Falling ill while travelling always has a bad consequences.
Holidaymakers have been warned they could be left with a bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds if they need emergency medical treatment abroad.
More than 3,000 travellers every week turn to their insurer after needing need emergency medical help abroad, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Some treatments can be even more expensive than the average UK house price, at around £211,000.
The average travel claim is just over £700 but it can easily rocket.
For example, emergency medical bills in the United States can be huge.
One insurer recently paid a medical bill of £322,000 for treating a swollen blood vessel in the brain.
Other claims include £300,000 for a tourist who suffered multiple injuries after falling from a waterfall in Thailand and £40,000 to pay for the medical costs of a traveller who was bitten by a mosquito in Indonesia and contracted Dengue fever.
Another traveller had a £31,000 hill for treating a broken leg in Nepal that became infected while £11,000 was paid to a holidaymaker with a brain tumour in Spain.
Yet around one in five Britons still risk heading overseas without travel insurance in place, said the ABI.
Holidaymakers have now been urged not to leave cover as an afterthought.
Mark Shepherd, the ABI's manager, general insurance, said: "Anyone travelling overseas should always take out appropriate travel insurance for the duration of their trip, and declare medical conditions when they take out their policy."
"A valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) when travelling in Europe is also strongly recommended. Though not a substitute for travel insurance, the EHIC is free and provides access to state-provided healthcare on the same basis as a resident."
He added: "Travel insurance should not be an afterthought, but the first thing you arrange after booking any overseas trip."
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