Tourists face six-figure care costs

The United States, which attracts 3.8m UK visitors a year, has some of the highest medical costs, but bills of more than £100,000 are “not uncommon” in a variety of destinations, the Association of British Insurers says.

Around £200m is paid out each year to travellers who fall seriously ill overseas, with an total of nearly 3,000 claimants a week, the organisation calculates.

In one instance, a claim for treating a stroke in the US cost £768,000 - the equivalent of more than 25 years’ salary in an average UK job. The figure included £60,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.

In another case, £252,000 was spent treating a brain haemorrhage and broken shoulder suffered by a traveller when he fell off a bicycle.

A visitor to Chile ran up a bill of £136,000 for treating complications following an insect bite. The fee included payment for a nurse to escort the patient home.

Another tourist was charged £125,000 for surgery after a jet-ski accident in Turkey. In El Salvador, medics wanted £60,000 to treat injuries suffered in a road accident. And in Greece, a visitor was asked for £81,000 after contracting pancreatitis.

The ABI said: “Six-figure medical bills are now not uncommon.”

It said the average cost of a medical claim was £1,300, an increase of 40 per cent in five years.

Mark Shepherd, the organisation’s assistant director, said: “Falling seriously ill overseas is stressful enough, without the added worry of how to pay for potentially very expensive medical bills.

“Yet incredibly, an estimated one in four travellers still travel without insurance, despite the fact that the average cost of a single trip policy can be less than what a family spends on snacks at the airport.”

The association today launches a new online guide to travel insurance, which warns: “In the UK, the NHS means we don’t see the real cost of medical treatment. Medical costs abroad, however, can quickly add up.”

It says the typical cost of an air ambulance from Majorca is more than £25,000 and as much as £33,000 from Central America.

Even with travel insurance, the site warns that holidaymakers may not be covered if they do not disclose details of their medical history when buying the policy, or if they consume excessive alcohol.

It says that travellers who try to cancel a holiday over fears for safety at their destination may also not be covered, unless they have been officially advised not to make the trip.

Not all travel insurance covers travel delays, the site warns, especially if the delay is relatively short or if travellers get stuck in traffic on their way to the airport - a factor considered by some insurers to be “reasonably within your control”.

In Europe, the free European Health Insurance Card gives holidaymakers access to the same state-provided healthcare available to residents.

But it is not a substitute for travel insurance because it will not cover all medical costs, or the cost of emergency repatriation back to the UK.