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.
It is a no brainer to take out the insurance, but you might find it confusing knowing which company to go with. In order to choose insurance that is right for you, you will need to do some research. There are some existing policies that you may have that include travel insurance and some credit card companies also have this service.
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 complicated bit about choosing the right travel insurance for your Canadian vacation or other overseas journey is comparing what type of incidents are covered with the policy. There is a great degree of variability between what is covered with different policies as well as the amounts that you are covered for.
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 do tend to be some exclusions with medical travel insurance that you may need to be aware of. The more common ones are – prior medical conditions, pregnancy, adventure sports such as diving and mountain climbing, self caused injury or mental illness.
Before you settle on the international travel medical insurance coverage that you are going to take out, there are a couple of factors which will affect which insurance policy is the right one for you. You need to consider – the length of your trip, your destination, participation in high-risk sports, your general health. Always check up on the fine details and be clear about what you have covered and how to go about making a claim. Travel insurance can make all the difference between a stress free holiday and a disastrous one.
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.
