insurancewith

[BernieTeyze]

Just want to say thanks to Jacqui for her recommendations.  We have bought a great policy with them, covering all medical conditions, 10 million in hospital treatment,repatriation, and even 3k each cancellation costs if we cant go. This cost 77.00 for both of us for a 1 week trip. Really is excellent value, if you have pre existing medical conditions.
Just to praise them even more I have today looked at our flight confirmation, although we travel on 13th we dont get back into UK until 14th. I had overlooked that when buying it. However when I rang them, they ammended the policy with no fuss and at NO EXTRA charge..theres a first. So if you are looking for a great insurance deal with brilliant customer servive at competitive prices, I reiterate Jacquis recommendations Insurancewith has got to be worth a quote.

Just need some cheap car parking from Manchester now

[kevin3]

  Fly from Brum.  Park on me gardin.   

[BernieTeyze]

 ;DMight take you up on it kev

[Dutchie]

You obviously have not had to use this insurance yet so how can you recommend them?
Yes, they might have been good changing the dates of your insurance and yes, your premium might be low but that doesn't mean that it is actually a good insurance.

Please be informed that Insurewith works with Emergency Assistance Facilities and as you can read in the policy they only cover treatment in state hospitals. They don't cover for treatment in private hospitals.

We've had bad experiences with Emergency Assistance Facilities so I reallly hope you won't be needing to use this insurance at any time.

[kevin3]

  Hi Dutchie
  What is the problem with  EAF, and using state hospitals.? We used Esnaf twice for my mom-in-law
  and       they  were brilliant, but i've visited Turkish relatives in state hospital and was impressed by what I saw.
  The reason I am asking is that I was thinking of using Insurewith next time.

[BernieTeyze]

Yes, I, m fully aware that we can only use state hospitals with our insurance, and am happy to do so. As we have repatriation and all the other stuff with it, I am happy with what we have.Please God, we never have to use any insurance.

[Colwyn]

  Hi Dutchie
  What is the problem with  EAF, and using state hospitals.?

As long as you are aware of this before you have your health problem it is probably fine. I would guess that most people don't read the small print on their insurance until they are forced to use it. I confess that was so in my case. I went to the local Turkish "GP" and he sent straight on to to his colleague who was a heart consultant in a private hospital. As long as you have your senses about you I suppose you could say "Oh no, I don't want to go there because my insurance won't pay". Fortunately, mine was happy with it. I had medical repatriation back to the UK. The doctor who escorted me back to Britain told me that it was usual in Turkey for private hospitals to tour local hotels and offer backhanders if they sent sick guests to their hospital. Worth remembering if you are staying in an hotel and travelling on state-only insurance.

The big point that Dutchie makes is that you cannot rate a travel insurance until you have had to claim. The cost, easy-to-use website and good telephone service are all immaterial if they don't pay out when you need it.

[BernieTeyze]

Perhaps I should also point out that we are not visiting Turkey.

[Dutchie]

I'm not saying that state hospital is a bad hospital but it's not well equipped for tourists.
EAF only covers state hospital but state hospital doesn't want to work with insurance companies so most of the time patients need to pay (and it's not cheap if you are a tourist without residency).

I don't want to go into too many details but quite recently we had a patient who was seriously ill and needed treatment asap. EAF wanted her to go to state hospital so she went with 112 ambulance. Consultant didn't do anything (no tests, no x-ray) and refused to write any paper work. Patient came back to the hotel. I called EAF about five times, asking them to cover for a private hospital since state hospital was obviously not adequate. They kept refusing because they're convinced care in state hospital is good. If that's the case, why did the consultant not do anything and why did the patient have to pay all the bills herself? 850 TL just for the ambulance from Ovacik to the hospital (and that's a low amount because we've had patients paying 1500 TL).
Anyway, long story short. EAF was not cooperative, patient was getting worse to the point that it started to get dangerous. We gave her a "quick fix" in our surgery so she would be improve slightly and then took her to Esnaf where she was admitted for two days. Unfortunately patient had to pay the bills herself (once more) and is now hoping that she will get some kind of refund from EAF.

P.S. She wasn't getting her passport back from state hospital unless she  paid. Not a very pleasant approach and illegal as well.

[Jacqui Harvey]

Catch 22.  We all have to have insurance of one kind or another.  None of us want to use it, however, if we are offered it on good terms and conditions we take it.  It seems simple to me, what else should we do??