Travel insurance may offer health protection during unforeseen emergencies. Also, due to insurance guidelines, your Government of Canada health insurance plan may not fully cover you if you experience a medical emergency outside of your home province. Additionally, many healthcare facilities abroad expect upfront payment for services.
Here are some common misconceptions about travel insurance and why you may actually need it.
You are entitled to certain medical benefits while travelling in Canada outside your home province. However, you won’t be fully covered if you experience an emergency. Under the Canada Health Act, coverage for ground and air ambulance services are “generally not portable outside one’s home province or territory,” according to the Government of Canada.
Additionally, sometimes patients are required to pay up front for other emergency health services and to seek reimbursement from their provincial health insurance. And coverage for emergency health services received outside of Canada has cost limits.
“It is always recommended that whenever possible; Canadians purchase private health insurance to ensure coverage for unexpected medical expenses when travelling outside their home province or territory,” according to the Government of Canada.
Many credit cards offer a degree of travel insurance coverage if you used the card to purchase your trip. But there’s limited coverage for medical emergencies, usually limited to catastrophic emergencies, according to Business Insider.
A stand-alone travel insurance policy usually offers far more extensive emergency medical, trip cancellation and baggage protection benefits.
The cost of travel insurance depends largely on many factors within your control, such as type of coverage, and the number of people travelling. This allows you to tailor travel protection to your needs and budget.
Travel insurance plans by Allianz Global Assistance may be cost saving, compared to buying multiple single trip policies over the duration of a year. For example, an annual plan for frequent travellers gives one year of protection for one annual fee, which can be less expensive overtime than paying per trip.
It only takes one bad fall or a companion suddenly turning ill to affect any trip and result in major medical bill that greatly impact your finances.
As a world leader in travel protection, Allianz Global Assistance helps millions of Canadians and visitors to Canada annually answer the call of adventure with confidence every year. Let us be there for you too.
Travel insurance is underwritten by CUMIS General Insurance Company, a member of The Co-operators Group of Companies, administered by Allianz Global Assistance, which is a registered business name of AZGA Service Canada Inc.
