TikToker Kaleah Salmon was on a skiing trip in the French Alps when she learned the consequences of traveling without travel health insurance the hard way.
On one of the days, the Salmon woke up with her face fully swollen and had to rush to the doctors immediately who were struggling to find out what she had.
She later shared a video on the experience on her TikTok account, which has 10.1k followers. The video immediately went viral, reaching an audience of 5.3 million viewers, reports SchengenVisaInfo.com.
“Everyone: You should really get travel health insurance. Me: Well, I’m healthy, I’ll be fine,” Salmon wrote in her video before showing herself with her face fully swollen.
@kaleahsalmon Take your health seriously kiddos. #traveltiktok #foryou #health #fy #travel #forgoupage #toldyouso #fyp
♬ Dandelions (slowed + reverb) – Ruth B. & sped up + slowed
In the comments later, she explained that while at first, the doctor told her it could be Lyme disease, after visiting a third doctor the latter told her that it was most likely an auto-inflammatory disease.
Days later, she said in a comment in another that she was still wondering what the reason behind the facial swelling was, including that she had woken up the other day with other body parts swelling and rashes.
A lot of commenters in the video pointed out the importance of having health insurance when traveling in order to avoid expenses.
“Honestly, how can people travel WITHOUT insurance? It can ruin people financially without!” a TikToker commented under the video.
“My dad says if I can’t afford travel insurance, I can’t afford to travel. So I guess I ain’t traveling for a bit cause it’s expensive,” another one said.
“Travel insurance is very affordable and worth it!!!” wrote a person under the name Rena.
“Man, I paid $1k for a year of travel insurance and was so reluctant… ending up saving $90k in medical bills,” TikToker named Grace told Kaleah in a comment.
In order to avoid cases of travelers experiencing financial burden for healthcare in Europe, Schengen Area countries have made it obligatory for all travelers reaching the borderless area to hold travel insurance covering their entire trip and possible expenses of at least €30,000 for urgent health attention and or emergency hospital treatment and even repatriation in case of death.
Even Schengen visa applicants, when filing an application, are obliged to submit proof of travel insurance in order to obtain the visa.
While there are numerous companies offering insurance for travel to the Schengen Area, Europ Assistance, a leading travel insurance company and the popular comparison website vti.travel through its partners, offer the essential insurance certificate required for a Schengen visa application. vti.travel by Insurte allows travelers to compare prices and coverage options from multiple insurers to find the best policy for every traveler planning a trip to Europe.