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A British nurse, on holiday was flying from the UK to Dubai to meet her girlfriends for an impromptu holiday. While enroute she began to feel ill, and that illness progressed into a full-on medical emergency. Upon landing medical staff took her to hospital in Dubai and sadly she dies. The British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) engaged, noted that cause of death was to be determined. The FCO is also well positioned to provide to the family the modalities of repatriating the deceased to the UK. What the FCO (nor most other governments, including the United States) won’t do is cover the expense of transporting you or your family member. The family of the deceased was informed that the expense for the hospital and the repatriation of the remains would be approximately £40,000,
You see, Charlotte Carter did not purchase travel insurance of any form. She did not have travel health insurance to cover the medical expenses. She did not have travel evacuation insurance which would have covered the repatriation of her remains. The Carter family has started a fundraising page to collect the necessary funds to cover Carter’s costs and bring her home, $40,000. You can donate here: Charlotte Carter repatriation fund. As of this writing, they have collected approximately 74% of the required funds.
There are three types of travel insurance, make sure you have the right type
- Trip Insurance — is focused on the mechanics of your travel
- Travel Health Insurance — is focused on medical expenses in a far off land
- Evacuation Insurance — focused on moving you for medical care (or repatriating your remains)
While an added expense, as the family of Charlotte Carter is teaching us, the insurance is much less expensive, especially the evacuation insurance.
