British tourist who contracted a rare disease in Thailand is back in the UK

[schvonsky1]

Maybe he should have wrote make sure you have insurance or a good insurance as you never know when you need it

well pretty much all insurance would cover this sort of medical expenses, so I am wondering wether he had any travel insurance at all?

No chance did he have just a complete moron I have no time for people like him ???

[schvonsky1]

Good luck to All the mugs who contributed to a jerk who was too lazy and stingy to get Insurance.

I'll 2nd that very very stingy and complete as***h**le

[Jimbo2014]

Lucky its not one of those "Rare diseases" you have to explain to the wife upon return. Good luck fella

[English 1]

If it's true that he did not have Travel Insurance then he is a real Dumbo!

Of course I still wish him a full recovery.

[Billy The Kid]

Very wary of buying certain travel insurance , love to know what insurance company he purchased . Mine is Multitrip.com with a yearly cover but at the max of 60 days abroad for 65. Anyone has the same insurance as mine ? Must check out the review of this insurance and the others . Two weeks ago, My mate got little thing fitted in his heart in Pattaya/Bangkok private Hospital when he got a mild heart attack while playing golf at Ban Chang , he has insurance but did not bring an insurance card or a document , the hospital refused to released him until his friends got his insurance document from his email . Found his document , got his bill covered by insurance . Was lucky cos it would have cost him 400,000 bt for the operation , if he was kept in , a million bt was Possible bill . About two years ago , an Irishman who had no insurance covered , fell from the 5 th floor condo when he tried to get there from 4 th floor because he lost his key , was in a coma , money raised in Ireland to cover the hospital cost (100,000) , his family paid the bill , went back to Dublin ( Beaumont Hospital ) still in coma , two weeks later he died . His family had to bear the burden of the costs of travelling and paying his bill because he did not pay the travel insurance which cost only 65-100. Always buy travel insurance to save the burden on your families and friends.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Billy The Kid

[frimu]

The Thai army should pay for all tourist treatments, because their marial law makes the insurance policies invalid.

Or they should no longer permit tourism in Thailand while marial law lasts.

That would be consequent!

[jacko45k]

Maybe he should have wrote make sure you have insurance or a good insurance as you never know when you need it

well pretty much all insurance would cover this sort of medical expenses, so I am wondering wether he had any travel insurance at all?

Is that your personal experience?

I have certainly heard of many cases of insurances refusing to pay out when an expensive claim is made for various exclusions or reasons, reasons that are not evident when they were accepting the premium.

Small print rarely gets read too.

I am very pleased this poor guy got home.

[elgordo38]

why didn't his insurance cover his expenses?

He forgot to read the fine print. It only pays if its raining elephants on a sunny day. Insurance companies are brutal now in their treatment of people not like the cigarette burn in the couch days years ago when they would recover the whole couch for free. Now their fine print has many exclusions and few people read them.

[Nemesis7]

Well I'm glad he is at home and with his family and friends

[Jonmarleesco]

There's an obvious lesson to be learnt from this affair: make sure you have medical insurance ... and be sure it isn't, for any reason, going to be invalid if and when you need it.

[Jonmarleesco]

why didn't his insurance cover his expenses?

He forgot to read the fine print. It only pays if its raining elephants on a sunny day. Insurance companies are brutal now in their treatment of people not like the cigarette burn in the couch days years ago when they would recover the whole couch for free. Now their fine print has many exclusions and few people read them.

A sound reason for ensuring that someone who knows what they are about reads the fine print.

[Jonmarleesco]

The Thai army should pay for all tourist treatments, because their marial law makes the insurance policies invalid.

Or they should no longer permit tourism in Thailand while marial law lasts.

That would be consequent!

Unlikely. My son had reason to check before passing through for a weekend in June. And I have checked - professionally - with at least one company. The Thai situation didn't raise issues for insurance companies, in general.

