Getting sick could be frustrating, but facing a mountain of medical bills while you’re far away from home is worse – especially if you’re just a teenager. Luckily, when a 19-year-old woman from Melbourne faced a hefty amount of medical bills after getting sick during her Europe trip, her travel insurance saved her from even more stress.
Tayla Cutts, who travelled without her parents for the very first time, visited the Greek Islands as part of her Eurotrip. She went to see a doctor in Ios after feeling tired and nauseous, and was then diagnosed with a bad case of glandular fever and advised to get hospitalised in Athens.
She was in the hospital for more than a week – resulting in $34,000 in medical bills before she was finally asked to go home on a business class flight that cost $4,500 due to her low white blood cell and inflammation in the liver and spleen.
Christine Cutts, the teenager’s mother, was thankful for being able to convince her daughter to take out travel insurance before her Eurotrip. She said the $511 travel insurance saved her daughter from paying tens of thousands.
“I stayed up all night worrying about her, it’s every parent’s worst nightmare not being about to help their child. How can I help from the other side of the world? Is she going to be okay? How bad is she? I just felt useless, stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Christine said, as reported by NZ Herald.
“You’re crazy to go overseas without it. It’s the insurance you never want to have to use, but you need the most.”
