health insurances for cycle touring- long and short term.

[andy_spacey]

Staying health on a tour long and short is important.
Some people don't have insurance sone people do.
Let's hear from both

Who have you used? And reviews of company.
Cost, cover, and anything else

Thanks
Andy

 

[Globalti]

We have annual cover with Essential Travel, which is owned by Thomas Cook. In January we made a BIG claim when our son hurt his back skiing and spent five days in a French hospital (two medical professionals in the UK told us later that in the NHS he'd have been discharged on the same day with that injury but that's another story.) Anyway they were excellent, absolutely first-class. Their call centre is in London and is clearly staffed by people who speak many languages and are accustomed to dealing with overseas hospitals. In the same clinic we met an English skier with several fractures who'd been there for over ten days while his insurance got him sorted. He'd taken out insurance with AMEX thinking they would be good but their call centre is in India - go figure! He was having a complete nightmare.

The moral of the story: check the whereabouts of the help line call centre before signing up.

 

[Yellow7]

I've never bothered, more-so on the African tour as the infrastructure in most of the countries I traveled through was so bad that calling spok to 'beam me up' would have proved quicker than any emergency service....for those that actually had one.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Any accident can lead to a helicopter lift, a couple of weeks in hospital and an air ambulance home, with a total bill in six figures. If you can afford to shrug and pay it, you don't need insurance ...

 

[snorri]

I have tried, but the insurance company demanded information regarding dates and intended destination. As I don't do planned tours it was impossible to give this information so no deal. My touring has all been within Europe so I take my EHIC and hope for the best.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I have tried, but the insurance company demanded information regarding dates and intended destination. As I don't do planned tours it was impossible to give this information so no deal. My touring has all been within Europe so I take my EHIC and hope for the best.

My standard annual travel policy covers me ok for multiple trips.

 

[Ticktockmy]

My standard annual travel policy covers me ok for multiple trips.

Same here, I have annual multiple trip worldwide insurance, supplied through Wexas international, which is a Travel Club. Over the years it has covered me for my trips through Europe, Africa and Asia. It is Age related so prices vary prices start at £75 per annum.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Likewise: my Amex annual policy covers me worldwide, no need to let them know when or where I'm going. An EHIC will cover some things, but not stuff like helicopters and air ambulance home.

I was on a trip where one of our party put Amex cover to the test in fairly spectacular fashion: helicopter ride, intensive care, surgery, air ambulance home, and all was covered painlessly.

 

[Blue Hills]

Might be worth CHECKING this out. I got it for my mum a couple of years ago - it was good for her. She wasn't cycling though (!) but in view of the hassle you can get for older folk with certain medical histories it seemed good.

The theory is that it works out cheaper because it "bolts-on" to the cover you already have through the free EHIC card. You do have to read all the info so that you get the correct paperwork at the time of the incident.

I stress again that you should read everything:

http://www.ehicplus.com