Holiday illness may lead to complications

EVERY LITTLE counts, especially when it comes to international medical bills. Each year, significant numbers of people travel to Israel, for leisure, business or study. But the tendency is to ignore the need for medical insurance, the logic being that the stay abroad is only for a few days or weeks, so what could possibly go wrong?

Switch Health, an insurance broker with expertise in this field, has data to suggest otherwise. Even the smallest incidents can run up costs into the hundreds, so even if a trip is just for one month, it makes good sense to prepare and take out appropriate international health insurance, says Dan Parker, director of Switch.

April International UK, an international health insurance provider, quotes the case of a young man who travelled to Jerusalem for three months and within weeks of arrival began suffering from tonsillitis.

Having called the insurer’s 24/7 assistance provider, he was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist who recommend a tonsillectomy.

Unsure as to whether they wanted to go down the surgical route, the patient and his family asked for a second medical opinion.

They were duly referred to a second ENT specialist, who confirmed the tonsillitis diagnosis and recommended treatment.

The cost of these two consultations alone was more than £250. To this can be added the cost of the surgery, if this takes place, which could easily run into the thousands. Happily, as insurance was in place, all the major costs are covered.

Mr Parker observes, “Many people travel overseas with little or no international health insurance.

“However, the chances of needing medical care overseas are actually quite high, whether that is due to an illness as in this case, or an accident.”

Even the smallest incidents can cost hundreds