Travel insurers pay out £5.3m a week
Travel insurers have been spending £5.3 million a week helping Britons who fall ill abroad.
According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the cost of becoming ill overseas hit a record high last year, with medical expenses claims having leapt by over 270%, compared with five years ago.
In all 366,000 claims were settled by insurers, amounting to 7,000 cases a week, the total having risen threefold since 2004.
Treatment costs accounted for 60% of pay-outs, compared with 33% five years ago, with stomach upsets, ear infections, allergies and heart problem the most common ailments.
Claims dealt with by insurers included £49,000 to cover the cost of a coronary artery bypass and emergency flight home for a holidaymaker taken ill in the USA, and £16,500 for back injuries suffered separately by a husband and wife while on the same holiday.
The ABI’s director of general insurance and health, Nick Starling, says: “The often high costs of overseas medical treatment make travel insurance essential for anyone travelling abroad.”
Adding: “All travellers should ensure that they take details of emergency medical helpline telephone numbers included in their travel policy to call for advice and help should they fall ill.”
Separately, the Foreign Office estimates that one in five Britons are still journeying overseas without travel insurance.
Its latest British Behaviour Abroad report also reveals that the typical Brit spends more on magazines and sweets at the airport than the cost of a standard single trip insurance policy.
Category: ABI News, Insurance News, Travel Insurance News
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