Many people travel. But how many book travel insurance? You might be surprised?
If you are a do-it-yourself type, you can Book Travel Insurance Online.
If you would like to discuss your insurance needs, give me a shout:
Traveling within Canada
Because we have socialized medical care, we assume that when we attend a doctor or hospital in another province that the expenses are covered the same way as in our home province. However, this is not the case.
My wife and I were travelling to Vancouver BC for a week a few years ago. After we were there a few days she woke up with a very painful ear ache. We went to a walk in clinic. Even with her Alberta health care card, there was a $150 fee to see the doctor.
We submitted the receipt to Alberta Health, and received a portion of the cost back. Had we also purchased travel insurance, we would have received the entire amount back.
Travelling abroad
Two winters ago, my wife went to Portugal for 2 months to escape the winter. While she was there, she injured her knee. 5 or 6 trips back and forth to the hospital, X-rays, ultrasounds, and an MRI, she was diagnosed and prescribed pain killers, crutches etc to tide her over until she made it home.
She changed her flights to stay an extra week because she could get in for the MRI that Friday.
Because of having the travel insurance including trip interruption, the entire cost of the Doctor visits, lab procedures, Taxi cabs and change fees for the flight were covered. Otherwise we would have been out of pocket (long term) a few thousand dollars. Fortunately this was in Europe and not the USA, so she was able to put everything on her credit card and not max it out!
Emergency Medical Coverage
Emergency Medical coverage covers you in case you have something happen to you while traveling. Even if you are traveling within Canada, it is a good idea to have this coverage, as not all out of province health care costs are covered by your provincial insurer!
Trip Interruption
If there is an event that interrupts your trip (such as a delay at the airport) you may be covered for out of pocket expenses such as meals, transportation, hotels.
Trip Cancellation
If you have to cancel your trip for an insurable reason, you can claim a portion (up to 100% in some cases) of your trip costs.
Certain insurance companies also have a cancel for no reason policy, which will cover 50% of any non refundable expenses. However, you must purchase this insurance within a few days of purchasing the trip so don’t procrastinate!
Exclusions
When a policy is placed, there may be exclusions on the policy. For example, if you have a long standing health issue and then have a flair up while traveling, the emergency health costs for that flair-up may be denied. Or, if there is a declared “known event” like the Coronavirus and related travel advisories, things may not be covered.
From one of the insurers:
TRAVEL INSURANCE IS INTENDED TO COVER LOSSES ARISING FROM SUDDEN AND UNFORESEEABLE CIRCUMSTANCES. ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM EVENTS KNOWN TO A POLICYHOLDER WHEN PURCHASING INSURANCE ARE NOT COVERED.
COVID Impacts
Every insurer has different rules around Covid. In 2025 most insurers are treating it as any other illness in terms of the medical coverage.
2020-03-11 Update – Coronavirus exclusions