From the 1st of April 2010, a 62 year old health agreement between the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom is coming to an end. The agreement currently allows residents of the Isle of Man to receive the same health care on UK mainland. It also allows visitors from the UK the same on the Isle of Man.

The ending of this agreement could cause a massive change in the insurance industry. Many insurances run the same in the UK mainland and the Isle of Man, mainly because of this health agreement. The most obvious that is affected is travel insurance.

If you have a UK only travel policy, it will be cheaper than a European or Worldwide travel policy mainly because of the fact that health cover has to be included if travelling abroad. It is now quite possible that if you are travelling as a UK mainland resident to the Isle of Man (or vice versa), you will need to treat it as if you were travelling abroad to get the appropriate health cover.

You will also find that the wording of some policies for motor insurance, liability insurance, health insurance, etc. will be the same for mainland residents as it is for the Manx. All these policies, and many others, cover health care in some fashion meaning that we could find a massive change in the industry. We could find that the policies are adapted to cater for this divide with the possibility of one being more expensive than the other.

If you live in or travel to and from the Isle of Man, please check all of your insurance policies as from the 1st April 2010 you could find that you may have a gap in your cover.