Travel Insurance

[Davina61]

My 85 year old mum is going to Gibraltar for five days in May. Will she need to get travel insurance? Thanks.

[factor-fiction]

She will find it difficult or very expensive to get insurance.
Is she going on a package holiday (they might insist on it) or is she sorting out her own itinerary there?

[Buenchico]

Gibraltar is outside of the area covered by the EHIC so she'd be left with no health cover if any problems arose. Travel insurance is certainly advisable but it won't come cheap.

Try Castle Cover
http://resellers.insureandgo.com/castlecover/default.aspx?affiliateid=271
or Age UK
https://secure.text2insure.co.uk/AgeUKTravelInsurance/trip.php
but expect a quote well into three figures. (£250 should be considered 'cheap').

Chris

[VHG]

>>>Will she need to get travel insurance?

Why wouldn't she ?

Suppose she has a fall and breaks her leg, she may be in hospital weeks and run up a bill of many thousands of pounds.

If she does not have travel insurance she will have to pay that bill out of her own money or she wont be allowed to leave the country.

[237SJ]

VHG - I think the Op is referring to the fact that if you are a Uk national residing in the UK, you can get emergency health care in Gibraltar by showing your passport. She could get EHIC in case she needs to go to a hospital over the border, but I would get travel insurance because she needs to be covered for repatriation to the UK if required.

[Buenchico]

Further to VHG's post, click 'Gibraltar' here:
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/countryguide/NonEEAcountries/Pages/Non-EEAcountries.aspx
but, as VHG indicates, remember that there's no provision for repatriation.

[Buenchico]

^^^Oops!

That should have read 'Further to 237SJ's post' and 'as 237SJ indicates'

Sorry, 237SJ!

[boxtops]

I wouldn't travel anywhere without travel insurance - it's not just for health, she might lose her luggage or have travel delays.

[spudqueen]

Yes, yes and yes again, she needs travel insurance! It covers all sorts of things, from flight delays to lost or stolen luggage or belongings aswell as covering her for personal liability and for medical reasons. My brothers step daughter broke her back in Tenerife when she was 20 and after a stay in hospital had to be flown back to the UK, taking up 3 seats (she had to lie down) and accompanied by a nurse. When she landed there was an ambulance waiting to take her to hospital. Can you image how much that would have cost if she'd not had travel insurance?!! You can always try the Post Office travel insurance. You can only get cover up to the age of 74 by going into a branch, but if you ring up they can give you a quote for your Mum http://www.postoffice.co.uk/single-trip-travel-insurance

[atalanta]

My father was refused insurance to vist the US, as he was over 90. But he still went. I told him if he died I wasn't going to go there and fetch him - I'd get the Consul to toast him and post his ashes home. He made it, but I'll never know how he convinced the airline he was covered. There are some holiday companies and airlines which will ask for proof of insurance.

[237SJ]

It`s got nothing to do with the airline if someone is insured or not. They are not interested. I think that the most important part of insurance for an older person is the medical cover (especially in the USA or Caribbean where costs are higher). You take a huge gamble if you travel without insurance. A lot of companies stop insuring someone at age 85 (attained) but there are some who will cover above that age. I met a customer recently who was 88 and he got his insurance from the Diabetic Association as they have no upper age limit. It cost him though (£700+).