How Vacation Insurance Saved My Life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Never think that it will not affect you.

At the end of May, my husband and son and I flew on vacation. An ordinary beach vacation, a standard package of services: a five-star hotel, all-inclusive, medical insurance.

They took with them the necessary medicines for everything in the world. All young and healthy, well, the maximum temperature will rise or eat something wrong. And only six days that can happen there. My hands always, we treat food attentively, we follow the child, we don't overheat in the sun, we don't drink alcohol. But half of the suitcase was occupied by drugs.

On the third day at night I feel bad. I drink something from the stomach, antispasmodic, enterosorbent. I'm getting worse.

We are in another country, night. We have a little child with us. I endure it for two hours, then I realize that I am starting to faint. I have full understanding that now I can just die.

And that's when we remember insurance. I know for sure that under the contract we have the right to call a doctor, they must pick me up and take me to the hospital. The franchise is $ 30, I remember that too. We are ready: this amount is in cash. We know which number to call, because I also found that in advance.

The husband runs to the reception to call the insurance company. I'm getting worse. Luckily for us, my own sister with my family was in the same hotel at the same time. We call her to stay with the child. I don’t know what they would have done if there were no relatives.

The car was sent quickly. I already did not understand anything and did not remember. The hospital also took about five minutes. There is a representative of the insurance company, speaks Russian. I was examined by a doctor, immediately placed in the ward, put several IVs. They immediately took tests, although it was night. I didn’t hope to live until morning.

I had IVs for four hours, by morning it got better. Tests showed an intestinal infection. In the morning I was discharged from treatment and released. The car was also called free. The doctor gave recommendations, wrote out a prescription. You cannot buy anything without a prescription! Nothing at all. None of the medicines in my first aid kit worked. At least I did not dare to replace the antibiotic and drank everything strictly as prescribed by a foreign doctor.

As a result, we paid a $ 30 deductible, and spent another $ 30 on medications after discharge. The insurance included only drugs for the relief of acute conditions. Further yourself.

The rest was paid by the insurance company. Without insurance, I think even a night in the clinic would have cost a pretty penny. And they wouldn't have sent a car for me, but where to look for it at night?

These weren't all adventures.

While on vacation, my sister's daughter fell ill with severe chickenpox. They did not want to let the whole family with two children on the plane on the way back. Reasonably, they have the right, in theory we were all ready for this. But they hoped to fly away: the child really needed a doctor.

They had a cancellation insurance. With a ticket price of 100 thousand rubles, the policy for no-departure in both directions costs 5 thousand. In which case, they would be provided with a hotel until everything was over, and they would have paid for new tickets. But nothing happened: the commander at the last moment decided to let them into the plane wearing a mask.

When we landed in Moscow, everyone exhaled. Now we will not want to go on vacation soon.

These are the conclusions not of a child's mother, not of a travel lover, but of a pragmatic economist.

1. Always buy insurance

Even if you rarely get sick, you do not like extreme sports and you have all the medicines with you. The question is not about money. The insurance company immediately sent a car for me, and they rescued me. And who would have sent it if there was no policy? Where in general to go in another country when there is only the sea and foreign hotels around? And late at night.

2. Study the conditions before the insured event occurs

Better yet, before you pay. Study for yourself, not from the words of the travel agent. I was told that all medications are included, but it turned out - only emergency. I spent $ 30, nonsense. And if you needed 300 or 3,000 dollars and urgently, as in my case?

3. Take money with you, even if everything is included in the voucher

At least on the map. I have a multicurrency one. I easily transferred the required amount from rubles to dollars in a couple of clicks in the application.

4. All family members must have an emergency plan

I managed to tell my husband where the policy is and the phone number of the insurance company. Considering my condition, I might not have time. And men are not very versed in papers.

We also had relatives nearby and had someone to leave the child with at night. If they were not there, you need to understand who is doing what. So that there are no unjustified expectations and grievances. The support of my husband and the fact that he was there in the hospital helped me until they took me to the ward. It would have been worse without him.

5. Money must be available to all family members

So that if something happens, your fingerprint does not become an obstacle to payments. You have to think about it, this is life. In an emergency, loved ones do not need unnecessary problems.

6. Do not rush to criticize our medicine and the ambulance in particular

When we call an ambulance, they ask for the policy data, and we are so used to being angry about it. How so! Save us soon. Abroad, they didn't even touch me until the insurance company confirmed my policy by phone. And she did not confirm immediately.

7. Never think that it will not affect you

Let it not touch, but anything can happen. Of course, going on vacation, I was not going to get sick, stay in the hospital and say goodbye to life. In general, I am very careful. But it turned out like this.

8. Nobody needs you except your loved ones

No matter how they smile at you upon arrival. At my hotel they knew that I was in the hospital. But no one asked if I was alive or how I generally feel. And they didn’t want to return money for spa treatments that I had paid for in advance, but I couldn’t get there for health reasons. And that's five stars.

Even if you are healthy, successful, rich and happy, consider what your loved ones will do if something happens to you. This applies to property, money, deposits and rights.

Take care of yourself!