No Free Health Insurance in Isle of Man for UK residents.

From April 2010 if you travel to the Isle of Man you won’t be covered by a previous agreement between the UK and the independent kingdom and would be advised to take out travel insurance.

The current reciprocal agreement between the UK NHS and the Isle of Man health care system meant that UK residents would be covered if they visited the island and the same if residents of the Isle of Man came to the UK would be covered via the NHS.

But this health care agreement will come to an end in April 2010 which means any medical costs such as hospital treatment will have to be covered by yourself or your insurance company.

Jonathan Simpson of FamilyHealthInsurance.org.uk says “The current UK government announced that this agreement would be scrapped. The health secretary Andy Burnham specifically said that it was not the policy of the government to fund the cost of healthcare for residents of the Isle of Man travelling to the UK or for people residing in the UK to have their health care funded outside of the UK.”

“This is a crazy situation because the UK has such agreements in place for all countries in the EU so long as the correct paperwork is carried when travelling overseas so why it can not have the same policy for the Isle of Man which is just off the coast of the UK is short sighted.”

The people and government on the Island have similar thoughts and concerns. Many people will not hear this announcement and believe that the island is simply part of the UK rather like the Isle of Wight but as the Isle of Man has its own parliament called Tynwald the Labour government probably see this as an easy way to cut costs from their massive debt mountain.

Although the cost of travel insurance is not likely to be very high we are worried that most people won’t take it out because they probably don’t see it as necessary but hopefully travel agencies and travel websites will have picked up on the news and offer insurance policies to people travelling to the small island.

The tourist office is of course concerned because they believe it may put people off travelling there for their holidays although they will cover treatment for emergency situations which do not require a visit to a hospital. They also estimate that the cost of providing treatment to UK residents whilst on holiday in the Isle of Man is only £3 million per year but the labour government have said this did not represent value for money.

When you hear that MPs are to repay close to that figure in expense claims it make you wonder where the government’s priorities are. An old saying we love in our office when it comes to businesses rings true with this policy from the government in that “they are saving costs with a teaspoon whilst spending it with a shovel”

Perhaps there will be a rethink on this policy but for now if you reside in the UK and are travelling to the Isle of Man we recommend you look at taking out some form of travel insurance (if you already have an annual insurance plan this may cover you but check the terms and conditions with your insurance company first just to ensure they have the Isle of Man in their list of countries).