A few tips that might be worth considering when taking out a travel insurance.
1. Declare all existing conditions and medicine use. There is no point in hiding because in case of a claim the insurance company will check and they may refuse the claim if you have “forgotten” to inform them about your health issues.
2. Check the excess of the policy. There are cheap policies around but some have an excess as high as 250 pounds.
3. Most insurance companies have several coverage options, eg bronze-silver-gold. It might be worth checking the difference in price and coverage and to opt for the better package.
4. Read the fine print in your insurance policy. Some companies only cover treatment in state hospital and not in the private hospitals. Medical care in state hospital isn't bad but the care in private hospital is definitely better/quicker and much more comfortable. Another issue is that state hospital quite often doesn't work with the insurances directly so you would need to pay everything yourself and you can claim it back after your return to the UK. Examples of insurance companies that were covering state hospitals only are: Get Going, Insurewith, Clear Sure, Holiday Safe, Alpha Travel Insurance. These companies are all using the same assistance company called Emergency Assistance Facilities (EAF) / Travel Claim Facilities. There might be more companies using EAF so check the policy wordings for the assistance company.
Staysure and ERV also prefer patients to go to state hospital but sometimes do cover private hospitals.
5. Some banks offer insurances to card holders and their families. Most of these insurances tend to be good but you still need to inform the company about your pre existing conditions. Provide personal details of the family members to the company. If you need hospital treatment, you need to know your account number and sort code.
Procedure
If something happens in resort and you need to seek medical help, bring your insurance papers, passport and flight details with you.
Relatively small (read: cheap) problems need to be paid by the patient first. The patient is expected to pay bills up to approx. 500 pounds and can claim the refund when back in the UK.
In case of a hospital treatment with higher bills, the patient will have to pay the excess and normally insurer will take over the remaining costs.
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