Why You Need Travel Health Insurance CanadaQuick Money Saving Tip: Check your health insurance plan to see if it includes Travel Insurance. Some health insurance policies include $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 of travel insurance coverage. On many medical plans, travel insurance is an optional add-on. Check your medical plan to see if you need to purchase travel insurance. Also, although hereunder we give some examples of how particular travel policies helped Clients, PLEASE check the wording of your Policy and ensure that you understand your coverage and exclusions of your Policy. ASK US TO HELP YOU understand! Examples of why you need Travel InsuranceSome facts on Travel Insurance We have all heard about unexpected travel medical emergencies which result in delayed treatment and financial stresses. Provincial health insurance plans and other travel insurance like credit cards and employee group benefits may not adequately provide the coverage to handle these travel emergencies. Many make you pay up front and then submit claims or take far too long to approve your recommended treatment when the emergency occurs. One of the travel insurance companies has provided the following real-life scenarios – make sure you have the travel insurance to deal with these types of events.A Medical Emergency Insurance (using Travel Insurance coverage)A 50-year old woman on a cruise ship in the Caribbean had a medical emergency and collapsed. The ship board doctor recommended that she be taken to a hospital at the next port of call. It cost $50,000 for the hospital, emergency air ambulance home, and emergency air transportation for her family. Would your emergency accident and sickness travel insurance cover these costs? The travel insurance company paid her medical costs and in addition, they were reimbursed $10,000 for the lost portion of the pre-paid cruise. However there is more – the travel insurance also covered a translator to work with the hospital’s physician and the family doctor to develop the best plan for treatment, provided an air ambulance to bring her home, provided transportation for the family and even ensured there was a hospital bed waiting for her return. Finally, their travel insurance company arranged to pay all the medical bills directly to the suppliers and therefore their out of pocket costs were minimal. Trip Cancellation Insurance (can be included in Travel Insurance)This applies to prepaid vacations – Mexico, Cruise, Disney etc. A family purchased a $12,000 tour package that included return flights to Orlando, hotel accommodation and theme resort day passes to Disney. The father was involved in a car accident two days before the trip and was hospitalized. The travel package offered no refund as it happened within two days of departure. The trip cancellation insurance refunded the entire amount including the day passes. Trip Interruption Insurance (can be included in Travel Insurance)Newlyweds in Montreal purchase an Alaskan Cruise including air fare to Vancouver, but bad weather caused their flight to be delayed and they missed their departure. They made one call and their trip interruption insurance made arrangements for the interim hotel, the catching up with the cruise. Also return flights home are covered by this type of insurance including the value of any lost days on the cruise. Lost Travel Documents Insurance (can be included in Travel Insurance)When we travel we use funny belts to keep documents safe and together. Unfortunately, "things” can happen. A senior traveling in Spain lost her passport and travel tickets. One call to her travel insurance company looked after getting everything replaced. Can you imagine what it would be like in a foreign country not speaking the language to get new tickets and documents? Besides being extremely stressful, it would also be costly. Travel Insurance ConclusionYou have a couple of choices when you travel. You can pay say $6,000, $12,000 or whatever your trip costs and be more "self insured’ i.e. rely on credit card travel insurance and group travel insurance; or you can pay a little more for individual or Family Travel Insurance and gain peace of mind by completely removing the risk and stress from your vacation. We are a telephone call away - phone us 1-866-747-7615 E-mail us info@insurancedirectcanada.com Along with travel insurance, snowbird insurance and visitors to Canada insurance, Medical Health Plans provides quotes for affordable individual and group medical insurance plus family health and dental insurance plans in Canada; serving clients in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Maritimes. |