Travel Insurance - Oh So Important!

[AngieP]

My long awaited holiday with my sister has just been dramatically changed after tripping in Santorini and breaking my ankle. I was evacuated by air ambulance to Athens to a specialist orthopaedic clinic for reconstructive surgery. At this stage the bill is $30,000 before my flights back to Australia in the next few days. The medical care has been first rate. I cannot stress the importance of good travel insurance enough. After only two weeks holiday of a planned 10 week vacation it's a hard blow. The assistance process through the emergency care providers has been pretty good but a bit slow at times. All medical care and return to Australia are confirmed as covered by my travel insurance. Essentials have been my iPad , travel SIM card and FaceTime/Skype. Any suggestions from the forum to get through the more detailed claims process when I get home in relation to the uncompleted parts of the journey which was a month in Italy and a month on Switzerland with lots of already paid accommodation and train fares etc? Thank you in anticipation.

 

[Isochronous]

Can you recommend your insurer?

 

[chrisb]

I'm on a two month holiday at the moment. My other half tripped and hurt her ankle (some tearing and bone fragments on the xray) after 5 days. After a GP, X-rays and a specialist she was cleared to continue with only a foot brace. Those three medical visits cost nearly $500 but needless to say we were very worried about the rest of the trip and glad to have insurance.

Good luck with your evac and I hope you get to restart your holiday soon.

 

[SuzieQ68]

It's all in the paperwork! Although I've never had to experience what you're going through, I've experienced claiming on travel insurance for overseas illnesses for my partner (and for the wife of my manager who had travel insurance and seriously injured herself before she even left the country!) - and as long as you have all the paperwork to back up your claim, you shouldn't have any issues. Copies of receipts showing what's been pre-paid, copies of medical reports and even a letter from the doctor confirming that you're not fit to continue your travel will all assist in making the claim process easier. Safe travels home and hope all goes well.

 

[shellthom]

My long awaited holiday with my sister has just been dramatically changed after tripping in Santorini and breaking my ankle. I was evacuated by air ambulance to Athens to a specialist orthopaedic clinic for reconstructive surgery. At this stage the bill is $30,000 before my flights back to Australia in the next few days. The medical care has been first rate. I cannot stress the importance of good travel insurance enough. After only two weeks holiday of a planned 10 week vacation it's a hard blow. The assistance process through the emergency care providers has been pretty good but a bit slow at times. All medical care and return to Australia are confirmed as covered by my travel insurance. Essentials have been my iPad , travel SIM card and FaceTime/Skype. Any suggestions from the forum to get through the more detailed claims process when I get home in relation to the uncompleted parts of the journey which was a month in Italy and a month on Switzerland with lots of already paid accommodation and train fares etc? Thank you in anticipation.

I hope that your recovery is quick and easy for you!!

you need to read the insurance policy... there are common things like resumption of journey where as long as you took less than 50% of your trip and your trip was over a month long then after you return home you can pick up the journey where it is now up to - which is not everyones definition but I don't think too many policies offer to pick it up where you left off and have the remaining 8 weeks of a 10 week journey... what that likely means for you is that cancelling and getting refunds through the providers and the remainder through the travel insurance is likely to be the way you need to go as it is unlikely you will be recovered enough to go back before the trip is over...
But again, everything comes down to the wording of your policy.
So next time you are speaking with the emergency assistance guys as them about these details in your policy. They can read the wording and give you some of the meaning behind it so you know what you need to claim for when you get home. And then the claims department will pay the bills etc
Also it is likely you will be expected to either cancel all the bookings or change the dates yourself and not just let them come and go, the insurance company will want to see the cancellation fee etc and they usually wont do the cancelling/amending on your part.
Thats something to keep in mind. Even if every booking won't give you any refund you'll likely still need to go through the process yourself.
You best bet is once your home and settled and able to, call your insurance claims department (they will have a file open and be aware of your situation because of having already given the approval to the emergency assistance team to pay the medical bills and trip home - getting through to that person may not be easy though) and find out what they want you to do.
It's not a super difficult process but if you dont know what they actually want it can take a long time and become super frustrating

 

[Hvr]

Thanks for sharing and hope all is well soon.

I always take out travel insurance and the one time I used it was paid out very quickly.

Your experience is a salutary lesson for all of us frequent flyers.

 

[AngieP]

Thanks for your good wishes and guidance - most helpful. I hope to be on my way home tomorrow. Then the other paperwork begins along with the recovery!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Note that many train fares are cancellable and refundable.

So check your tickets.

Ditto for hotels, tours etc. Your insurance company will expect you to, unless your were medically not capable.

When my wife had a major accident and could not travel I called up quite quickly and they advised that.



I missed some train tickets though. However I argued that I was distracted by being in hospital pretty much full time with my wife and so did not have adequate time to check everything. They ended up paying. That was though the Amex Plat Card under the old rules.

 

[AngieP]

Just a follow up to my initial thread. I have now completed my claim with Sure Save travel insurance. They have refunded pretty much all of my claim - full coverage of medical expenses overseas, repat back to Australia, prepaid travel that I didn't use etc so very happy with that. They have also covered some home help expenses til the end of September. The process has been good with helpful claims officer - thanks Kaisa! - but there is a serious amount of paperwork to be complete which some people might find too onerous. I didn't as this is the area that I work in so I just kept at it. I did also progress a couple of portions of the claim that they weren't initially going to pay out on and we reached an agreement. Persistence pays off and also being extremely familiar with the product disclosure terms etc. Overall I am very satisfied with Sure Save and would definitely recommend this insurance but you must be aware of your exact coverage to avoid disappointment!

 

[tinkybelle]

For anyone with over 80s parents,
be aware that if you need to cancel or return for an over 80 s relative you are not covered at all.
with most insurance policies.

a friend of mine has just had to cancel an extremely expensive tour as 88 yr old mum has a terminal illness.as it was under 35 days they lost the lot.