Health Insurance for sailors

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After bruising her foot so severely that she wondered if she had broken a bone Mrs Mate wondered about health insurance. We were cruising the Channel Islands and I think Jersey has a reciprocal agreement, but Guernsey doesn’t. In the event we sailed for home a little earlier than we had intended so she could see her own GP. It turns out she was only badly bruised but she is now trying to get some form of health cover for long term sailing.

She appears to be under the happy delusion that insurance companies are there to insure you so that if you are unfortunate enough to fall ill then you can get re-imbursed for most, if not all, the cost of treatment.

So far, no insurance company we can find will provide overseas health insurance for when you are sailing for more than a few weeks at a time. Annual policies limit the length of stay away for each individual trip and the entire policy is invalid if you stay for even one day longer than specified. (I particularly liked the broker who referred her to a specialist health insurer, who referred her to the Association of British Insurers, whose recorded message suggested she consult a broker). She has now, in a triumph of hope over experience, gone to the local travel agent to see what their travel insurance can provide.

The only solution so far is to take our surgeon friend with us; he’s already operated on her once (don’t ask) but he’s shown a profound disinclination to get on the boat if it’s likely to be moved from it’s marina.

Surely someone on the forum has encountered this health insurance problem and overcome it without recourse to becoming a qualified medic themselves. Grateful for any advice. (If you are going to direct me to a recent thread, please be gentle with me – I've had a quick search and we’ve been away sailing so I might have missed it).


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[RPC]

You might fing the medical section on the following site to be very useful, it is a site dedicated to cruising boats and addresses many topics including medical.

go to www.onpassage.com

enter the "emergency & Medical" section, and then enter the "medical" link.

Plenty of food for thought there.

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[tcm]

Little englander sailors?

It is a shame that you felt the need to sail back to dear old blighty to see a gp!

Guernsey seems to have the most wonderful health service i have seen. I sometimes go private inthe uk, but prior to that i ricked my back in st peter port, bout six years ago. The hospital seemed almost empty, a consukltant saw me within minutes, gave me an injection to relax the muscle - so i was discharged in less time than it would have taken to see anyone in the UK. All free, not suure bout reciprocal service or whatever tho...

Similar experiences in Spain and Germany, all with excellent services - but you sometimes pay for first appt.

Note that the doctors are excellent all over europe - it's the orgainsation in the uk which is crap. There are no waiting lists in Germany, for example, and you can see whomsoever you like in France - the gp is not the gatekeeper. But you might pay for a first appt, or more money for drugs, dunno.



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[AndrewB]

There seems to be a real problem here. I continue to be with an insurer who provides me with long term health cover, but a couple of other people who have tried them following my recommendation on this forum recently were refused out of hand. Judging by recent postings on the liveaboard forum, a similar situation is arising with regard to cover for the yacht itself.

Its time that the insurance industry got their act together ... but maybe they've had their fingers burnt too often by blue water newbies who have forgotten the first principal of insurance, that you are supposed to look after yourself and your property just the same as if you didn't have cover.

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[Dave99]

I read recently that all in hospital treatment in guernsey is free but there is no reciprocal arrangement with the UK. This basically means that if you need a prescription you would have to pay for it but if you need hospital treatment you are ok. I'm cruising to the channel islands and I decided against travel insurance. And that's not just because I'm sailing with a nurse and in company with a boat skippered by a doctor!

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[ScoutLeader]

Sorry to hear about Mrs Mates foot. Not sure about reciprocal agreements for all parts of the EU but I always carry my E111 with me. So far never had to pay for anything (including 10days in a Dutch hospital.

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