UKinSpain

Holidaymakers and their families face risk of huge bills if visitors lack insurance or invalidate their policies

New report reveals Spain has highest number of hospitalised Brits worldwide

More than 1,100 cases of Brits ending up in hospital were reported to consular staff in Spain last year, according to a new report from the Foreign Office.

The number is equivalent to 20 hospitalisations in Spain every week, and represents nearly a third of the total number of cases around the world. The figures come from the annual British Behaviour Abroad report for the period 1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012.

In the Balearics, the number of reported cases has soared. Over the last two years (since 2009/10), Mallorca has seen a 132% increase in hospitalisations, and Ibiza a 40% rise. Many of these cases involve teenage holidaymakers. Common causes are road accidents, balcony incidents and heart attacks. Meanwhile Malaga has seen a 45% increase over the last year alone.

Jeremy Browne, Minister for Consular Services, said: “Whilst the prospect of ending up in a foreign hospital may be the last thing on your mind as you head overseas for a summer break, sometimes things do go wrong on holiday and many people deeply regret not taking out comprehensive travel insurance.

“We also witness many cases where people have invalidated their policy – perhaps by not declaring a pre-existing medical condition or not checking their policy covers a particular activity, such as hiring a moped. Unfortunately they are then surprised that the Foreign Office cannot pay for their bills and flight home.

“I urge anyone heading overseas this summer to research their destination, take out comprehensive travel insurance, and carefully check the small print of their policy.”

New research by the Foreign Office reveals that nearly half (48%) of all Brits fail to realise that without travel insurance they will have to pay their own medical bills if injured or taken ill abroad.

An emergency can be extremely expensive - medical treatment can cost thousands of pounds, whilst medical repatriation to the UK can cost even more. Consular staff in Spain have witnessed distressing cases involving families having to raise vast sums of money to pay hospital and repatriation bills.

The research also reveals that nearly four out of five (78%) people would lack the ready cash to pay £10,000 to cover the hospital bills of an uninsured loved one abroad.

Visitors to Spain, and British residents who may be hosting them, should remember three key things:
• Buy comprehensive travel insurance – avoid a life-changing bill
• Read the small print – don’t invalidate your policy by mistake
• Get an EHIC card – it’s a ‘holiday essential’ for any state medical treatment you might need while visiting, but it doesn’t cover everything.

A British Embassy spokesperson said: “An EHIC is free and simple to obtain. Getting one could save you a lot of grief. If you don’t have one, it could make a tricky situation even harder. Then buy travel insurance and for the cost of a meal in a restaurant you should be fully covered against expensive health-related bills and other risks. It’s not worth it to be without.”

The total number of consular assistance cases in Spain last year rose more than 8% to 5405 cases. These included 1105 hospitalisations (up 8%), 1909 arrests (up 9%) and 40 cases of rape or sexual assault (down 22%). Some 13.6 million Britons visited Spain last year and an estimated 800,000 Britons are resident here.

For details on how the Foreign Office can help if you get into trouble abroad, visit www.fco.gov.uk/travel

Lynn R

I had occasion yesterday (unfortunately) to test out the current situation.

Some friends of ours arrived about midday with their two small daughters, for a 2 week holiday. At 6.30 pm the elder girl, aged 6, fell off a zip-wire thingy in the local park, and they suspected immediately that her arm was broken. My OH, who was with them, put the mother and daughter into a taxi to our local hospital whilst he came to get me so that we could collect their documentation from their holiday home whilst the father stayed with the younger child. We went down to the hospital, where we dealt with the admission procedure and I translated for them. Within 1.5 hours she had been through triage, seen the paediatrician, been x-rayed and seen the paeditrician again to confirm that it was indeed broken.

Unfortunately she had to be taken to the Hospital Materno Infantil in Malaga to have the fracture reduced under anaesthetic, so we set off in a taxi. Within 2 hours in Malaga she had been through admission, triage, first x-ray, seen the traumatologist and had the fracture reduced and the first stage of the plaster applied, had a second x-ray to check the alignment of the bones, seen the traumatologist again, had the plastering completed and been given a report to take back to our local hospital for a further x-ray and check-up at our local hospital in a week's time.

A total of just over 5 hours including all the travelling time, and at no time were we asked for any payment, the only thing requested was her passport and EHIC, although they did have a travel insurance policy as well. It was a pity the child had to go to another hospital (it felt like a long 40 minute journey for me, let alone a little one with a broken arm) but we couldn't fault the speed or quality of the treatment.

Of course these were public hospitals, I suspect private clinics would be somewhat keener on getting travel insurance details or in their absence getting payment upfront.

bobd22

In fairness I don't think their advice is bad just common sense really, problem is people these days have to be told can't think for themselves and apply common sense. Because if the wheel comes of they will try and say well the Government should have warned me!

anonimouse

Before I got my Spanish health card I have been in Hospital in a couple of countries in Europe (about 4 months in total) and never paid a penny, always showed my EHIC card and got loads of paperwork. (sometimes I did wonder if they were putting stuff down that I didn't get as so much paperwork to sign)

It does make me wonder why folk do buy insurance, I was also gobsmacked when I saw that program on TV on the Benedorm hospital where they wouldn't operate unless they had the cash up front when the insurance company had said it couldn't pay for whatever reason they are clever at finding.