[Jonmarleesco]

Did not have any travel insurance.

https://www.facebook.com/wearebarnsley/posts/10204775894671552

Quote from facebook page :

'Craig’s friends, who were also holidaying in Thailand, checked Craig’s travel documents and found no valid travel insurance.'

So he had no insurance but traveled to Thailand ..... then everybody gave him some cash to get back home.

Meaning they couldn't find any? There wasn't any? Or there was, but it was invalid?

[DarrenLittlewood]

Maybe he should have wrote make sure you have insurance or a good insurance as you never know when you need it

well pretty much all insurance would cover this sort of medical expenses, so I am wondering wether he had any travel insurance at all?

Is that your personal experience?

I have certainly heard of many cases of insurances refusing to pay out when an expensive claim is made for various exclusions or reasons, reasons that are not evident when they were accepting the premium.

Small print rarely gets read too.

I am very pleased this poor guy got home.

it's not a question of experience, if it is a medical condition and the patient had no pre-existing medical conditions then most UK travel insurance would cover the medical bills. Of course there are exclusions like being drunk, taking undue risk etc etc... If his insurance refused to pay out I was interested in the reason/s, but it appears in any case that he had no insurance in which case he is lucky to have so many good and generous friends, he is also a little naive and stupid to travel in Asia without any cover

[Jim walker]

I have woken up many times on new years day unable to function and barley move my lags, hope things work out well for you Craig and a full and speedy recovery

[SGD]

The Problem with many of these insurance companies these days ( cheap or expensive ) is that when it's time to make a claim they use " every excuse possible " on why the patient is not covered.I spent many years living in Spain and seeing this problem with new cases every day! They are quick to take your money but when you do have a problem they become " uninterested " rather swiftly...........

F.J

Not really true I'm afraid, just urban myth.

Of course, far better to buy the correct insurance from someone who has an expensive reputation to protect rather than some £3.97 policy from a neverbeforeheardofontheinternet company.

I've lived around the globe for 30 years and folk fall into two camps; either you have insurance and expenses get paid or you don't and you live on borrowed time, always with some poor excuse as to why they never had insurance.

[LPCustom69]

Maybe he should have wrote make sure you have insurance or a good insurance as you never know when you need it

well pretty much all insurance would cover this sort of medical expenses, so I am wondering wether he had any travel insurance at all?

Is that your personal experience?

I have certainly heard of many cases of insurances refusing to pay out when an expensive claim is made for various exclusions or reasons, reasons that are not evident when they were accepting the premium.

Small print rarely gets read too.

I am very pleased this poor guy got home.

it's not a question of experience, if it is a medical condition and the patient had no pre-existing medical conditions then most UK travel insurance would cover the medical bills. Of course there are exclusions like being drunk, taking undue risk etc etc... If his insurance refused to pay out I was interested in the reason/s, but it appears in any case that he had no insurance in which case he is lucky to have so many good and generous friends, he is also a little naive and stupid to travel in Asia without any cover

good point. I have heard of coverage being denied because of alcohol in the blood.

[denby45]

This guy had a medical problem years ago. The illness was traced back to that and as it was a pre-existing condition his Travel Insurance was null and void for this illness

It reminds us all to list any pre-existing condition when taking out a policy

From the report it states "He was admitted to hospital and at first the doctors were unable to diagnose his illness."

If it was a "pre-existing condition " and I suppose he could still talk then why didn't he tell the doctors what the disease was.

I am a bit confused.

Den

[ourmanflint]

Insurance is just another well organised con job, all except Medical that is. I've found myself on an airplane a couple of times and realised I forgot to get insurance, but came back without needing it luckily. For the past 20 years the only insurance I have ever spent my money on is basic medical insurance that always includes a hefty fly home portion. Saying that in 20 years of travelling I have never had reason to make a claim, so it is tempting to not bother.

Edited January 16, 2015 by ourmanflint

[luckyman]

Did not have any travel insurance.

https://www.facebook.com/wearebarnsley/posts/10204775894671552

Thanks for sharing this link.

