When traveling overseas, should you get insurance or not? This is a common question that our bookings team gets asked. It is an expense that is not covered by the NDIS, and so it can often get left off the list so people can save on cost and pay less out of pocket. To answer it, I want to tell a story from my own recent experience traveling to the Maldives.
Why Do People Take Out Travel Insurance?
- Trip Cancellations and Interruptions: If you need to cancel your trip at the last minute due to a family emergency or personal health issue, travel insurance can cover the cost of non-refundable payments for your supported experience, ensuring you don’t face financial loss and can reschedule your experience for another time.
- Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Belongings: We can be as careful as can be when traveling, but sometimes unavoidable things happen and luggage and personal belongings can get lost, stolen, or damaged. Travel insurance can help cover the cost of replacing these items, providing financial relief and peace of mind.
- Medical Emergencies: Medical issues can arise unexpectedly, and healthcare costs, especially when away from home, can be extremely high. Travel insurance provides coverage for medical expenses, hospital stays, emergency evacuation, and sometimes even repatriation.
As Australian citizens, we are lucky to have access to the Australian public healthcare system and therefore if we have any unexpected health issues whilst within the country, we know we will receive appropriate care. Whilst we might have our qualms with certain aspects of our health system, I think we can all agree we certainly have it better than other countries. My experiences abroad make me grateful every day for what we have in Australia.
As Marketing Manager at ClubMates, I try to uphold my values of pushing limitations to explore the world. I am a keen scuba diver and love to go to places that others would not go. I recently had the chance to visit a remote island in the Maldives to visit a friend who worked there. It was a gruelling three flights and a boat ride to get to this remote island. As I passed over these islands on my flight, which were little more than sand bars, I was saddened to know that in 30 years most would already be submerged by the rising ocean levels. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the destination, knowing that I was amongst a very small group of people that had the opportunity to experience such a remote island in such pure and natural beauty. For the first three days, I drank cocktails at sunset, dived in crystalline waters, and marvelled at a clear starry night sky from my overwater bungalow.
Such an isolated location becomes a nightmare, though, when you need to get out of there in an emergency. It was on my way back from the dive shop to lunch that I learned my first lesson of the trip:
Lesson 1: Don’t let ego get in the way of a good holiday, even if it means you have to admit you’re different to others.
I had rented a bicycle to get around the island. Riding on two wheels is risky for me because I have a fragile bone condition and falls mean broken bones for me, but I was alone and no one was here to tell me what to do! I felt free, like I was reinventing myself, escaping from my bodily limitations on the other side of the world! The path eventually petered out into sand, so I had to follow it around to a sharp right. I slipped and fell. Maybe it was the sand, maybe I was going too slowly because of my nerves, but I fell and felt the femur crack right in two as soon as I landed.
Lesson 2: Make the first aid responders’ job as easy as possible.
Having broken my leg in an awkward position before, putting my life in grave danger and enduring a traumatic rescue operation, I knew immediately to straighten out onto my back to allow myself to breathe, stay warm, and be lifted when the time came. I stayed conscious and as logical as I could amidst the pain, putting my panic aside to call for help.
I was transported by boat to the nearest local hospital on a nearby island. They x-rayed me and gave me low-level painkillers, but once the break was confirmed, there was nothing else they could do. A doctor fashioned a traction out of a rope and a bag of sand and there I lay overnight with low-level painkillers that seemed to have no effect at all. I found out later that Muslim countries tend to shy away from handing out opioids.
Lesson 3: Contact your insurance asap, have your documents in order, and keep pushing.
I contacted my insurance company, Insure & Go, and sent them the incident and medical reports. I made sure everything was filed and labeled clearly to help the admin staff receiving the emails to process everything quicker. At first, it took them a long time to respond. They were primarily email-based and I started to get nervous that they wouldn’t approve it. I called Peter, the director here at ClubMates, who has a lot of experience dealing with travel insurance, and he advised me that the key is to keep pushing until you get an answer.
