While having a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) entitles you to state-provided healthcare when visiting applicable countries, neither is an alternative to travel insurance as they won’t cover all medical costs or any repatriation back to the UK on medical grounds.
What does travel insurance cover?
Medical expenses
Overseas medical cover is possibly the single most important part of a travel insurance policy due to the potentially high cost of medical treatment and repatriation if you are injured or fall ill abroad. This will typically include:
- emergency medical treatment costs, including hospital charges and ambulance fees
- returning you home following medical treatment abroad if you cannot use your original ticket
- reasonable additional transport and/or accommodation expenses for a close relative or friend to stay with you or travel from the UK to escort you if required
- 24 hour assistance helplines to offer support and advice about appropriate treatment.
Cancelling or cutting short a holiday
Travel insurance can cover your costs if you need to cancel or cut short your holiday, for instance if you or a close family member falls ill, or the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against travel to your destination.
However, this usually operates only if you have been unable to get compensation from any other sources first, such as the airline or tour operator. Your policy may also only cover you for cancelling or cutting short your holiday under limited circumstances, so make sure you check your policy wording carefully.
Before cancelling your holiday, talk to your travel agent, tour operator or airline about options that may be available for you, including rescheduling your trip.
Travel delay and disruptions
Travel insurance can come to the rescue if you miss your scheduled transport, or face delays or cancellation. This can include cover for replacement transport and costs while you're waiting for a delayed departure at an airport, port, train or bus station.
It is a good idea to check with your airline, travel agent or tour operator before you claim on insurance. If you are travelling within the European Union (EU) or with an EU based airline, and your flight is cancelled or delayed, you may be entitled to compensation from the airline under EU regulations.
Baggage and belongings
Travel insurance can cover you for lost or stolen baggage and personal possessions, and the costs you may incur to replace a passport. It is also a good idea to check whether your home contents insurance or your gadget insurance provides cover for belongings that you take overseas.
Travel insurance policies offer different cover limits for different types of belongings. There will usually be a maximum amount you can claim for any one item and a maximum amount in total for valuables. Always check your policy.
If you need to make a claim, you may be expected to provide receipts or other proof of ownership for your lost or stolen possessions. An insurer may also require a police report.
Personal liability and legal expenses
Travel insurance can provide cover if you accidentally cause an injury to someone or damage their property and they choose to sue you. It can also help you pursue compensation or damages if you get injured or your property gets damaged. This can be particularly important in countries without a legal aid system.
Travel insurance may not cover you if you:
- Withhold details of your medical history from your travel insurer. Travel insurance will not cover you if you have been medically advised that you are unfit or it is unsafe to travel, or if you have purposely not sought medical advice knowing that you will be told not to travel.
- Do not declare your activities, for instance, if you are going abroad for a skiing or horse-riding holiday.
- Do not take out your policy before departing. Policies are designed for trips starting and ending in the UK, so be sure to take it out before starting your trip. There are specialist ‘already travelling’ policies, but these tend to come at a premium.
- Sleep in or get stuck in traffic. Many travel insurance policies will not cover situations which are reasonably within your control. Leave plenty of time to get to your departure point.
- Leave belongings unattended, and you haven’t taken steps to ensure they are secure and out of sight. Keep money on your person or locked away.
Types of travel insurance
How to make an insurance claim?
If you have travel insurance and something does happen before you go away or while you are away, your travel insurer or their emergency assistance company is on hand to help.
You will find phone number(s) for assistance in your policy, in the email you were sent when you bought your insurance, or on the insurer’s website. Be sure to save phone number(s) and your policy reference number on your mobile phone or on your other devices so you are able to find them quickly in case of an emergency.
Your travel insurer should provide you with a 24/7 phone number to ring in the event that you need to use your travel insurance to seek medical assistance.
- In an emergency, seek assistance at your nearest appropriate medical facility first and contact your insurer, or have a travel companion contact your insurer, as soon as it is safe to do so
- If it is not an emergency, you should call your insurer before you seek medical assistance.
