End of health deal ‘could put people off visiting island’
Saturday 14th August 2010, 2:29PM BST.
Ian and Ruth Gordon have up to now been annual visitors to Guernsey but after learning that the reciprocal health deal between the island and the UK is no more may not return. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 1009961)
LOSING the reciprocal health agreement with the UK could put people off coming to Guernsey, a couple have warned.
Ian and Ruth Gordon, who live in Scotland, visit the island every year but a lack of information about the end of the agreement has left them confused and they may not return.
They also fear that the elderly and those with existing conditions may stop visiting Guernsey altogether because of poor information and increased travel insurance costs.
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The Gordons are right. Travel Insurance is not a proper substitute for the reciprocal health agreement due to precluded conditions and general lack of confidence that insurers will do the right thing in the event of claims. Many of our visitors are elderly and inevitably tend to have health conditions. That applies equally to visitors both to and from Guernsey. There is always the worry that one overlooked detail on an insurance proposal will invalidate the policy. Far better that we re-instate the agreement if at all possible, and soon. Come to that, couldn’t we become associated with the EHIC scheme?
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I am not saying we should not have an agreement but the lack of a reciprocal health agreement doesn’t put people travelling to the rest of the world so why should it put people coming to Guernsey.
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John, British visitors have always differentiated between traveling within the British islands and the rest of Europe. Historically people have needed neither passports nor insurance to travel between islands and there is little doubt that the reduced planning and expense has encouraged travel. Travel between Guernsey and the rest of Europe would be similarly encouraged if we could join the EHIC scheme.
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This “story” is nothing more than a couple on holiday giving their opinion. I support the reciprocal health agreement but its demise won’t stop me visiting the UK so why should it stop tourists coming here?
With all due respect to the Gordon family they are hardly qualified to suggest that a significant number of people will be put off visiting the island simply because they have been. Have they conducted any research with fellow travellers? What about the visitors from the continent to whom the agreement was irrelevant anyway? They are entitled to their opinion of course but until I see some proper research supporting their view I will treat this like the non-story it is.
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