We are looking for health insurance as will be livaboards from march 31st

[Artic Warrior]

Hi everyone,

If any, Who do you have health insurance with, any recommendations of which company to use,,,and do people take out any at all.
Im normally very anti,,,must have this must have that attitude but can be very expensive if we fall ill or break a leg etc.
We will be in turkey until end of june then Greece for a few years, E111, does it actually work in the EU

Cheers

Colin

 

[Tranona]

If you are staying in Europe then the EHIC will give you good coverage. Self insure, that is keep access to sufficient funds to get back to UK if necessary.

 

[Tony Cross]

If you are staying in Europe then the EHIC will give you good coverage. Self insure, that is keep access to sufficient funds to get back to UK if necessary.

+1. The EHIC works, we've used it in Spain, Italy and Greece.

 

[Artic Warrior]

Hi, Is the EHIC a version of the E111 as I know it ?

 

[Artic Warrior]

Ah I see,
Just looked I have EHIC in my wallet

 

[Davy_S]

From what I remember, If you are staying in Greece and you have been in employment in the uk, you can apply for an E106, this gives you 2 years cover into the Greek IKA health cover. but as said the E111 works well. Even if you have to pay to see a quack etc, it is not expensive and the Greek treatment is Very good!

 

[Artic Warrior]

From what I remember, If you are staying in Greece and you have been in employment in the uk, you can apply for an E106, this gives you 2 years cover into the Greek IKA health cover. but as said the E111 works well. Even if you have to pay to see a quack etc, it is not expensive and the Greek treatment is Very good!

Ok I will look into the E106 as well,

Thanks

 

[Chris_Robb]

Re the EHIC card - do check that it is still in date - they need renewing.

 

[GrahamM376]

We used to have long stay 9 months cover every year with Insure and Go. Ok until I turned 66 then the premium rocketed so now self insure. One problem with insurers is that most ask whether you are Uk resident and have been in the country for the last 6 months. Several won't cover non-residents - anyone away from UK for more than 6 months every year. Our bank free travel insurance is useless, only covers short term package holidays. EHIC certainly works for us in Portugal and I suppose the rest of the EC.

 

[Artic Warrior]

Re the EHIC card - do check that it is still in date - they need renewing.

Thanks,,,good job I checked mine ran out last june,,,,few

 

[chrisb]

Health care +/_ repatriation is very expensive . I doubt if the self insurers are aware of the true cost of what they are taking on . Cover within the EU is reciprocal and similar arrangements exist between the UK and other countries eg. New Zealand . Consider carefully you could be the unlucky one .
Both Pantaenius and Topsail offer good value "Yachtsman's Policies' It's akin to forgoing a liferaft because most people never have to get into one

 

[Artic Warrior]

Ive just spoke to Pantenius and they have policys that can run as long as you want up to a year or maybe 18 months she said, its about £1.50 per day per person

 

[hartcjhart]

remember to keep the EHIC card with you at all times when ashore,you have to show it before treatment and ask to go to a state hospital not private,spain and greece are trying to wriggle out of giving free treatment.
and do not use those dodgy websites that charge for renewal
linky here
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcareabroad/EHIC/Pages/about-the-ehic.aspx

 

[michael_w]

For my two Atlantic Circuits, both being two years away, with a lot of time spent in the USA I had a policy from Topsail Insurance. It was the only affordable policy that offered continuous trip cover. Otherwise the most time away allowed by most travel insurance was 45 days. They coughed up too, when my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and SWMBO and I had to leave the boat in Florida and fly home. Our overseas travel costs were covered in full.

Concerning travel home in an emergency, most major airlines offer "compassion fares". These are their cheapest tickets, but available straight away and no strings on the return portion. To gain the concession my mother's doctor had to fax a letter to the travel agents, explaining the serious nature of my mother's illness. Virgin Atlantic did us proud.

 

[madian2]

Bishop Skinner, Pantaenius and Topsail all seem to offer similar policies for Health cover. Bishop Skinner gave us the best quote a few months ago when I was trying to get an idea of cost for our budget.

 

[Artic Warrior]

Excellent,,,cheers everyone for your input,,, will try them all for price,,,but our budget is tight,,Eeeeek

 

[Dave99]

The comment to self insure is not a great one. Fine for covering the odd sickness bug. I had a bad case gastroenteritis while sailing from Italy to Gibralter. Wanting to rule out appendicitis, I visited a Spanish clinic next to the marina on the spanish side of the border. 60 euros and I was seen by a Dr within 5 minutes of arriving, 5 minutes later they took blood and 10 minutes later they had the results and the Dr wrote a prescription which as given I was on a super yacht I was able to get everything from the Cat A medical supplies onboard.