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Buying travel insurance
You should purchase travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday. This is because travel insurance will cover unrecoverable costs if you need to cancel your trip, for example, if you are ill and can’t travel. At a minimum, you must purchase your insurance before leaving the UK, as policies are designed to cover your travels starting from and finishing in the UK. While it may be possible to buy specialist post- departure travel insurance when you are already abroad, it is always best to play it safe and buy cover before departing.
When purchasing travel insurance, it is important to consider the type of trip you are going on and level of cover needed based on any pre-existing medical conditions and disclosing full details of conditions on application. Failure to do so will mean your policy will not cover any medical costs and fees should you fall ill abroad a result of your condition.
You should also ensure that you disclose if you plan to participate in any extreme sports or activities that a standard policy may not protect you for. We recommend, like purchasing for all insurance types, that you shop around and compare quotes and policies from different insurers.
When calculating the level of cover you need for protecting personal items, spend time working out exactly how much each item is worth. If you overestimate your premium will be higher than necessary and alternatively, if you underestimate their values, they will be inadequately covered if you need to make a claim.
FAQs
What are hazardous activities and which ones do I need to declare?
Each insurer will define this differently, so it’s important to check your policy wording. However, hazardous activities are typically considered anything that carries additional risk such as bungee jumping, canyoning, quad biking, rock climbing, white or black water rafting, paragliding – and many other activities. If in doubt, it’s always best to check with your insurer if you need to declare it or obtain an add-on or specialist cover. Never assume a certain activity is covered, no matter how low risk it may seem.
You may need to purchase an add-on for your policy or obtain specialist cover for a number of sports such as golf, water sports (such as surfing, snorkelling or water skiing etc.) and winter sports (think skiing, snowboarding, dog sledding etc.)
Does travel insurance provide cover for travelling abroad to receive medical treatment?
No. Typically, standard travel insurance will not cover you for costs associated with ‘medical tourism’, where you travel to another country seeking medical treatment. Instead, you will need to obtain a specialist policy for this. To do so, you may wish to speak to an insurance broker.
Medical tourism can include cosmetic treatments such as nose jobs, hair transplants and dental work, as well as treatments for medical conditions such as cancer or fertility treatments.
Do I need to follow government travel advice?
Yes. Always check FDCO advice, which includes the latest information on coronavirus, safety and security, entry requirements and travel warnings.
Travelling against their advice is likely to invalidate your travel insurance. However, if the advice changes once you are abroad, your cover will continue as normal.
What cover does travel insurance provide for natural disasters?
A natural disaster is an event that has a highly harmful impact on a society or community, such as extreme flooding, droughts, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, lightning, tsunamis, volcanic activity, wildfires etc. Cover offered for these events will vary from insurer to insurer. Generally:
- if you are injured or fall ill due to a natural disaster your policy will cover you in the normal way
- if your flight or accommodation is cancelled, refunds should be sought from the airline, accommodation provider or tour operator in the first instance. Any bookings made through a credit card may also have recoverable costs, and
- if your policy includes trip disruption or natural disaster cover, you should be covered if you have to cut short or cancel your holiday
Check your policy details and speak to your insurer if you’re not sure what is included.
What is a package holiday and who should I contact to make a claim?
Package holidays are usually when you’ve booked two or more types of travel services at the same time for the same holiday from a travel organiser, such as a travel agent. The trip has to last more than 24 hours or include an overnight stay.
Linked travel arrangement tend to be when you book two or more travel services for the same trip, but they’re with different companies and you pay for them separately. Such as using a travel agent for your flights and an online company for your hotel.
Make sure you know your legal rights if your travel is disrupted, which are different for package holidays, linked travel arrangements and independent travellers. Generally, package holiday providers are able to provide compensation for travel disruption. More information is available through Citizen’s Advice and the Civil Aviation Authority.
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