The chance of becoming ill or having an accidental injury while on holiday is not always something a traveller thinks about when planning an overseas trip. They assume they are fit and healthy. However, no one can predict what will happen from one day to the next, especially when away from home. All Australians need to buy travel insurance before they take a trip, especially if they are going abroad.

Most Aussies have a fantastic time when they travel overseas. Few of them realize that each day of the year, the Australian consulate must deal with the tragic death, injury, or hospitalisation of their fellow Australians who are abroad. More than 20,000 separate cases are handled that include more than 700 hospitalisations, over 600 deaths, and over 100 evacuations of Australians who must be moved to another location for their medical needs. Most of these people do not have any form of travel insurance, and therefore they must deal with a personal tragedy, as well as a large bill they did not expect to have.

It can be very expensive for an Aussie in another country to stay in hospital or be medically evacuated. For example, in Southeast Asia, it is typical for just one day in hospital to be more than $800, and the return of someone's remains from Europe can cost more than $10,000. A medical evacuation from the United States can run anywhere from $75,000 to $95,000. Depending on where the patient's home is, and what needs to be done for the patient on the way, the cost can go up to $300,000. However, distance isn't always a sign that the evacuation will be cheaper. There have been medical evacuations from our nearby "neighbour", Bali, which the consulate has dealt with that cost more than $60,000!

What's really sad is that most of these cases involved people who did not have travel insurance. Travellers who don't have insurance coverage are responsible for paying their medical bills as well as all costs associated with them. People have had to sell their family home or their superannuation in order to transport their loved ones back home to Australia so they can get treatment.

The message we are trying to pass along to travellers in Australia is that you can keep yourself from becoming one of these grim statistics. Since illness and accidents are impossible to avoid totally, you definitely need travel insurance! A good insurance policy also protects you against theft and the loss of your personal belongings while travelling. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says that " if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel."

When you choose a travel insurance policy, be sure to check whether or not the insurance will cover claims that are made in the countries that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have recommended that no one travel to. You can always get up-to-date travel advice from consulting and keeping watch on their website.

Here are some examples of the cases that The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has handled.

* An Aussie who was on holiday in Bangkok was hit by a car while he was enjoying a motorcycle ride. He fractured his leg really badly, and he was taken to and admitted to the nearest local hospital. His wife was on the trip along with him. This man did not have any kind of travel insurance, so he did not have any choice as to what hospital he was taken to, or the kind of treatment he received. The hospital did not have doctors on staff who knew how to do anything for this man except clean out the wound. Three weeks went by. The man's wife asked the Embassy for assistance for her husband. Areas of his shin bone had actually died, and the fractured ends were not healing. The Embassy helped them out by having the man medically evacuated to Australia for admission to hospital. All of this cost his family a considerable amount of money.

* Five Australians had a mini-van accident in Bali, and all were injured. The only thing that the Consulate had to do to assist them was to offer support and take care of the usual routine contact with next-of-kin. All of the Australians involved had travel insurance. The travel insurance company paid their medical bills in Bali and arranged for their medical evacuation back home to Australia.

* A young Australian had been working in an American ski resort for about four months. He then left the resort to travel around and see the USA. He knowingly let his travel insurance policy that he had taken out for a 12 month period expire just a few days before he was to leave to go back home. He somehow managed to get hit by a car while crossing a road. The young man had serious head injuries, and was unconscious when placed in intensive care. He had to have quite a bit of specialized care until he was able to be flown back to Australia. He had not regained consciousness and went home on a stretcher. It cost his family $80,000 just for the medical evacuation. They were forced to get a second mortgage on their home in order to get this much money.

* A young man from Australia went to the United States for an amateur surfing competition. He was an experienced surfer, but misjudged a wave during a practice session. The wave tossed him onto a reef and he was seriously injured. He was airlifted to a local hospital, when he immediately had two major operations. The young Aussie's hospital bill came to $290,000. It was a stroke of good fortune that the young man's parents had insisted he purchase travel insurance before he left Australia. The insurance company covered the huge bill, and his family were able to spend time helping the young man with recovery instead of worrying about how to pay the hospital bill.

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