Do I need additional travel cover because of my age?
Q
My sister and I are heading for France next week – our first trip since the coronavirus pandemic began. We are both in our seventies and have pre-existing medical conditions.
We have travel insurance provided by our credit cards, though I understand they have limited cover. Do we need to take out
additional travel insurance to cover us for unexpected Covid-related eventualities?
Name supplied
A
This is really smart timing – not least because the absurd decision two weeks ago to put France in its own little “amber plus” category is almost certain to be reversed in an announcement by the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, this week. I am expecting his three-weekly “traffic light” review to take place on Thursday 5 August, and to take effect from the following Monday. After the Office for National Statistics publicly admonished the Joint Biosecurity Centre for failing to make the numbers supporting the French decision “easy to find or clear”, I predict a U-turn at the earliest opportunity – which should mean you have no need to quarantine on return to the UK, assuming you have been fully jabbed.
In terms of insurance: you are right to have concerns about “free” travel insurance provided by card companies. They generally do not cover older travellers with pre-existing medical conditions. But you are going to a country with good medical services, and where the European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) and its post-Brexit successor, the Ghic, are still valid, providing emergency health care in public hospitals on the same basis as for local people. Therefore it is perfectly rational to decide not to take out additional travel insurance, so long as you are prepared to forego benefits such as air ambulance rescue – and have the financial resources to support yourselves in the unlikely event that you test positive before returning to the UK.
I hope the travel gods go with you.
Email your questions to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
Want your views to be included in The Independent Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independent.co.uk. Please include your address
BACK TO TOP