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Following the recent disruptions to travel across the world ,there is a requirement for all travel health practitioners to be reinforcing the message to travellers to have adequate levels of travel health insurance.

I continue to see and advise travellers of recommended vaccinations ,for them to decline and make a decision based without understanding all of the risks. One of the most under discussed risks is that of the post exposure treatment and the traveller's expectation of who will ultimately pay.

Outside of the EU, where there is no reciprocal agreement with the U.K., this causes a greater problem as some insurance companies are no longer willing to reimburse costs for treatment where preventative treatment has been advised but declined. Take into consideration my own research paper that costs a post exposure course of rabies vaccinations at £600 which was similar to the CDC figure of $1000.

Yet travellers still remain convinced that insurance companies will pay for this cost.

The recent NaTHNaC publication of Travel Health Insurance, published in conjunction with the Association of British Insurers highlights

"Travel insurance requires individuals to take reasonable precautions, as recommended by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for their destination. This may include any recommended vaccinations and medications (such as antimalarial tablets) as advised by their doctor, nurse or other health professional, in line with national recommendations (such as those provided by NaTHNaC and Public Health England)."

A quick search of the internet today, has already highlighted companies offering travel health insurance with type of exclusion clause. This is  not a case of the buyer beware, but of the traveller accepting the value of the advice given by travel health professionals.