Personally when travelling in Europe I have rarely bothered with travel insurance and never had any problems. Perhaps I have been reckless. Perhaps I have been astonishingly lucky. I have the EU health card that covers health care costs (yes I know you might have to pay costs first and claim them back later, but I could use savings to do so). My home insurance covers possessions that are away from home if they are stolen. Airlines have to compensate under the EU261 if the flight is delayed/cancelled and you need overnight accommodation or incur other expenses. (I have only had to put this into practice once, but I was put up for the night, transport and meal costs paid for, so I had no complaints). I wouldn't take the risk of travelling to other countries, like the US with no insurance. So the question might be more of the EU health card covers Covid in which case it may not be such an issue if insurance excludes it if you are travelling in Europe.
By way of comparison, I did take out travel insurance in 2019 which covered me through to 2020. When I did try to claim on it, for a trip I couldn't make due lockdown restrictions and that the hotel refused to refund, the travel insurance company told me that according the UK Government (the competition and markets stuff) they believe they should be refunding so I must take it up with the hotel as they won't pay out where the hotel is liable to refund. I had already done so and provided all communications where they flat out refused. In any case the hotel was outside the UK, so whatever the UK Government thinks they should be doing is largely irrelevant. In addition the hotel had gone bankrupt between me booking and the date I was due to travel. It was still open, as the result of a management buy out. The hotel explained this (and provided details of the old company number that was now bankrupt and so on), explaining that the money I paid had been paid to a now bankrupt company and as a result they could not legally refund it. When I pushed back AXA then changed their tune to the fact the hotel had offered a change of dates (which is true) so the money was "recoverable" and they wouldn't pay out. They ignored the fact the hotel had offered to change the dates of the booking but had also stated that if I arrived on that date I would have to pay again. I.E. they wern't offering to change dates for free, they were effectively offering to make a second booking, for which I'd have to pay again.
Unfortunately there are other issues around potentially having to qurantine/self isolate but most don't seem to cover that now.
As to the driving license that's a very different issue. You are legally required to posses a driving license in order to be able to drive without an instructor present. So it seems perfectly logical to check that. You are not, yet, required to have a vaccine passport in order to travel. So I see now issue with asking to prove you are legally qualified to drive considering not everyone is.
A distant relative had a serious medical problem when they were in the UK, but checked themselves out of hospital, and headed off to the EU to meet up with a partner. They were relying on the EHIC card (it was a few of years ago) got ill again, and found that they weren't covered, because they had left the UK hospital against the medical advice. I don't know what the bill was for their treatment and repatriation to the UK, but it was a lot. Luckily they have enough assets to pay for the bill.
Personally, I would always get travel insurance, perhaps with a hefty excess so its cheaper and only worthwhile for life changing bills.
Insurance companies aim to make a profit. Insurance companies that make a loss are really scary.
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