Holidaymakers must not assume that travel insurance is unnecessary when travelling even in the UK, it has been warned. With a growing number of travellers opting to spend their holidays in the UK this year, according to a number of insurers, a majority of Brits are forging travel insurance assuming that it is not required if they are staying in the UK.
According to research by a price comparison website, only two per cent of holidaymakers planning to spend their holiday in the UK have sought travel insurance quotes. Steve Williams, head of travel insurance of the price comparison website said that “travel insurance should be seen as a vital part of any holiday.”
He said: "The number of UK insurance policies sold is dwarfed by that of European and worldwide policies, and in our experience fewer people shop around for UK cover.” Williams advised that travel insurance would be “vital” especially during the current financial crisis as although holidaymakers travelling in the UK would not be required to purchase the insurance for medical reasons, flight cancellations or airline failures could leave holidaymakers losing more cash than what they would have spent on the cover.
According to Direct Travel Insurance, redundancy is one of the common reasons of cancellations and without insurance, holidaymakers would be left with large cancellation charges.
news source : http://www.onlyfinance.com/Travel-Insurance-News/
ISLANDERS who fall ill or have accidents in the UK will soon have to pay for their treatment, Health announced today following confirmation that the UK is scrapping the reciprocal health agreement from 1 April.
Health Minister Jim Perchard was notified of the decision by Dawn Primarolo, the UK’s Minister of State for the Department of Health on Friday. Not only does the ruling open the possibility that Islanders will be left with huge bills for medical care if they do not have adequate travel insurance, it also leaves Health significantly out of pocket.
The JEP has learned that the agreement was extremely profitable for Jersey and will leave Health with a £3.9-million hole in its budget. Health’s finance director, Russell Pearson, has already warned that that could mean Jersey patients suffer. ‘Health and Social Services cannot afford to take a reduction of £3.9 million,’ he said. ‘We would have to prioritise and reduce services to manage that. The Council of Ministers are aware of that impact.’ As of 1 April, Islanders visiting the UK will only be eligible for free treatment in accident and emergency departments.
news source : http://www.thisisjersey.com/
KOCHI: The Ernakulam region of Life Insurance Corporation of India has been retaining the topmost position in terms of first premium receipts for several years. A boom in economy had prompted employees and businessmen to take insurance cover on a large scale. But the situation is not so bright now as the slowdown in the economy is taking its toll on the industry also.
About 40 per cent of the policyholders are postponing payment, says R. Sahasranaman, a senior member of the agency network of the LIC. The payment can be postponed for six months and will be accepted with interest. But there are many customers who want to surrender the policies as they are not confident of being able to remit the premium after a few months. The trend is more visible among those employed in the IT sector. About 20 per cent of his clients are interested in surrendering the policies, according to him. The policy-holders were being advised to hold the policies at least for a year so that the surrender value would be more, he said.
The people are not evincing much interest even in new policies. Jeevan Astha, a policy announced recently which had a minimum premium of Rs.25,000, could not get the expected support from clients, he said. Development Officer N. Muraleedharan too aired a similar view. The business generally goes up in March every year, but the expectations are moderate this time because of the meltdown, according to him.
news source : http://www.hindu.com/
Holidaymakers must not assume that travel insurance is unnecessary when travelling even in the UK, it has been warned. With a growing number of travellers opting to spend their holidays in the UK this year, according to a number of insurers, a majority of Brits are forging travel insurance assuming that it is not required if they are staying in the UK.