I think the EHIC card is all you actually need, well it worked for me

JLFS

If people have to show that they have an income and medical insurance in places, I know of at least half a dozen "couples" ie not married, where they will be on a sticky wicket.

One particular case is a couple with a child, where the mother has a silly contract, 5 hours a week or so, so her and the child are covered, but father has no protection as a single man.

If the powers that be looked into their situation and saw that on paper that the mother only earns a couple of hundred a month (less than a rent) what would the outcome be.

Would they have to take the child out of school and leave Spain?

Fred James

The whole thing is a farce. The rules exist but it is unclear how it would be possible to kick out someone who failed to meet them.

There is little incentive to sign on the register in the first place and anyway, you only have to leave the country for one day for the 90 day clock to start ticking again!

Where the law does have some teeth is insisting that you produce the certificate to entitle you to various rights and facilities.

If you cannot sign on the padron without one then that could deny your children entry to school. It could be impossible to buy a car without one and of course you would be denied any access to healthcare.

I am sure there are other things that could make living in Spain without one pretty inconvenient but as for being expelled - that's very unlikely especially as you would be entitled to re-enter the following day!

JLFS

I dont exactly mean expelled, if you see what I mean.

More on the lines of if a person despite surviving and having a child/children in school, if their tax return shows an income that is impossible to survive on, what steps if any could be taken by the Spanish authorities.

Obviously talking about foreigners.

Fred James

It would be very different if they came up with some sort of annual review but that isn't likely to happen as the current certificate does not need to be renewed. If you have been on the books for 5 years then you have a right to permanent residency so they couldn't do anything about it if you subsequently failed to meet the requirements.

It's a real can of worms. What if you produce a temporarily inflated bank statement and a health insurance policy to enable you to get the certificate and the next day you pay back your mate all the money he lent you and cancel your health insurance??

It's a joke!

rspltd

Does this not sum up Spanish bureacracy? If you don't make a tax return, then no-one knows you are there. If you don't have children (or don't want them to go to state school) then there is no problem. You can buy a car on the NIE alone (it may be the law that you should have residency but a lot of dealers are happy to ignore that). There may be lots of laws and rules but there are also a lot of people who ignore them. The EHIC card is probably all most people have.

EsuriJohn

EHIC is fine if all you require is emergency treatment or you say have flushed all the pills you brought on holiday down the loo but not good if you live here and have a chronic long term illness. Also do not die if you are on holiday in Spain. If you fall off a balcony or have a massive heart attack and drop dead in the street your EHIC CARD IS ABOUT AS USEFUL AS A CHOCALATE TEAPOT. Your relatives are responsible for all costs incurred, even if you broke you back and survived your repatriation back to uk is down to you.

mikelincs

I think this is the crux of the matter, repatriation for whatever reason, is extremely expensive, think of minimum cost of £10,000. I was hearing yesterday about someone who fell from a balcony and was severly injured, one of the party had to stay to help look after him as he had no-one else there, he had a broken leg and arm and other injuries, no airline would take him as there was no way he could have fitted in with the way his leg and arm were plastered. He hd to have his leg and arm replastered in such a way as to enable him to fit into a normal aircraft seat, then when he got back he had to have an operation and resetting and plastering of his arm and leg in the way it had origianlly been done, he was in hospital for 4 months in the UK, but had he had comprehensive insurance he would have been repatriated with his arm and leg still plastered correctly, and would have saved him the operations and would have shortened his UK hospital stay.

jackytoo

True. I think we have all seen stories in the press where people are trying to raise £30,000 or so to fly someone back. My OH was a volunteer at the CDS hospital and there were lots of people trying to wangle treatment through the EHIC. It doesn't work. They will patch you up but as in cases where you may need further treatment, cancer, non-urgent surgery you will be told to return to the UK for it, quite rightly too!

rspltd

The original posting headlined 'Holidaymakers and their families face risk of huge bills if visitors lack insurance or invalidate their policies'. It seems that thread drift has moved it on to the merits of health insurance for people who live in Spain. The original announcement also said most of the incidents involved teenage holidaymakers. If they are teenagers I expect their parents will have ensured that they have correct insurance????

whitelinen

It seems that adults/parents dont see the need for insurance so why would they ensure that their kids take it?

These people all think it wont happen to them and when it does beg plead and even try to cheat help from insurance companies. A close relative works at the emergency call centre and the stories are unbelievable.

Travel insurance is so cheap, why do these people not think that they might need it that is the question ????

JLFS

Exactly, the price of a yearly policy is less than a decent meal in a restaurant, and if they cant afford the insurance, then should they really be going away.