy the tickets with. It may very well cover you for a lot of things that travel insurance does!


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

elenetxu said:


> Remember to check the credit card you buy the tickets with. It may very well cover you for a lot of things that travel insurance does!


I only have a debit card.
The problem is cover for the pre existing conditions


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## larryzx (Jul 2, 2014)

Number 6 said:


> If you are a Spanish resident have you thought about applying for a Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea (TSE) - Equivalent to the UK Ehic card. Like in the reverse situation with visitors coming here, it won't give you all the benefits of travel insurance but should give you piece of mind health wise.


If you are a British National then you apply fr that to DWP in UK, not as previously in Spain. Of course with all emergency conditions (including existing ones) are covered, but of course you cannot use it for non emergencies.



elenetxu said:


> Remember to check the credit card you buy the tickets with. It may very well cover you for a lot of things that travel insurance does!


 I think you find that only serious things may be covered, death. loss of a limb etc. it is not an alternative to proper travel insurance.


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## Number 6 (Sep 24, 2014)

larryzx said:


> If you are a British National then you apply fr that to DWP in UK, not as previously in Spain.


No I'm sorry that is not quite correct!

Anyone covered by the Spanish social security system is entitled to apply for the card.

Applications should be made at your local Social Security Office (Note: Different offices perform different functions – you should look for ‘centro de atencion y informacion de la seguridad social’ - otherwise known as CAISS.)

Or, you can make you application online (In Spanish)

However, one exception is those who are resident in Spain, but not paying social security subscriptions, and claiming a pension from another EU Country. Under these circumstances applications must be submitted to the UK by post.


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## larryzx (Jul 2, 2014)

Sorry, I understood from the post that the person might be retired, might be British and might have health cover in Spain by virtue of an S1 (E121)

With that qualification is what I said correct please ?


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

Number 6 said:


> If you are a Spanish resident have you thought about applying for a Tarjeta Sanitaria Europea (TSE) - Equivalent to the UK Ehic card. Like in the reverse situation with visitors coming here, it won't give you all the benefits of travel insurance but should give you piece of mind health wise.


I have the EHIC, but it is only for emergencies.
Yes Larryzx, I am retired and on the Spanish Health system.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

extranjero said:


> I have the EHIC, but it is only for emergencies.
> Yes Larryzx, I am retired and on the Spanish Health system.


Then you MUST NOT use the EHIC!

The EHIC is only for holidays. As you are resident here and as you have Spanish health care, you can NOT use the EHIC in Spain.


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## larryzx (Jul 2, 2014)

extranjero said:


> I have the EHIC, but it is only for emergencies.
> Yes Larryzx, I am retired and on the Spanish Health system.


So surely that is all the cover you need ? If you get ill you will get treatment, and prescriptions will be provided for any medication which you need during the trip.

You could of course take travel insurance to cover non medical risks and that would probably be as cheap as anyone can get..



snikpoh said:


> Then you MUST NOT use the EHIC!
> 
> The EHIC is only for holidays. As you are resident here and as you have Spanish health care, you can NOT use the EHIC in Spain.


Have I mi- read this? I thought it was for holiday travel to UK.


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

larryzx said:


> So surely that is all the cover you need ? If you get ill you will get treatment, and prescriptions will be provided for any medication which you need during the trip.
> You could of course take travel insurance to cover non medical risks and that would probably be as cheap as anyone can get..


Yes but as I said it only covers emergencies
Examples:
If you had an accident and we're taken to hospital by helicopter, you'd pay the bill
Once over the acute stage, if you needed to stay in a ward for several weeks , or needed transporting back to Spain by medical ambulance, you wouldn't be covered.
Unlikely events , I know, but they can happen.


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## larryzx (Jul 2, 2014)

extranjero said:


> Yes but as I said it only covers emergencies
> Examples:
> If you had an accident and we're taken to hospital by helicopter, you'd pay the bill
> Once over the acute stage, if you needed to stay in a ward for several weeks , or needed transporting back to Spain by medical ambulance, you wouldn't be covered.
> Unlikely events , I know, but they can happen.


I think it covers you for all the unforeseen treatment you would need, so it would include all treatment, including medical necessary transportation, until you were fit enough to be discharged. Then you could travel back to Spain. It would not cover repatriation but that is unlikely to be the situation; they would not discharge you if you were unfit.


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## Number 6 (Sep 24, 2014)

larryzx said:


> Sorry, I understood from the post that the person might be retired, might be British and might have health cover in Spain by virtue of an S1 (E121)
> 
> With that qualification is what I said correct please ?


Yes, with that *qualification* you are correct


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> Then you MUST NOT use the EHIC!
> 
> The EHIC is only for holidays. As you are resident here and as you have Spanish health care, you can NOT use the EHIC in Spain.


he doesn't want to use it in Spain - he wants to use it on holiday OUT of Spain......

and since he has the 'special' EHIC issued by the DWP for S1 holders, that is what he will use


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## larryzx (Jul 2, 2014)

Number 6 said:


> Yes, with that *qualification* you are correct



And as Extranjero has now posted:- 


extranjero said:


> Yes Larryzx, I am retired and on the Spanish Health system.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> he doesn't want to use it in Spain - he wants to use it on holiday OUT of Spain......
> 
> and since he has the 'special' EHIC issued by the DWP for S1 holders, that is what he will use


Well spotted. I had forgotten that there are 'special' EHIC's for pensioners.


However, for others, please note that the EHIC is ONLY for holidays outside of UK. For Spanish residents, get a TSE which is for holidays outside of Spain. These cards can NOT be used for residents in the country that issued them.


The exception, as stated above, is that pensioners now get their cards from UK and are marked in some way to differentiate them.



The reason that travel insurance is important is if you need repatriating to your 'home' country (where you are resident). EHIC/TSE's don't normally cover this nor do they cover after care whic Travel Insurance might.


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## whitenoiz (Sep 18, 2012)

Its probably not relevant but the type of Travel Insurance offered by British and dare I say it Irish airlines at the time of making a flight booking are conditional upon being a resident of the UK... given the track record of Insurers you might well have a problem if you made a claim and were not in fact a provably resident of the UK...


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## extranjero (Nov 16, 2012)

whitenoiz said:


> Its probably not relevant but the type of Travel Insurance offered by British and dare I say it Irish airlines at the time of making a flight booking are conditional upon being a resident of the UK... given the track record of Insurers you might well have a problem if you made a claim and were not in fact a provably resident of the UK...


The company that I am dealing with operates inSpain and the UK, specialises in travel ins for ex pats.
I tried a quote from a well known Spanish company today- more than 400 euros!
Perhaps the other one wasn't so bad after all!


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