A recent report, found that for people, such as gap year travellers who are planning to go abroad, healthcare provisions were more important than their personal or valuable possessions. Thus implying that, health insurance policies, was more valued, in comparison to travel insurance cover.

However, with the increase in the number of websites and well known high street companies selling policies that have been underwritten by insurers, it is hard to see what you’re buying sometimes. Moreover with call centres and websites, providing partial clarity to what policies actually do cover, factors such as this make it harder for customers to know what they are actually purchasing.

The firm, Medicare, which recently conducted an internet poll, wanted to distinguish between what customers felt was more relevant, whether it was healthcare or their valuables. The results showed that less that 20 per cent of respondents said that their valuables were more important, while the other 80+ per cent citied, healthcare as a greater relevance. This implies that a health insurance policy is of more importance to a much greater number of people, when they go away for their travels.

Healthcare is said to be one of the most dangerous and expensive things that could go wrong while a person is away on a gap year. If an accident does actually happen, the consequences can be and frequently are “catastrophic”, in terms of the finances that may be needed to cover medical bills or even evacuation and travels back to the UK.

Looking at a recent situation, we can take Mr. James Pinnington for example. He set off on his gap year to Vietnam in May, earlier this year. He bought a Boots Gap Year Travel Insurance policy, and felt safe in the knowledge that such a brand would give him comprehensive coverage in most situations.

Are you sure you’re covered?

However, he was unfortunately involved in a scooter accident. Thinking that his travel insurance policy would cover the costs of his hospital treatment and the bills, he was then shocked to find that, technicalities meant he was unable to claim on his travel insurance policy. For a successful claim against the scooter accident, James needed to be wearing a helmet; which he was; but also had to have a full UK motorcycle licence, which he did not have at the time – he only had his full UK driver’s licence.

The result was that Boots were unable to deliver the medical care he needed locally. They then suggested their own repatriation service at a cost of £85,000. James’ father refused this offer and ended up having to spend a total of around £25,000 of his own money to bring his son home from a remote village in Vietnam.

Do judge a policy by its cover

The Consumer Action Group has said that it believes that this piece of information should have been included in the key facts booklet, which accompanied the cover policy and particularly in relation to policies designed for Gap Year students.

James’s father Chris Pinnington said: “Our priority was to get James home and make sure he received the best medical care. If we had known that his travel policy was so limited in terms of what it covered, we would have insisted he had taken a policy which gave us piece of mind. We just presumed that a name like Boots would ensure their reputation for good service would be a priority.”

Medicare speaks out

David Pryor, Senior Executive Director of Medicare International spoke out about the circumstances that the Pinnington family had to go through, because of the lack of clarity in policies. He said: James Pinnington’s case does not surprise us, there are so many travel policies which claim to include healthcare in the market today. These hybrid policies are quick and easy to purchase and very often few people read the small print. Our view is that gap year students might be better served avoiding hybrid policies by buying specialist medical insurance and keeping travel and possessions cover separate. Healthcare claims have the potential to spiral out of control in a manner which travel and possessions costs simply do not.

He concluded: “At Medicare International we pride ourselves in giving our customers the best possible cover and care – even though it costs more initially. Should there be any kind of accident or illness, our customers can rest assured that everything will be taken care of.”