Forty-year-old BC native David Connelly travelled to Thailand to reconcile with his father who moved there 15 years ago – and it was a storybook trip until tragedy struck.
On May 4, while riding a scooter through Phuket, Connelly was run over by a dump truck and was found on the brink of death by the roadside. He suffered from multiple fractures including the spine, pelvis, and ribs; punctured lungs, torn muscles, and internal bleeding. To make things worse, he was uninsured.
Connelly has recently been moved out of the ICU, and is set to be released in a few days. While his recovery has been described as “miraculous”, he and his family face hospital and air ambulance bills approaching $170,000. A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $60,000 to help with the expenses, but the Connelly family still needs to come up with the remainder. If Connelly had travel insurance, then he and his family could’ve had lowered, or even totally avoided, out-of-pocket costs.
According to Will McAleer, vice-president of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada, young adults under age 55 are the most prone to leaving the country uninsured.
“You get some of the folks who think, ‘Well, hey, nothing’s going to happen to me’ … or they just don’t realize the risk,” he said. “Many simply forget to buy insurance and once they’ve stepped on their flight or crossed the border, it’s too late.”
McAleer also added that there have been cases where Canadians with “Code Blue” health emergencies in the US ended up paying hospital bills amounting around $10,000 per hour, when they could have taken out a travel insurance policy that costs only $2 or $3 per day.
The Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada offered the following tips for travellers to make sure they are properly insured:
- Understand your travel insurance policy: Insurance providers have staff available to answer any questions related to policies.
- Know your health and consult a health care provider if you have any questions.
- Know your trip: How long will you be gone? Are you a snowbird? Will you be travelling many times during the year? Do you plan to scuba dive? Some policies will be more suitable for you than others.
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