Without derailing another thread. Should people hope family or friends or even strangers will cough up money you didn't what to, to insure yourself, to pay for your medical expenses in an accident or any other difficulty you may find yourself in while enjoying your travels.
In Australia we have floods and bushfires, and then donations to help those uninsured when they lose their homes, are the insured looked on by the uninsured as suckers?

I am big on the "pro-insurance" side of this. I posted in another thread the rates for some higher deductible coverage for someone 50 years old male, something like $800 per year, or $900 a year for $1K deductible coverage in Southeast Asia. Pretty cheap I think.

I mentioned in these forums a few times before, I had coverage and had a moto accident. Got covered for over $100K costs.

I believe individuals should be responsible for themselves when they are in a foreign country also, but everyone’s situation is different. I’m fortunate that my BCBS will cover me anywhere in the world no matter my age. I know in some countries expat insurance companies will cut foreigners off after a certain age, or their premiums will be so high that it’s not sustainable. So it’s definitely a tricky situation.

I think there are two kinds of world explorers. One, ready for anything. Insured, careful, prepared. The other, traveling on a shoestring, breaking all the rules, and expecting someone else to pick up the pieces should things go wrong. Similar to the lives they led back in their home country.

As a tourist traveller only, I carry my BCBS, plus enough funds to get back home if something happens.

And if don’t make it, I made sure the missus will be cared for.

For those of us fortunate to have been born and brought up in a country with 'free' healthcare, (of course it's not free, you pay for it through your taxes, but you get my point) living in a country where you have to provide your own healthcare, either via insurance or personal expenses, is a strange beast to get your head around.

In the UK for example, the doctor does not, and cannot profit in any way from your medical condition. It's just not the way it works. Your doctor can't profit from pretending that you have medical conditions that don't exist in the way that if you take your car in for repair, the mechanic might assume you're some sort of idiot and give you a list of fabricated 'faults' with your car in order to get you to pay more for repairs that aren't necessary.

That's not the way the healthcare system works in the UK. But when us Brits move abroad, and are faced with the reality that that's how much of the rest of the world works, it can be quite a shock.

Most Brits don't really understand medical insurance. We know we need it, but it's something we're not familiar with, not in the same way the Americans are for example. We know we need it, we know that the NHS doesn't work out here, but the whole concept of paying for medical care is quite new to most Brits.

People from countries such as the UK are more likely to 'leave it to chance' because it's in our culture that somebody, somewhere will somehow take care of us. Even if we know that's not going to be true in a real emergency.

I'm certain that if anyone took the time to check out these 'GoFundMe' petitions, you'll find that most of them are from people from countries where healthcare is free.

Alex wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:45 pm I've always had insurance. I think everyone should get accident insurance at the very least, especially those who are otherwise uninsurable.

Honestly, how many of those who claim that they "self-insure" REALLY have the required funds, readily available? I have my doubts more often than not, whenever I'm listening to someone making that claim. To be fair, I think it's wishful thinking rather than bollocks in most cases.

You got me thinking even if you had the funds, how are you going to access these when you're unconscious outside of a hospital, or even how can you let them know you're insured. (Am I thinking to much?)

atst wrote: ↑Sat Apr 30, 2022 8:48 am

Alex wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 11:45 pm I've always had insurance. I think everyone should get accident insurance at the very least, especially those who are otherwise uninsurable.

Honestly, how many of those who claim that they "self-insure" REALLY have the required funds, readily available? I have my doubts more often than not, whenever I'm listening to someone making that claim. To be fair, I think it's wishful thinking rather than bollocks in most cases.

You got me thinking even if you had the funds, how are you going to access these when you're unconscious outside of a hospital, or even how can you let them know you're insured. (Am I thinking to much?)

Great thread ATST.

This is a subject that is always tip-toed around when someone has a catastrophe, has no insurance and the Go Fund Me pages start. Nobody wants to point out the obvious such as, WTF didn't you have even the most basic of medical insurance? Especially the under 50's. I'm sorry but there is no excuse.

I arrived here in November 2017 with a 90 day travellers insurance policy which expired in January 2018. Shortly afterwards I heard of a man I barely knew who was hit by a schoolboy on a motorbike which broke his leg. It was not his fault and the little bastard picked himself and his bike up and buggered off sharpish.

He had no insurance, and no money (despite being gainfully employed for years) and I was asked to "chip in" as he's a good bloke and unless he gets his leg set he could die.

Get his leg "set"?? Are you kidding me? No, they weren't, he was languishing with a broken leg and without everyone's help he would have been f**ked. He got it set, eventually, but now walks with a terrible limp and I am convinced this was due to the delay and the lack of care and skill of the bargain basement medical treatment he managed to get.

The following day I made contact with AG Cambodia and by the end of the week I was covered and I never, ever, leave home without my insurance card.

You are correct ATST in being concerned regarding denial to medical care, especially in those first 60 minutes, even though you have a pile of dosh in the bank. If you are unconscious you can neither pay nor convince them you are good for the money. If your slush fund is tied up in fixed deposit accounts you can't access them unless you go to the branch. The healthcare available here is sketchy enough already, and anything remotely near what we would get in our home countries is unbelievably expensive.

Get insurance and carry proof of it at all times. Then you stand a 50/50 chance of getting proper treatment if disaster strikes.