Experts warn of holiday cover pitfalls
Australian travellers are being caught out because they do not understand travel insurance and the huge cost of being injured overseas, experts have warned after two recent cases of Perth holidaymakers seriously hurt abroad.
Gap year traveller Amy Matthews was left to raise as much as $135,000 after she was shot in the face in New Orleans in July. John Elliott was left with a $70,000 medical bill after a scooter crash in Bali last month.
Ms Matthews, 21, bought travel insurance that covered her hospital treatment in the US, but once she was deemed "fit to fly", she was brought home to Australia where her travel insurance did not apply.
Tom Godfrey, from consumer group Choice, said many travellers who had to make a claim found themselves in a similar position.
"While tragic, Amy's experience is an all too common one, with many consumers each year finding they are unable to claim medical expenses through a travel insurance policy when they return home," he said.
The Insurance Council of Australia said determining whether an injured policyholder was fit to fly was a medical question.
"Insurers typically cover medical costs, where they are not excluded, until that person is fit to return to Australia whereupon any further medical treatment and recovery would be supported by Medicare," a spokesman said. Mr Elliott, 23, said he did not take out travel insurance for his spur-of-the-moment trip to Bali.
But he said even if he had, it probably would not have saved him paying $55,000 for a Medivac flight to Perth, $7000 for an operation on his pelvis and hand and $5000 for his hospital stay in Bali.
The ICA agreed, saying injuries sustained while riding a motorcycle or scooter overseas were a common exclusion in policies.
Mr Godfrey said travel insurance policies generally covered medical costs for road accidents but it was important to check the fine print.
ICA research has revealed one in five Australians who goes overseas often does not buy travel insurance.
It also found young travellers, aged 18 to 29, were twice as likely to think it was acceptable to travel overseas without insurance.
