DO NOT use them if you want actual insurance coverage!
I have been with this company 10 years - never needed to claim until last year when I had a health issue abroad. Based on my experience people should know the following:
1. You must attend public hospitals, not private (that is fine in some European countries, but not great in others, and certainly not when paying for World Cover as I was.
2. If you state you have any existing conditions, they will charge you extra for that to be covered. However, based on my experience, you will not have it covered if anything actually happens.
3. They have different companies covering different aspects of claims, and they do not coordinate.
4. They send encrypted messages that are impossible to open - highly stressful when in hospital and relying on mobile and bad internet.
5. You have to do all the calling - I have only had a couple of calls, and these were helpful at the time, but resulted in nothing.
6. Upon making a complaint to the company, the response was from someone who clearly had not read all of the correspondence or cared.
If you want to have peace of mind when travelling, DO NOT choose this company. They are so lovely when you buy, but absent when you need them!
Réponse de Voyagertravelinsurance
Thank you for your feedback. We always aim to provide the best service possible, though circumstances can sometimes make this challenging. We reached out to you to provide us with further information, so we could properly review your case, but as no response was received, we can only address your points in general terms.
1. Being treated in public facilities is common across the vast majority of travel insurance policies. If you can contact emergency assistance before being admitted they may direct you to the most appropriate facility, however in an emergency you will likely be going to the nearest facility. This could be private or public, if it is a private facility, you will likely be moved to a suitable public facility (or potentially repatriated) as soon as you are stable.
If you require private medical treatment while you are abroad, International Private Medical Insurance (IPMI) does exist, however it is vastly more expensive than travel insurance and may not cover emergency treatment (depending on the policy you purchase).
2. Declaring medical conditions is essential because it affects the overall risk within the “common pool” of premiums from which claims are paid. Some conditions increase the chance of needing to claim, which is why an additional premium may apply.
Without knowing the specifics of your case, it is difficult to tell if a claim should have been paid or not. Emergency Medical Expenses cover is just that: cover for medical expenses incurred in an emergency, e.g. a dramatic change in health. Depending on the circumstances and whether or not you have contacted the Emergency Assistance providers before admission may affect the way things are handled, i.e. with the Emergency Assistance providers contacted, they may take over liaising with the medical facility directly on your behalf including settling bills. If you have not contacted them or the emergency treatment is low value, it may be dealt by you paying the facility directly and then you submitting a claim afterwards to be reimbursed. Putting you in the financial position you were before is what is known as indemnity.
Not declaring your medical conditions or declining to pay the additional premium will almost certainly mean your claim is not paid.
3. It is standard practice for insurers to appoint separate Emergency Assistance and Claims companies due to the specialist nature of their roles. We acknowledge your concern about coordination and will raise this with the relevant providers.
4. Email is a fundamentally insecure method of communication, without encryption, email is relatively easy to intercept, and your personal information is then visible. Messages are sent in an encrypted fashion to protect your data.
5. Without specific details, it is possible the teams were working in the background and did not feel the need to contact you. These teams handle thousands of cases every week, across multiple time zones, and while most are managed effectively, coordinating communication can occasionally be challenging. We apologise if you felt the updates fell short of your expectations. The most common cause of communication delays is missing or incomplete information.
6. As we did not receive further details from you, we cannot comment directly on your complaint. All complaints are taken seriously and must follow a set process, including acknowledging the complaint within defined timeframes, particularly when further investigation is required, which is common in complex cases. This acknowledgement may look as if the person responding has not taken the time to understand the complaint while it is investigated further.