• Monaco is the world’s most expensive hospital stay, costing £2,583 per night
• A night in a Luxembourg hospital costs almost 12 times more than a 5-star hotel
• The UK is the 23rd most expensive hospital to spend the night in for foreign visitors

Spending a night in hospital abroad can cost up to 12 times more than a 5-star hotel for Brits without travel cover, according to new research by personal finance comparison website finder.com.

The most expensive hospital bed in the world is in Monaco, where it’ll set you back £2,583 per night. This is almost seven times the price of a 5-star hotel in the city-state (£385 on average).

Luxembourg is the destination with the largest difference in price between a night in hospital and at a 5-star hotel. A night in a luxury hotel here costs £117 on average – almost 12 times more than a hospital charge of £1,360 per day.

The other priciest countries for a hospital bed are Norway, which is £1,007, compared to £248 for a 5-star hotel and Qatar, where a hospital stay costs £938 compared to £138 for a top hotel.

Even Britain’s most popular holiday destinations have significant hospital charges. Staying the night in a Spanish hospital would cost £332, in France it’s £428 and in the USA it costs £482.

For those travelling to the UK without insurance or Ehic cover, a night in one of our hospitals would cost £423, making it the 23rd most expensive hospital bed in the world.

The findings come as a timely reminder to Brits who are preparing for summer holiday season. Although the average cost of medical treatment abroad topped £1,300 in 2016(1), it is estimated that 25% of Brits went abroad without travel insurance last year(2).

An interactive map of all the hospital costs around the world, along with more detailed analysis can be found here: https://www.finder.com/uk/most-expensive-countries-to-be- hospitalised-in Top 10 most expensive hospital beds in the world Rank Country Cost of a hospital bed per night

Average cost of a 5* hotel per night

1. Monaco £2,583 £385
2. Luxembourg £1,360 £117
3. Norway £1,007 £248
4. Qatar £981 £138
5. Switzerland £662 £328
6. San Marino £634 £83
7. Denmark £606 £154
8. Ireland £603 £179
9. United Arab Emirates £545 £235
10. Netherlands £533 £116

Commenting on the research, Jon Ostler, UK CEO at finder.com, said: ”While most of us are lucky enough to avoid hospitals when abroad, the costs of staying overnight are eye watering – and this is before you take into account the cost of medicine and specialist treatment as well.

“It may seem like something that will never happen to us, but with travel insurance for a week in Europe costing potentially 952 times less than a week in a Monaco hospital (£19 vs £18,081), it really is a small price to pay for peace of mind. An uninsured stay in a foreign hospital can have a financial impact that could take years to recover from.”

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Source:

1. ABI, June 2017
2. ABTA, May 2017

Notes to editors:

• The average cost of a hospital bed was calculated by averaging the country’s primary-level, secondary-level and teaching hospital costs from most recent WHO data (2011). The data for 189 countries was available, with Somalia and Zimbabwe having no data available
• The WHO estimates represent only the "hotel" component of hospital costs, i.e., excluding the cost of drugs and diagnostic tests but including costs such as personnel, capital and food costs
• The average cost of 5-star hotels was taken from Knoema’s Accommodation Price Index 2016. As for the countries not included in this index (Qatar, San Marino, Cyprus), averages of the top five 5-star hotels for each month of the year were taken from TripAdvisor