this 72-yr-old indonesian lady was on vacation when she tripped & fell, breaking her hip bone. surgery was carried out the same day she was admitted.
now, she needs to rest & rehabilitate. she can't bear weight on the affected leg for 6 weeks, which means she'll need either crutches or a wheel-chair. that probably means she can't fly home using low-cost terminals that don't utilise sky-bridges; getting into the plane on crutches or on a wheel-chair would not be possible.
and, before all that, there's still the hospital bill to contend with.
herein lies the problem. she doesn't have travel insurance. which means, she has to foot the hospital bill, buy a new (full fare) plane ticket & everything else in between, eg. hotel accomodation on discharge. as i explained the logistics of the transfer out of hospital after discharge, i could see the pained grimace on her face.
a lot of these hassles would have been taken care of had she bought travel insurance. for only a small fee (eg. rm50 for asia for up to 10 days coverage) the cost of any medical expenses, lost luggage, missed or cancelled flights would be compensated by the insurer. that's a small price to pay for peace of mind, considering if say, you've paid rm3k+ for a skiing vacation to korea.
this lady's additional expenses for the mishap would easily amount to rm10k.
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12 comments:
poor lady..
Wenn,
i also feel sorry for her.
Good post. I never bought travel insurance since my travels are all for travelling to hospitals. :P Do you think travel insurance is still necessary for me? If I injure myself while in the vicinity of a hospital, will my travel insurance still cover the treatment cost?
Yvonne,
yes, in my opinion, it's necessary. in your case, it covers events that occur between departure & return, including accidents that may occur while you are in hospital, eg. broken leg, which is not related to your planned surgery.
That's true, Ok, I'll buy travel insurance for my mother and I this next trip. :)
ppl usually think of Insurance when they need them while the Insurance ppl cant wait to get rid of you when you need them :p
Yvonne,
have a safe trip!
MissyC,
such is one of life's conundrums!
Thanks for the reminder; I always put it off, but immediately checked out an annual travel plan after reading this post of yours :) Any good recommendations?
I was under the impression that travel insurance are for lost luggages and stuffs like that. Didnt realise that it covers hospitalisation. Thank you for this piece of information :)
Anny,
sorry for the late reply.
i can't recommend one because i've never had to make claims. most insurance companies offer good plans but you really don't know which ones will make the claims process painless & hassle-free.
Small Kucing,
travel insurance covers a lot more than just lost luggages & missed flights.
it's the smart thing to do - only a small fee for a lot of benefits.
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