Does your insurance give you adequate winter holiday cover?
MORE and more of us are forgoing Christmas and the New Year in Britain for a Winter holiday. While many chase the sun, others hit the slopes for skiing (and après ski). But fewer than one in five travel insurance policies cover winter sports.
If you’re doing anything in the snow or at higher altitudes, from tobogganing to just taking a walk, you need to make sure you have a comprehensive travel insurance policy including winter sports cover.
Alarmingly, many still rely on their European Health Insurance Card. While this is useful, it’s not even remotely comprehensive, varies from country to country and doesn’t cover the potentially massive expenses that can arise when you have a travel disaster.
THEM’S THE BREAKS:
When things go wrong on a winter holiday, it can be both brutal and expensive. Broken limbs are common and that can mean getting around or getting on a plane can be tricky.
At the extreme end of the scale, people getting lost in the snow, suffering frostbite or severe accidents involving broken necks or full body casts also occur.
A much higher proportion of people injure themselves on a winter holiday – many before they’ve even got the skis on – so insurance policies keep a tight reign on what’s covered.
REPATRIATION: This is the act of getting you back home – alive or, hopefully not, dead.
Morbid as it may be, you must check what’s covered by the policy. Disputes often arise over the health of the person who has been injured, costs of air ambulances and the fact that you may have to leave the injured person alone because your policy probably won’t cover you for injuries to another person – even family.
PRIVATE TREATMENT: Insurers will expect you to contact them about potential treatment if it’s not a life-threatening situation.
I recommend keeping the insurer’s emergency number in your phone with your policy number, just in case. Private medical treatment may not be covered and can be amazingly expensive. The insurer can insist you are transferred to a ‘standard’ hospital – but you can disagree if it will damage your health.
It also makes sense to have a credit card handy in case you have to pay up front.
Don’t expect any niceties if you come of your skis in Aspen. US hospitals are ruthless when it comes to cash.
RANDOMNESS: Storms can sweep in quickly and many careless travellers have found themselves lost in the snow.
I’ve seen cases where tourists have been billed for the cost of air rescue teams. Needless to say, this isn’t cheap. Insurance policies do cover search and rescue but costs vary wildly and if you’ve needed rescue while skiing, for example, you must generally have taken winter sports cover.
BOOZE ON THE SLOPES: If you’re settling down for some après ski drinks, bear in mind that the fun police at insurance companies have been quietly introducing drinking clauses in to contracts for a few years now. They are often ambiguous and exclude payouts if they think you’ve drunk ‘excessively’ which can be less than two drinks. Ultimately, it’s on the insurer to prove you were drunk. And not by word of mouth either.
Bear in mind, if you’re hospitalised, they may seek blood alcohol tests.
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