inaquandry

I was surprised to find out that we were not fully covered for travel medical insurance on many policies for sale in the UK (and specifically my HSBC included travel insurance which was heavily promoted to us on opening the acc when they knew we had just arrived) because we have not yet been a resident in the UK for six months. It also states that we had to be registered with a GP in the UK. This was in the small print which I just noticed, as I have a trip to the US coming up and wanted to make sure I had adequate cover. It turned out that I thought I was covered for medical emergency etc on my last trip in Europe, and I wasn't, due to this exclusion. Checked with other policies inc Amexp and the GP exclusion is the same, though it doesn't mention the 6 month minimum residency (depends what their definition of residency may be I suppose). Off to register with a GP.






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formula

Always read the small print as insurers don't like paying out. You don't want to be injured somewhere and need to pay for your own medical assisted, travel home.

Some insurers say that you must have an EHIC when you travel in the EEA and they will only pay the difference between the two.

The UK EHIC won't pay out if you have taken your treatment in a private hospital instead of a state hospital. There was a thread a few months ago, where someone had been taken to an american run hospital in western europe instead of the state hospital.

Squirrel

Can you get a one trip policy to cover you for this trip? Hopefully once you've been resident 6 months the HSBC cover will kick in. I've got the HSBC policy myself and I'm happy with it because they cover my pre-existing at no extra cost which was hard to find. It's swings and roundabouts with different policies but at least you realised before your US trip. You should be able to find one that will cover you and using a broker may save leg work.

Englishmum

It might be worth checking with Trailfinders which offers an insurance policy; it's the travel agency which specialises in adventurers, long-term trekkers and travellers so it's worth a try:

http://insurance.trailfinders.com/

Home Page: http://www.trailfinders.com

Hope this helps!

Tr1boy

Had a bit of too and fro with Mrs TB due to her being on a Settlement Visa status. However it turned out that to be considered normally resident the insurance wanted to know she was working and registered with a GP, which she was.

Our insurance was with White Horse (via Thomas Cook). Claimed off them when we were in the US as I left our camera in a cab (luckily we re-took the photos in Vegas and our helicopter Grand Canyon trip was thenext day so we bought a little Cybershot to get by on)

inaquandry

Thanks everyone. Have called up the Trailfinders Insurers and they confirmed that residency in the Uk (and not a 6 month minimum) was fine with them. All the others I looked at had the six month minimum mentioned, pages into their policies (and sooo time consuming).

I was just posting really to alert others, but really appreciated the replies and now have insurance, thanks Englishmum.

Heading to Florida tomorrow! Further delaying my immersement into the British winter. Ah well, plenty of time for that : )

Englishmum

Glad to have been able to help! Enjoy your trip to Florida