If you are planning your trip to Canada or any other overseas location, then you are probably more occupied with planning your activities and hotels than thinking about your travel insurance. Chances are that you will not need to have international travel medical insurance, but if something does go wrong the small investment in your health can save you a lot of problems.
So you know that you need to find some travel insurance, but choosing a policy can be confusing. There are different companies and options and they each have differing inclusions, exclusions, premiums and gap fees. Before selecting a policy, you should compare what each is offering and make an educated decision based upon your health needs and those of the other people that will be covered with the plan.
Work out roughly what level of coverage you require and from there choose a few different companies' products to compare. Look at what they cover and the amount that they will cover you for, check how long it takes them to make payment and what happens in the case of emergency. It is no good having the insurance if the company is slow to respond in times of emergency. Also compare the prices of the policy, but the cheapest is not always the best.
You can choose between around four basic types of international medical travel insurance – short or single trip covers travel up to 90 days in length, long or multiple trip coverage of up to to one year, expat. Covers people living overseas and foreign national covers non United States citizens.
The tricky part of choosing between insurance policies for your Canada trip is comparing the different policies that are available. There can be a lot of difference between what is covered by travel insurance and what is not. The pricing of what is covered and the amounts you are covered for can also be quite different.
There may be some policies that charge more for some featured inclusions that are not relevant to you, so it may be possible to save money with a less comprehensive policy. Some of the elements that may be included in travel medical insurance are: emergency medical care, emergency dental care, medical removal from the country to the nearest appropriate facility, trip cancellation and delay, lost luggage that may pay out for lost items up to a set limit.
There are a number of things that are normally excluded from travel insurance and you should be conscious of them before signing on with any policy. They generally are: pre-existing medical conditions, being pregnant, extreme sports such as diving and mountaineering or rock climbing, self caused harm, mental illnesses. With pre-existing conditions you may be still able to receive coverage with further medical back up or by paying a higher premium than those that do not have such a condition.
Before you take out your international travel medical insurance you should check all the details of the policy that you are considering. You do not want to be caught out and have your vacation ruined by unforeseen costs.
Dan Pucher Insurance is an independent Travel Health Insurance Broker offering personal and corporate solutions. When looking for Visitors to Canada Insurance and information on Canada Travel Insurance please give us a call.
