Do I need travel insurance going back to the UK for a holiday?

[Roro]

Hi

My partner and i are going back to the UK for the first time since arriving in NZ and I would appreciate some advice in terms of whether there is any point in getting travel insurance.

We have work to residence visas and are heading back to the UK for a three week holiday (both UK citizens). We recently went to America and got travel insurance for there, but it was a pain since we don't have residency here (so many NZ companies wouldn't cover us) and weren't flying to or from the UK (so no UK companies would cover us). And unfortunately I can't remember the name of the company we used. We don't have contents insurance here and didn't use a credit card to buy the flights (don't even have one).

We're both healthy individuals, so I don't anticipate any need for medical assistance whilst there and since the NHS does still exist I don't see the need for medical insurance. In regards to contents and baggage, we have a few things that would be considered valuable (laptop, phones, etc.) I'm not convinced that the cost of insurance and excesses would be worth it for those either.

The only things I can think that it might be useful for is if flights are delayed or missed. We are connecting in LA and have a 6 hour wait there, so worse case scenario would probably be needing medical assistance there.

Has anyone else gone through this thought process before or got any suggestions? Even if it's just the name of some companies to check out.

Thanks in advance

[janeyo]

Hi.

We went back to visit the uk in July. We didn't get any insurance. To be honest I didn't even think about needing it until the day before we were leaving and thought it was a bit late to try. We luckily didn't lose any of our bags or have any problems but I was slightly worried when we missed a connecting flight that our luggage may not have come with us. It was all fine in the end though. Enjoy your trip back.

[JandM]

You need insurance!

We're both healthy individuals, so I don't anticipate any need for medical assistance whilst there and since the NHS does still exist I don't see the need for medical insurance.

EVERYBODY is a healthy individual until, suddenly, they're not. I can say from experience, you don't necessarily see an illness coming, and you can go from healthy and going about your normal business, to being in a hospital bed with tests being done, within a couple of hours.

The NHS is now being very strict about getting payment for services from people who don't normally live in the UK. Just being a UK citizen is not a guarantee that you won't be charged, now that you are based abroad. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/he...e-from-abroad/ Someone hospitalized and liable to be charged will be paying for the full cost of treatment, and also hotel-type rates for their food and bed.

You yourself have mentioned the need to worry about falling ill before or during your stop in LA. Heart attack? - US$72,000 in 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidwhe...al-conditions/ If something like that happened, or you fell and broke a leg (£25,000) http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/h...ars-wages.html, you would HAVE to be treated, and then you would instantly have an enormous debt. Talking about it doesn't make it happen, but in the case of a death, the survivor would have to deal with the costs of staying longer than planned wherever it happened while things were sorted out, and the actual funeral.

[Dave in NZ]

I have dual Citizenship and recently had a major operation in New Zealand. I will be going back for 4 weeks next year to the UK and there is no way that I would not have insurance. I have made enquiries through various contacts that when I am in UK and I develop any problems would I be treated without charge and the answer was that they do not know as it depends on many factors. So to avoid any risk I will be insured and I will probably use Southern Cross travel insurance. As previously said not wanting to worry you but if anything were to happen on the flight which although very unlikely if it does and its serious that plane will land at the nearest airport that it can. You will then need insurance or you will have to pay. In my opinion its not worth the risk. Years ago I was flying back to the UK from Malaysia and someone had a heart attack on the plane. The plane had to land and the entire family left the plane. I would have imagined there would have been various costs in this. Medical bills, rebooking flights, hotels etc So me personally would always have travel insurance

[juxtajenny]

You might want to check this out as I know that NZ & UK have reciprocal health agreements for citizens.......
http://www.health.govt.nz/new-zealan...lth-agreements

[Roro]

Thanks all for your responses. I do appreciate that you've taken the time to reply.

@juxtajenny - I'm sorry, I don't see how this is applicable, am I missing something?

@Dave in NZ - thanks for the suggestion of Southern Cross, unfortunately I wouldn't be able to see them as I don't meet their criteria of "a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident" :-( In regards to your situation, the link that JandM has provided in their response looks quite good and might be able to provide you with some answers (if you haven't seen it already).

I have read all the articles on the costs of emergency treatment in the US and all the worse case scenarios and lots of other stuff. Perhaps I should I specified in my original post, I'm not so worried about the medical cover, this so far hasn't made me think 'I need this' - right or wrong, that's the case. I guess it's more about what else the insurance might cover that I haven't thought of. Is everyone saying that they mainly get it for medical cover?

Also, if anyone (as a non-NZ citizen or PR) has got travel insurance who did you go with?

Thanks again.

[IanW99]

...

Also, if anyone (as a non-NZ citizen or PR) has got travel insurance who did you go with?

Thanks again.

Have you tried http://www.worldnomads.co.nz/?

Ian

[Roro]

Hi IanW99,

Thanks for the suggestion. I think we may have gone with them for going to the US, but this time I'm not sure we can use them. According to their definition of permanent residence I would have to select the UK as my 'country of permanent residence', but then get the message "we are unable to provide domestic cover for travel in United Kingdom".

I've contacted them to get further information, but I have seen this elsewhere :-(

[Roro]

Just to update the post above.

World Nomads came back to me and have advised that I can put NZ as my destination and they'll cover me for the journey to the UK and back to NZ, but whilst I'm in the UK I won't be covered for anything that happens there. Which is what a couple of other insurers have said :-s Still partially tempted by this, but would end up paying for the full amount of cover anyway.