It was the holiday that Steve and Julie Rhodes needed.
Still coming to terms with the death of Julie’s brother from cancer a few months earlier, the couple booked a week, all-inclusive with Tui, at the Catalonia Punta del Rey hotel in the north of Tenerife in March last year.
They spent their time chilling by the pool and walking by the beach. Then, as they relaxed in their room before dinner the night before they were due to return home to Bristol, Steve, a 65-year old glazier, said he felt odd. Within seconds he was unconscious.
Paramedics whisked him away to Our Lady of Candelaria University Hospital, where he was later diagnosed with a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Julie, 64, was uncertain if he would survive as she waited outside in a portable building, only able to communicate with staff through a translation app on her phone.
It was, she said, the stuff of nightmares. But there was one silver lining – the couple had taken out travel insurance, paying £205 for annual cover with Staysure on its basic plan.
Recovered: Steve Rhodes (pictured with wife Julie) suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm while on holiday in Tenerife last year
‘I dread to think what would have happened otherwise,’ says Julie, a retired rehabilitation support worker. ‘Steve was so fit and healthy. What happened was a total shock.’
He spent three weeks and three days in hospital, followed by another couple of weeks at the hotel before a medic flew out to accompany him on a safe repatriation to the UK. In the end, the couple’s planned week in Tenerife lasted nearly seven weeks.
Hospital care was covered under Steve’s Global Health Insurance Card (or GHIC, a free card that entitles UK citizens to state healthcare in the European Economic Area and some other countries on the same basis as a resident of that country). You can apply for a GHIC on the NHS website.
But as the GHIC doesn’t include medical repatriation, the £6,191 cost of his return home was not covered by that. And that’s a fraction of what it could have cost had he needed an air ambulance rather than returning home accompanied on a commercial flight.
The insurance firm said its average cost of an air ambulance from Spain was £45,137 in 2024, with the most expensive of 33 repatriations from the country totalling £99,609.
The US air ambulance cost that hit almost £200,000
In America, air ambulance costs are much higher, averaging £159,675 in 2024 for Staysure’s three clients who needed medical repatriation, the most expensive of which was £192,212.
And that’s without hospital bills. Medical treatment in America isn’t covered by the GHIC card.
‘If Steve had been ill in America without cover, he would have been looking at medical costs of about half a million dollars plus repatriation costs, if he needed an air ambulance, of £150,000,’ says Simon McCulloch, the firm’s chief growth officer.
‘The sheer number of holidaymakers risking six-figure repatriation costs is alarming. Many underestimate the complexity of medical repatriation.
‘Air ambulances require specialist medical teams, a scheduled stop to refuel, and they operate under strict safety protocols.’
The costs are also rising dramatically. New figures show that the £97,115 average cost of three air ambulance repatriations from America in 2023 rose 64 per cent in 2024.
Yet, according to a Staysure survey last September of 2,000 adults aged over 45, some 28 per cent of respondents with pre-existing medical conditions said they travelled without insurance.
Sky high: Staysure said its average cost of an air ambulance from Spain was £45,137 in 2024. In America, air ambulance costs are much higher, averaging £159,675 in 2024
Mr McCulloch said they broadly fell into three camps: those who didn’t think it was necessary as the risk of something happening to them was low; those who thought insurance would be too expensive; and others who believed (often mistakenly) that a pre-existing medical condition wouldn’t qualify for coverage.
Some 20 per cent of survey respondents thought, wrongly, that they didn’t need travel insurance.
It’s important to remember that even if you travel in Europe with a GHIC card, you are entitled only to the same medical care as a local resident would receive – there can be significant extra costs. And medical repatriation always costs extra.
One British traveller, aged 79, paid just £280 for an annual European travel insurance policy for two people with pre-existing conditions, a fraction of the £44,853 repatriation bill from Lanzarote they avoided.
While Steve didn’t need an air ambulance, the £6,191 cost of the medical escort home was covered by his insurance.
Ambulance transfers before and after the flight and oxygen while on the plane were arranged by the medic, who checked on his patient constantly during the flight. ‘It was so reassuring,’ said Julie. ‘And we didn’t ever see a medical bill.’
Additionally, the insurance paid out £2,000 (the policy maximum) of the extra £2,210 for the longer-than-expected hotel stay. That was about half the £4,000 Julie estimated she incurred in out-of-pocket expenses.
‘I didn’t know whether I was coming or going, but the insurer sorted everything. They were compassionate and made me feel at ease,’ says Julie.
Steve went on to make a full recovery and the couple were able to travel to a wedding in Portugal last June.
To do so, they needed to update their travel insurance to document the aneurysm but were pleasantly surprised to find it only added about £34 to their premium.
