Insurance

Introduction

When is comes to insurance there are two considerations:

1. what is needed to get a visa; and 

2. what is needed to protect your interests when travelling.

This page discusses both aspects.

VSL-T and Health Insurance

Guidance from the French Government states that UK nationals seeking a VLS-T 4-6 month long stay visa can use their GHIC or EHIC cards to satisfy the requirement to have health insurance.  The GHIC and EHIC cards enable UK nationals to receive free health care when in France on the same terms as that offered to French nationals. In effect, this means that around 70% to 80% of health care costs are covered by the GHIC/EHIC.

For the avoidance of doubt the GHIC / EHIC cannot be used to provide the insurance for the VLS-TS 4-12 month long stay visa.  

The need for travel insurance cover

Though not needed for the VLS-T visa itself, there are multiple reasons why you should consider taking out additional travel insurance.

• EHIC / GHIC does NOT cover the full cost of treatment; if you have a serious problem you could be face with a bill of many thousands of pounds. There are many Facebook posts about how much people had to spend.

• GHIC / EHIC does NOT cover the incidental costs of an accident, just a proportion of the the medical costs

• GHIC / EHIC does NOT provide you with a telephone number to an organisation that can assist managing the impacts of an accident

• GHIC / EHIC does NOT cover repatriation of the dead, seriously ill or seriously injured. 

• Proof of insurance may be asked for by French Border Police when you arrive in France. The French Government website ( link)  provides a list of documents which may be asked for by Border Police when you enter France. In terms of insurance, it states  'You must have an insurance certificate covering all medical and hospital expenses for which you may be liable for the duration of your stay in France, as well as medical repatriation costs and expenses in the event of death.' 

Check that the travel insurance cover meets your personal needs

The small print of travel insurances can vary a lot between companies and can change from one year to the next. Do check that the policy meets your needs, you don't what to find you are not covered at the very time you need it!

• some policies require that you have a return trip booked at the time you leave the UK

• some policies measure time away from the day you leave-from and return-to your normal residential address; other measure from when you leave /return-to the UK

• some multi-trip policies cap the total number of days you are covered for during the policy period 

• some companies have very very restrictive wording on drinking alcohol; check that the limitations are reasonable

• Cost varies considerably depending on the maximum period of your trip; a multi-trip policy with maximum trip of 30 days is cheaper than a multi-trip policy with a maximum trip of 60 days.

The curator of this website who visit France for up to 100 days at a time found that backpacker insurance best met their needs.  They have the medical cover; they have few bells and whistle which add to the cost; they tended to measure from when you left the UK and you did not need a return trip booked. You just had to return within the cover period.

Do talk with companies to: 

• verify any assumptions that you might have made!

• share your medical issues with them to verify that you will be covered 

• does it cover ALL the activities you might be involved in?  

• understand their pricing bands with respect to length of stay  

Axa Schengen Insurance

Axa provides insurance for thousands of people who require a Schengen Visa to visit Europe. The visa required a minimum medical cover of 30,000 Euro; no deductions and repatriation. Axa does not ask questions about age of medical matters.  

They also have another product with 100,000 Euro cover. See: https://www.axa-schengen.com/en/travel-insurance-europe-carefree-travel

Please note that the mention of this product does not imply any endorsement of AXA or its suitability for your needs.