OK to self insure for that example, however, last summer i had a major disc prolapse on my spine after simply opening and closing a stiff deck hatch. I was left with a paralysed left leg. I had emergency surgery and am close to making a full recovery, however the cost of the emergency surgery, ambulance, repatriation etc was well over 100,000 euros and that was in port.

Get insured. Often you can add crew medical insurance to your yachts policy for a very small fee to cover emergency medical.

I have a 90 day AXA travel plan which covers any trip for business or pleasure up to 90 days long unlimited times per year as a back up policy and then since my back injury I have also taken a UK medical policy so that if I need any operations in the UK I can have them immediately rather than sit on the NHS waiting list. Again I took an AXA policy which compliments my 90 day travel plan.

The travel plan I think is well-under £100 per year, although I get mine free with international banking. My UK private plan is 30-something per month and I am 28 years old.

 

[GrahamM376]

I have a 90 day AXA travel plan which covers any trip for business or pleasure up to 90 days long unlimited times per year as a back up policy and then since my back injury I have also taken a UK medical policy so that if I need any operations in the UK I can have them immediately rather than sit on the NHS waiting list. Again I took an AXA policy which compliments my 90 day travel plan.

The travel plan I think is well-under £100 per year, although I get mine free with international banking. My UK private plan is 30-something per month and I am 28 years old.

90 days is pretty useless for many of us as it would entail a trip back to the UK to renew every 90 days. Many travel plans also exclude living on boats, particularly offshore sailing. At 28 your travel plan is possibly good value (when you're earning money) for your circumstances but wait until you're past pension age or have preexisting complaints and then try to obtain reasonably priced cover. No need for insurance anyway within EC limits.

 

[AndrewB]

The comment to self insure is not a great one. Fine for covering the odd sickness bug. I had a bad case gastroenteritis while sailing from Italy to Gibralter. Wanting to rule out appendicitis, I visited a Spanish clinic next to the marina on the spanish side of the border. 60 euros and I was seen by a Dr within 5 minutes of arriving, 5 minutes later they took blood and 10 minutes later they had the results and the Dr wrote a prescription which as given I was on a super yacht I was able to get everything from the Cat A medical supplies onboard.

OK to self insure for that example, however, last summer i had a major disc prolapse on my spine after simply opening and closing a stiff deck hatch. I was left with a paralysed left leg. I had emergency surgery and am close to making a full recovery, however the cost of the emergency surgery, ambulance, repatriation etc was well over 100,000 euros and that was in port.

We self-insured after our insurers quibbled about payment, but as you say there is a risk. Airlines will not carry you without clearance from a doctor if there is any suggestion of serious ill-health (even a fracture, I found), so its either an air-ambulance or get treated in the country where you are. However, we found that medical charges abroad seem to work out a lot more reasonable, or even be waived, if you are paying for yourself than if you are insured. Even so, I wouldn't recommend it unless you could readily raise maybe £50,000 against the risk of a serious problem.

 

[charles_reed]

Re the EHIC card - do check that it is still in date - they need renewing.

Arrived in Levkas hospital with double pneumonia, as I went to leave 10 days later, the girl on the desk commented "Your card is out of date...."
Of course if the same had happened to another frequent poster on this site, he'd have either have faced a mighty bill for the services or been refused admission...

I have, over the last 12 years, used my EHIC card in Croatia, Finland, France, Spain, Italy and Greece. As the head medic @ Messologgi, joked "We really do have to stop this medical tourism". He'd done a postgrad @ Hammersmith.

In terms of quality of care they've all been the equal or better than local NHS A&E, I've recovered (as this is not being written from beyond the grave) though facilities have been less ostentatious, paperwork has been considerably less.

You'll find that beyond age 70, premiums are prohibitively expensive and almost unobtainable above 75. Regarding Tranona's definition of "self-insurance", I'd suggest that that's OK for chronic conditions but that you do need to be able to have enough for treatment of acute conditions. You're not likely to survive repatriation with double pneumonia or advanced general septicaemia.

As insurers have to cover their expenses (and make a profit) it's unlikely that one will get back more than you pay out, and their preferred solution of repatriating you to the UK is really an avoidance of the issue.