Skiing, Alcohol and Insurance !

The EHIC card only covers you for the local country's "NHS type provision" - in some countries that's virtually non-existant, others you pay a fee even in the State funded clinics. Our NHS is free at the point of delivery - this is not the same across Europe.
The EHIC doesn't pay for repatriation - you need flying back it's your cost.
Some hospitals won't treat you unless you have insurance.

Ambulance chasers are everywhere - you have a collision - even if it's not your fault you may end up with a huge legal bill even if you win & even then you might not get your costs back. Do you want a £50,000 bill to prove you were innocent?

What if you get a £250k compensation award against you - It's goodbye house for most people.

Travel insurance is cheap and compared to the cost of a ski holiday is peanuts.

All valid points. But it still doesn't disguise the fact I've been going abroad on holidays for the last 20+ years and have never, ever, had to make a claim on travel insurance (I was in Thailand for the Tsunami!).

However, the amount of people I know who have tried to make a claim, only to find out for some obscure reason (drinking on the slopes?) their insurance is void is criminal, insurance companies are a massive con! And if you're lucky enough to receive a claim you get stung with a massive excess...

I'll take my chances with the EHIC, and ski carefully... without a helmet... and enjoy a beer...


Haha!! After all this I've just read my bank provides free European travel insurance… Hmm, does it include winter sports…

Most banks seem to cover winter sports. That's where I get mine from recently. Plus it seems to have one the reasonable approaches to alcohol.

I have had to claim twice from insurance companies. (Only once for skiing.) Both times the company has been extremely reasonable and helpful, never quibbling on anything. Either I am the luckiest person alive or I'm heading for a big fall!

Smokey Barr wrote:
Haha!! After all this I've just read my bank provides free European travel insurance… Hmm, does it include winter sports…

It probably does!

ours does, it covers myself and spouse and we have to pay about £50.00 extra to add 2 children.

It probably does!

ours does, it covers myself and spouse and we have to pay about £50.00 extra to add 2 children.

Apparently not. They want £40 to add on winter sports

Smokey Barr, if you ever ski in France, then you should be able to get basic medical treatment at a resort clinic if you carry around 500 euros in cash.
I base this on my experiences in Val Thorens in 2005, so add a bit for inflation. The clinic in the village was private, I was scooped up by piste patrol, one of whom skied off on my skis which prevented my OH picking them up.
They kept my skis until they extracted the money for the pickup, they refused my insurance. The ambulance was private... and I was harrassed by the driver for cash in the treatment room.

The clinic refused my Insurance/Credit Cards/EHIC....they would only accept cash. They refused to deal with my insurer. I was held untreated with a broken collarbone until I gave in and handed over my bank details to my partner to withdraw the cash from my account with my card. They took my skiboots away to prevent me from leaving before giving them the cash.

I now carry my Consular details with me, should I ever find myself in this horrible abusive situation again.
Naturally I will never return to the resort. I did detail my experiences to the resort director in writing, he was quite happy with the status quo and planned to change nothing.

My insurer did reimburse me, and they knew about the situation in the resort as other clients had similar experiences.

The medical treatment was poor, on return to the UK I was re-set and the prognosis doubled, and then doubled again. The French Dr said 4 weeks to heal, and it took 16.

Bandit that's disgusting. I would have been absolutely seething in your position. Sounds like vultures over a piece of meat. I don't blame you for trying to hold out on them. I'd like to use several words which aren't suitable for general public consumption :evil:

Luckily I've never had to use a health service outside the UK, but I am thinking of a lady on our recent hol (not part of our party). She was hospitalised due to flu which was aggravated by asthma. She was treated so well she didn't actually want to come back to her family at the hotel, and although they did state that they would not discharge her until the bill had been paid I don't have an issue with that. It's totally different from your experience.

Bandit - Sounds like a rather horrible situation to be in, and I hope this isn't a reflection of all French resorts.

It would be easy for me to sit here and say 'well I'd have refused to pay the cash', and would have called the police, British embassy.. blah, blah... But if you're sat there in agony, with a broken collar bone, the cash probably doesn't seem such a bad option…

It does appear though, that insurance in the first instance was pointless as they refused it. I would have stumped up the cash also, but if they'd refused my EHIC or I wasn't sent/picked up by a state hospital to be treated on my EHIC, I would have been asking my MP or whoever I needed too, some serious questions when I got home, and would have pursued compensation.

We've had this whole EU crap shoved down our throats for many years, and I expect the treatment I pay for. Despite it being advertised as, EHIC isn't free; we pay billions into the EU, hence why I won't be paying for travel insurance, I should already be covered by my EHIC.