How Much Does It Cost to 'Insure' Safety Abroad?

A few weeks ago my partner and I decided that we would go and book our summer holiday, after much consideration upon what we wanted to do, the weather we would hope to get and for the overall experience we decided on Miami in America. Seriously excited and ready to go and pack right then I set about sorting my travel insurance when I got home... and nearly fell off the sofa at the cost of cover!

I've been very fortunate that I've been on some great holidays over the years including China, Malaysia, New York, Rome and numerous other places in between. Although I've never been to Miami before, I have been to America, so I knew how important it was to get travel insurance to cover me whilst I was out there. The cost of healthcare in America is amongst the highest in the world, so if healthcare is needed and you don't have insurance it would be easy for the cost to grow to unimaginable prices even for the small things.

In recent years I used to get my travel insurance through my bank, because as America can add so much to the cost of insurance I was able to pay monthly and spread the cost. But unfortunately I think the bank realised how good a deal it was, so they discontinued the deal. However, thinking that my bank might still have been the best and most reasonably priced option I got an online quote. For those who might not have purchased travel insurance with a medical condition before, there are a LOT of questions to be answered. Initially about what condition you have, how long you've had it for, whether you've been admitted to hospital recently for said condition and whether you have any additional conditions resulting from it.

So after answering all of the questions I got my quote... £404! For 10 days worth of holiday cover. I couldn't believe it! I appreciate the fact that having diabetes might make you more likely to have need of a hospital. But £404 was over £40/ day cover. To me there seemed to be no appreciation for the fact that some people look after their diabetes and would do their absolute best to avoid needing medical assistance. So next step I put my details into one of those price comparison sites and low and behold the insurer quotes started flooding in- starting from cover for £57. In the end I went with a fully comprehensive quote for £63, I didn't need it in the end. But I would still consider it money well spent!