Insurance and the Lottery

I'm going on holiday next month to Turkey and being the responsible person that I am, I've taken out travel insurance. Only when you have a brain tumour/epilepsy it's not as easy as it should be. A number of insurance companies just laugh and turn you down. Okay - they don't actually laugh but you know what I mean. So I look on the National Epilepsy Society website http://www.epilepsynse.org.uk/PAGES/info/leaflets/travelinsurance.cfm and try some of the insurance companies they suggest. One or two (no names) say that unfortunately, on their points system, they're unable to cover me. I end up getting insurance that covers the family but excludes cover for me for anything to do with my condition. Apart from that, the cover comes to £30. Bargain.

So I think - well, that's that. The chances of me having anything worse than a seizure are extremely low and our UK health insurance covers any costs if I have to be hospitalised, so that's that.

Only my wife won't have it. She wants me to be fully covered. "What if I have to be repatriated?" She asks. "What if you die?" Well, I won't go into the discussion that went on except to say that the odds of that happening were extremely low. I checked and found that the insurance premium just for me is £240. Yes, £240. I said that given the comparative odds, I'd rather buy 240 lottery tickets.

I lost the argument.

240 quid! How much beer is that?