Have you got travel insurance?
More and more families are travelling abroad without their European Health Insurance Card, a new report has shown.
Asda Money carried out the study to find out what type of insurance families use when visiting other countries and the research showed that families are unaware of what they are actually covered for when they buy insurance.
Lack of awareness could mean your holiday could end up costing you more if you are not covered when travelling abroad.
29% of parents believe that EHIC means that they are fully covered when abroad but 43% of parents admitted that none of their children have an EHIC. As we know, when children are out and about and enjoying themselves on holiday, there’s always a chance that things can turn a little worse for wear and end with a trip to the hospital. Unexpected payments to fix the injury will definitely dampen the holiday spirit, as it isn’t as cheap as people think.
Asda Money found that people thought treatment would be a lot cheaper than the actual cost of the operation. A broken leg would set your back £5,971 if you did not have the correct travel insurance, and if you were visiting the USA this would cost you a whopping £82,000! To fix a broken nose in Europe would cost you £2,132 with families thinking it would cost £1,000 when asked in the survey.
However, 37% of people said that they can’t afford travel insurance and 24% said they did not realise that each child needs their own European Health Insurance Card. Families admit to not actually knowing what the EHIC card covers. 34% of parents think that it covers all insurance needs when in Europe, but it only provides medical care at the same cost as a national of that country, meaning they could still be left with a huge bill, so travel insurance is also a necessity.
Kirsty Ward, head of Asda Money says: “In all the excitement of getting away, it is easy to overlook the more practical elements. While mums and dads don’t want to think about their kids getting into an accident on holiday, they also need to be aware how much treatment potentially costs.”
She added: “Many parents may feel like they can’t afford travel insurance but the alternative is much worse, they need to make sure they’ve got an EHIC for each member of the family, plus the relevant travel insurance to make sure they can have a stress free holiday.”
48% of parents are expected to jet off this summer with their kids and if you are thinking of booking a luxury holiday abroad but are unsure of what insurance to get, then Ada travel insurance offers affordable travel cover for the whole family for a week, starting at £20.80
Kirsty says how Asda Travel insurance provides affordable travel insurance cover: “This offers a real helping hand to stretched families who can choose from three levels of cover that suits them and their budget.”