I can't help thinking this all has been priced a little too high, almost 2.5 million baht for just some tests and an airlift, as there was nearly no therapy involved.

I mean, an one way air-lift from Surat to BKK had cost them 7.000 GBP, like 350.000,- THB, really ?

[Estrada]

The Problem with many of these insurance companies these days ( cheap or expensive ) is that when it's time to make a claim they use " every excuse possible " on why the patient is not covered.I spent many years living in Spain and seeing this problem with new cases every day! They are quick to take your money but when you do have a problem they become " uninterested " rather swiftly...........

F.J

Not really true I'm afraid, just urban myth.

Of course, far better to buy the correct insurance from someone who has an expensive reputation to protect rather than some £3.97 policy from a neverbeforeheardofontheinternet company.

I've lived around the globe for 30 years and folk fall into two camps; either you have insurance and expenses get paid or you don't and you live on borrowed time, always with some poor excuse as to why they never had insurance.

Actually true. For instance the BUPA B5 million cover at B95,000/year actually only paid me B82,000 for 3 weeks in a Hospital in Australia (including 4 days in I.C.U.). The total bill was B1 Million, so I would only get back less than my yearly premium. I.C.U was B160,000/night and their policy only pays a max of B16,000/night for I.C.U. The problem is the tell you you have B5 Million in cover when you purchase the medical insurance but when you read the contract you see that you are not covered for more than you would have paid in premiums. In my case I put the money in an investment fund of my own for the last 20 years so that I have B2 Million. To cover medical expenses. If I had paid into BUPA I would have shelled out B2 Million and only got B82,000 towards my medical bills. The B2 Million baht can also bring me >B400,000/year return on my self invested medical fee fund.

If you pay your airfares by Citibank Premier Credit Card you get free travel insurance but from Thailand it covers accidents and not illness.

[ravip]

"...suggested it was some craig back hometype of brain stem issue..."

I don't begrudge someone doing fund-raising for lack of planning. Heck, I don't think I've ever had travel insurance...my regular insurance would have always covered part of any problem. However, what I find a bit disturbing is they are continuing to go for the last 10,000 and they may very well make more than they need. So what will they do with the extra money? They had better give it to charity.

Imagine this happened to a 3rd world, undeveloped country citizen...

[Lee4Life]

why didn't his insurance cover his expenses?

[/quote

maybe because of marshal law

Marshall Dillon was out of town, so not that.

Marital law was not pursued due to his not being married.

Martial law had cleared streets and man was able to travel to hospitals and airport.

I believe he was referring to the fact that some insurance companies will deny claims by people in countries under Martial Law.

[ukrules]

I read the facebook page, the costs involved are just mind-boggling!

47,000 equates to 2.3M baht and still counting probably. I never knew hospital expenses was that much.

This includes the massive markup the hospital adds to the invoice so it can make a profit.

[Jim walker]

I have woken up many times on new years day unable to function and barley move my lags, hope things work out well for you Craig and a full and speedy recovery

[wilcopops]

Maybe he should have wrote make sure you have insurance or a good insurance as you never know when you need it

well pretty much all insurance would cover this sort of medical expenses, so I am wondering wether he had any travel insurance at all?

many insurance companies won't cover you in the event of a coup or if the country is under martial law.

Edited January 16, 2015 by wilcopops

[wilcopops]

Good luck to All the mugs who contributed to a jerk who was too lazy and stingy to get Insurance.

They "found no valid insurance" - that doesn't mean there wasn't any or that he hadn't bought any - it means they couldn't find any.

[wilcopops]

interesting to note that Dengue has been has been associated with episodes of GBS.

[26vinny]

why didn't his insurance cover his expenses?

medical insurance is invalid when the country you enter is under martial law

[perdido]

"When he woke up New Years Day unable to move his legs and function properly."

Wasn't that most of us?

not me!!!!!...the piano has been drinking