Lesson 4: Have access to extra funds and a support person in case of an emergency.
With only rudimentary care, I could wait no longer in the local hospital, so we booked an early morning stretcher flight to the capital city. I did not have the approval yet from the insurance company, but I knew I would receive better care at the larger hospital and so I paid my $1,000 admission fee from my own pocket. My friend was also by my side at all times to make purchases on my behalf. Without her support, I would have been quite lost. Solo travel has its freedom, but support is priceless when things go off track.
Eventually, my insurance started contacting me more frequently, laying out two choices: They had found a hospital they worked with and suggested surgery there, or a repatriation flight to get surgery back home. They clearly outlined the risks of waiting for surgery: muscle atrophy, increased pain on the flight home, and delayed mobility upon recovery. Upon consulting with a ClubMates nurse, I decided I preferred the risks of waiting to the risks of surgery under an orthopedic surgeon who was unfamiliar with my condition. I had already been through an ordeal like that which traumatized me for several years and I was intent on not letting history repeat itself.
Lesson 5: Know the capabilities of the hospital.
It’s crucial to know if the hospital can perform necessary surgeries, whether they have specialists in the area you might need, and if they will work with your insurance. Additionally, check if they allow personal belongings like mobile phones in the emergency room so you can contact your insurance and loved ones. During a previous injury in Mexico, I was completely cut off from the world in a public hospital because they didn’t allow personal belongings into the ER for security reasons. I waited there for days before being transferred to a private hospital that would work with my insurance—a very traumatic experience and another story entirely.
Lesson 6: Make sure you know your way out of your destination in case of an emergency.
Research what flights leave from there, how many flights it takes to get home, the process for repatriation, how many days it takes to arrange, and whether you will receive decent medical care while you wait. Also, check if they take a stretcher on a commercial flight and if there is an embassy or consulate for extra support or representation if you need it. This last point might sound alarmist, and maybe you don’t need to go this far, but if you do have any pre-existing medical conditions, it certainly won’t hurt to do the research. The peace of mind knowing you have an escape plan is worth the time spent researching.
When insurance can save your life (and your bank account)
The insurance company then started making arrangements for my return. I was contacted by a repatriation company who sent two Australian nurses for me and they worked every day to expedite the request for a stretcher flight. It took another nine days to arrange, in the meantime, the hospital just had to keep me comfortable and do their best to prevent infection, keep me clean, and manage my pain, albeit poorly.
The nurses came armed with morphine and a special splint to immobilise me for the moves. They were incredibly attentive throughout both flights to Singapore and then Brisbane. I was able to sit up slightly to eat and every small groan I made in pain, one of them would appear by my side. I was met on the ground by another two strong-looking men who then took over from the nurses and got me in a van to my local hospital. As soon as I got through those doors, I knew I would be okay.
I had another two weeks in the hospital for surgery, during which time I had plenty of time to clearly label the expenses I had paid at the hospitals in the Maldives. After submitting my claim, admittedly I did need to follow up twice, but when advising them funds were short and I appreciated their haste, I was met with a swift phone call and not long afterward, an email advising my reimbursement was approved.
Thanks to Insure & Go, my experience was far less traumatic than it could have been. I was out of the hospital and on my feet two weeks after surgery. Seven weeks later, my life is almost back to normal, aside from the limp and crutch that now accompanies me to outdoor activities. When something unexpected happens overseas, all your sensibilities are heightened. Fear is so much scarier and pain is so much more intense because you are far from home, from the familiar, from all your main supports and comforts. Knowing I had a backup plan and that no matter what, I was going to be okay has made my recovery so much faster and I have suffered far less mental anguish than I did during past incidents.
When people ask, “Do I need travel insurance?” I now advise them: why would you not take it? It’s a small price to pay for the peace of mind you will have to know that if something does go awry, you’ll be okay.
