Friends of ours are having difficulty in finding health insurance for their trips to Spain at a reasonable price. The lady in question has had breast cancer and underwent an operation recently to remove the tumour; she is now on Tamoxifen.The husband has raised blood pressure and takes tablets each day to control it along with tablets to reduce his cholesterol. In this way, they have similar issues to Pam and I and I imagine many others of our age.
Insurance companies offering travel policies are not in the business to make payouts so have clauses that will get them out of handing over cash wherever possible. If you want cover for every contingency and you have a pre existing condition then the premiums are going to be sky high and that is just what this couple have discovered. In fact some companies have refused to cover them.
The temptation to travel without insurance, especially if you are over 55, should be avoided. The Foreign Office warn Brits that one in ten visitors to Spain do not have cover and risk bills that could add up to thousands of pounds.
At the very least, visitors to Spain should have a European Health Insurance Card, known as an EHIC. These are free to obtain and give you access to the Spanish state health service at either no cost or low cost. However, the card does not cover everything so it is important to still have insurance.
Our situation is the reverse. Pam and I travel to the UK frequently and so we need insurance and EHIC cards as well. It took some research on our part to find a British company that would insure us for our trips. The company we use is Globelink who offer both one trip and multi trip policies. The cost of their policies is very reasonable until you reach 66 when it starts to rise considerably – still it is worth paying for the peace of mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment