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Think that travel insurance isn’t worth it? Think again
How much does a hospital bed cost in the 20 most popular destinations for Australian travellers – and how good is the healthcare when you get there?
Travel insurance is often an afterthought. An additional expense. An annoyance. But when the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan, it can be a real money saver. Just how much would it cost you if you had to pay for a hospital bed while overseas? And how good would the treatment you get actually be?
How we worked this out
We analysed 10,000 anonymised travel insurance quotes submitted to finder.com.au to identify the most popular destinations for our users. Then for each of those countries, we identified hospital costs, based on WHO Department of Health Systems Financing (2011) estimates. Those figures are likely to be on the low side, since they only represent the "hotel" component of hospital costs, which means drugs and diagnostic tests may need to be paid for as well.
The WHO figures are in international dollars (I$), which is a hypothetical unit of currency with the same purchasing power parity as the US dollar. We converted this to the value of the Australian dollar during the same period.
Finally, we used our travel insurance quote comparison tool to calculate the cost of a policy for a two-week journey to each destination for a 35-year-old traveller. Each destination produced over 40 quotes. We took the average cost of all the policies, basic through comprehensive.
The Top 20: Hospital bed costs and travel insurance costs
| Destination | Cost of a hospital bed | Cost of travel insurance | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States of America | $751.06 | $102.57 | $648.49 |
| Indonesia | $39.64 | $68.55 | -$28.91 |
| United Kingdom | $564.34 | $79.42 | $484.92 |
| Thailand | $91.89 | $72.89 | $19.00 |
| New Zealand | $390.95 | $57.84 | $333.11 |
| Canada | $603.99 | $99.64 | $504.35 |
| Italy | $482.87 | $82.09 | $400.78 |
| Vietnam | $25.66 | $72.89 | -$47.23 |
| Singapore | $893.34 | $72.89 | $820.45 |
| France | $517.35 | $82.09 | $435.26 |
| Japan | $507.49 | $79.06 | $428.43 |
| Fiji | $47.15 | $59.34 | -$12.19 |
| China | $66.00 | $74.76 | -$8.76 |
| Germany | $561.44 | $82.09 | $479.35 |
| Spain | $486.55 | $82.09 | $404.46 |
| Malaysia | $179.81 | $72.44 | $107.37 |
| Philippines | $34.01 | $72.89 | -$38.88 |
| India | $27.30 | $73.83 | -$46.53 |
| *Hong Kong | $721.53 | $74.76 | $646.77 |
| Netherlands | $671.13 | $82.99 | $588.14 |
*Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China was not included in the WHO Department of Health Systems Financing (2011) estimates. Cost for hospital bed was sourced from The Hospital Authority (HA) https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/v3/serviceguide_feenchg-en.htm
Compare international travel insurance quotes
A travel ban is in place for all Australians effective 25 March 2020. Most travel insurance brands will not cover you if you travel against a government warning. If you already have a policy, please contact your insurer directly for more information. We are currently updating our site to reflect the Australian government’s advice. Some travel insurance policies will be temporarily unavailable.
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Which country has the worst healthcare rating?
Money isn't everything, especially when it comes to your health. Even with travel insurance, you don't want to get stuck in a country with a poor healthcare system. So we extended our analysis of the 20 most popular destinations to assess the quality of the medical system, based on four key measures:
- International SOS ranking. The International SOS ranking gives a medical rating to a country based on numerous factors including: access to prescription medication, administrative, cultural and language barriers, the presence of infectious disease, and the standard of medical and dental care. These factors are ranked on a scale:
- Large rapidly developing countries. Refers to developing nations with disparate levels of healthcare: well-developed in major cities but almost non-existent in rural areas.
- Low risk. International standard of care throughout the nation, with high standards of emergency care and low risk of infectious disease.
- Medium risk. Varying (high to low) levels of standard international heath care available. Reasonable emergency services and minor risk of water-borne diseases.
- High risk. Nations with limited medical services. Basic emergency and dental care. Serious risk of infectious diseases (e.g. dengue fever or typhoid). Limited access to prescription medication.
- Extreme risk. Healthcare systems that are either overtaxed or virtually non-existent. Limited to no emergency services, with the risk there is no access to prescription medications. High degree of risk for contracting an infectious disease.
- WHO World Health Report ranking. The most recent World Health Report Health systems: improving performance (2000) assessed the performance of national health systems.
- ABS departure figures. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) release monthly figures for short-haul overseas departures of Australian residents.
- Travel advisory. A governmental warning provided by smartraveller.gov.au, which provides safety advice for Australians venturing overseas.
How do the countries stack up?
United States of America
Guide to travel insurance for the USA
Indonesia
Find out more about getting travel insurance for Indonesia
United Kingdom
Benefits of travel insurance for the UK
Thailand
What you need to know about getting travel insurance for Thailand
New Zealand
A guide to New Zealand travel insurance
Canada
Getting travel insurance for Canada
Italy
Vietnam
How to find the right travel insurance for Vietnam
Singapore
Guide to travel insurance for Singapore
France
Learn more about travel insurance for France
Japan
Need travel insurance for Japan? A guide to getting cover
Fiji
Finding the right travel insurance for Fiji
China
Get the right travel insurance for China holiday
Germany
Spain
Malaysia
A guide to travel insurance for Malaysia
Philippines
India
Find the right travel insurance for India
*Hong Kong
Hong Kong travel insurance guide
Netherlands
| Cost of a hospital bed | $671.13 |
| Cost of travel insurance | $82.99 |
| Difference | $588.14 |
| International SOS ranking | Low Risk |
| WHO World Health Report ranking | 17 |
| Australian travellers past year (ABS) | 37,700 |
| Travel advisory | Exercise normal safety precautions |
A full listing of countries to come.
More about international travel insurance
- ALSO READ: Medical travel insurance
- ALSO READ: Travel insurance for the USA
- ALSO READ: Travel insurance for Singapore
Picture: StudioTempura, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (image cropped)
Picture: Shutterstock
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