Travel Insurance vs Health Insurance coverage?

J

Johndoe

Guest
Hey guys, I've done a ton of searching, but am struggling to find information on what exactly I need to get for my upcoming 4 months in South America.

My health insurance is the Essential Choice with Quinn Healthcare. I only realised recently that they do cover overseas medical emergencies.

For that extra peace of mind when you’re going abroad, QUINN-healthcare offers a range of benefits for emergency hospital treatment on all the Essential schemes.
We provide full cover for emergency hospital admissions while abroad up to a maximum of €70,000
per episode for Essential First, Essential Starter, Essential Choice, Essential, Essential Select and
Essential Plus Starter members. And we cover up to a maximum of €100,000 per episode for
Essential Connect, Essential Health, Essential Complete, Essential Plus and Essential Gold scheme members.

Access to a 24-hour emergency helpline. Just call +353 21 422 2204, this number is printed on your
membership card. Please contact this number prior to treatment.

Up to €2 million towards the cost of transport abroad or back to Ireland if appropriate treatment isn’t available locally and up
to €1,000 towards the cost of bringing back a travelling companion.
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So, why do I need travel insurance? Is it because 70k isn't enough? Is it purely for the extras, like flight cancellations, lost baggage etc.

I am doing some activity sports, and the added cost of this on the travel insurance is huge. But my own health insurance will cover medical costs no matter how the injury was received (or so I was told by Quinn). I gave the example of snowboarding and he said it would definitely be covered.

So, could I just get the basic travel insurance without the activities?


Basically, my Travel Insurance is coming to €260 in most places. I am also forking out approx €140 to cover my iPad / Camera / iphone / Kindle etc.
Just trying to see what I really need to get.

Appreciate the help.
 
Anyone?

€260 for travel insurance seems like a lot to me. Especially when it doesnt need to cover medical, and doenst really cover ANY of your personal belongings (laptops, phones, watches, jewelry, etc etc etc)

I've also read a lot about travel insurance companies not paying up when it comes to it too. Just trying to figure out is that €260 really a requirement when emergency medical is covered by my Health Insurance?
 
Impatient much?

No-one can tell you for definite what sort of risk you should be prepared to take. A lot of people have had trouble making successful claims on travel insurance.

I don't have health insurance which is why I have travel insurance. My annual policy looks pretty good to me and costs a lot less than yours.I went for the Platinum cover through ebookers.ie

You're being charged more because most holiday insurance only covers 30 days of travel cover per "trip". You're going in one stretch for 4 times that long.

Does your home insurance cover your gadgets? Maybe that would work.
 
€70,000 is nowhere near enough medical cover. You should have at least €1.5 million for trips outside Europe. Have you looked at the travel insurance policies to see what is covered other than what you've mentioned? Have you had quotes from several companies for your insurance?
 
dereko1969 said:
Impatient much?
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Yes, sorry about that. But really need to get this sorted asap. Leaving this weekend.

dereko1969 said:
No-one can tell you for definite what sort of risk you should be prepared to take. A lot of people have had trouble making successful claims on travel insurance.

I don't have health insurance which is why I have travel insurance. My annual policy looks pretty good to me and costs a lot less than yours.I went for the Platinum cover through ebookers.ie

You're being charged more because most holiday insurance only covers 30 days of travel cover per "trip". You're going in one stretch for 4 times that long.

Does your home insurance cover your gadgets? Maybe that would work.
Click to expand...

Cheers.
 
shesells said:
€70,000 is nowhere near enough medical cover. You should have at least €1.5 million for trips outside Europe. Have you looked at the travel insurance policies to see what is covered other than what you've mentioned? Have you had quotes from several companies for your insurance?
Click to expand...

Cheers, this is the sort of info I was looking for. I saw a few covering astronomical figures all right. Thats what I was trying to find out. Is 70k too little to cover the bad situations.

I've been trying to get the Travel Insurance for weeks now. I've read countless policy documents... that's whats actually put me off a bit. so much is worded so they can get around things if you're not careful.
Also, the lack of personal possession cover on ALL travel insurance polocies is ridiculous.

House insurance doesnt really help much as there's a big excess on that. And it only covers me for 60 days. I've looked into that too.

I think I'm just going to have to fork out the €400. I guess it's better to think of if as €100 a month to keep me safe.
 
Johndoe said:
Cheers, this is the sort of info I was looking for. I saw a few covering astronomical figures all right. Thats what I was trying to find out. Is 70k too little to cover the bad situations.
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In short yes, €70k is too little to cover bad situations. If you're outside the EU, you will be paying the top tier for medical care, which can easily be €1000 for a an hour long trip to the emergency room. If you have to stay in hospital for a few days, €70k will be chewed up quickly. If you are seriously ill, and need emergency repatriation, then an air ambulance will cost serious money - a good chunk of the €1.5 million. I assisted a friend making a claim on travel insurance, and the company was very efficient, and the claim process pretty straightforward. When I saw the costs being charged, I realised just how much extra you have to pay for healthcare when you're outside the comfortable world of the EU's EHIC cover.
 
For what it's worth, I used to have an annual travel insurance policy with getcover.ie which included a discount on the premium because I already had private health insurance (Vivas but the same discount applied for VHI, Bupa etc.) - they also do long-stay/backpacker policies and you can include an amount for personal possessions. I never actually had to make a claim so cannot say whether they would be any good when it came to paying out.
 
I'm not sure if your private health insurer (Vhi or whomever) will cover things like scheduled airline failure, third party supplier insolvency, golf/business equipment etc. Also, as stated above, you get the discount if you have a health insurance policy in any case.
 
Your confusing health insurance with travel insurance. Most travel insurance policies will cover you for up to €10 million medical expenses. If you have health insurance you should get a discount depending on the level of cover.

God forbid if you were to take ill abroad and the medical bill came to €100k your health insurance would pay (for example €70k and your travel insurance would pay the balance.) Handy site I use
Comparetravelinsuranceireland.com

Secondly most polices will not cover gadgets you can either extend your home insurance policy to cover these or purchase a gadget insurance policy.

Always do your own research.
 
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