Sadly, I hear a lot of horror stories in this profession, but this one is one I’ll remember because it was such an avoidable situation.

I had two clients, a husband and wife, and they had travel insurance through their bank.  Although I advised them to get specialist cover, they insisted they were confident in the bank’s offering and they travelled to Majorca.

Unfortunately, the wife then developed a pulmonary embolism.  As she had suffered one before, and the bank insurance wasn’t aware, they refused to cover her.  Her husband called to see if her Private Medical Insurance would cover her but that’s not possible whilst overseas.

This meant the couple were liable for the cost of the hospital stay, scans, medication and consultations as well as a 10 day stay in a hotel after discharge as she wasn’t allowed to fly until she was more stable.

The repercussions of their unfortunate choice of insurer were even more far-reaching, though.  A worldwide cruise booking had to be cancelled due to the wife’s ill-health and, as their travel insurance policy was now void, they were unable to recoup any of the cost!  Such a painful lesson for them both but a really good example of why I urge all my customers to allow me to help them decipher the small print of all their policies.

Often it matters much more than you’d think.