WILL MY HEALTH NULLIFY MY TRAVEL INSURANCE?

Q

I have a pre-existing medical condition. Will this invalidate my travel insurance when I go on holidays? And, if so, can I rely on my health insurance? What should I do if I get ill or have an accident?

A

Firstly, get an EU Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which proves you’re entitled to treatment in any EU country as if you were a local citizen.

You can apply online through hse.ie and the HSE will post you one free. You can even download a free EHIC app to help contact the local health service wherever you go.

If you want private care, you’ll need insurance as well. If you didn’t already have health cover, many travel insurance policies would exclude conditions you have been treated for in the past 18 – 24 months. And if you travel abroad against medical advice or specifically to get certain medical treatment, you may not be covered at all by your health policy.

If you do have the right type of health cover most travel policies allow you to have pre-existing conditions as long as they are covered by the health policy.

Most health insurance policies will cover you while abroad – up to a point. The limit is usually €55,000 to €100,000 worth of ‘emergency cover’.

But not all do, so check the terms and conditions of yours carefully. Even this level of emergency cover may not be enough. ‘If your medical costs exceed these limits, then you are personally liable for the difference. This could be tens and even hundreds of thousands,’ warned Dermot Goode of totalhealthcover.ie.

Also bring a credit card – with plenty of credit.

‘Most private hospitals abroad will look for either evidence of comprehensive travel cover or a deposit on your credit card before treating you. A deposit of €1,500 to €2,500 is not unusual and you can expect to pay €750 to €1,000 per day, depending on the hospital and the medical treatment required,’ said Dermot.

Some health insurance policies have no cover for foreign travel at all.

For example, if you join GloHealth and don’t opt for their personalised package for Travel Cover, then you will have no travel cover.

Most policies also limit any one trip from anything from 30 to 60 days, depending on the policy. If your trip extends beyond these limits, then you will have no cover.

Another thing to watch out for is that some policies insist that you contact their ‘emergency assist’ number first and they organise all your treatment for you. If you organise everything yourself and look for payment on your return, your claim might be invalid said totalhealthcover.ie

Q

I only watch TV content by streaming it on my computer. Do I need a TV licence? Last week you wrote that I didn’t but An Post’s website suggests that you do for ‘viewing any content provided by a TV service provider over broadband (eg eir TV/Vodafone TV) on your monitor’.

A

It seems An Post, which collects TV licence revenue, isn’t being as clear as it might be about the rules here.

There was a lot of confusion as the Government debated making licences obligatory for computers and tablets in early summer.

However, it decided not to. The Department of Communication’s website states: ‘So long as the computer is unable to display television channels distributed by conventional television broadcasting networks (ie. cable, satellite, IPTV, analogue, terrestrial or MMDS) eg. using a television tuner card or similar device, then there is no requirement to hold a television licence.’

This suggests it is the device that counts and if it cannot pick up TV signals and has no tuner then it’s okay to stream content from a TV service provider over broadband.

I asked An Post to clarify its position and this is what it said: ‘No such implication (that a licence is needed for every computer) is intended. The wording on our website may be open to that interpretation and will be adjusted accordingly.’

As we went to press, no adjustment had yet been made.