Travel Blog

Traveling without health insurance can literally bankrupt you. It can ruin your life if you cannot find the money to pay for hospital coverage and repatriation home, if you are too ill to travel. The prime travel season is coming up for snow birds heading south and many retired people planning trips. We felt that a post on travel insurance for Canadians coverage and why you need it would be worthwhile. Bottom line is that the cost of medical visits to the hospital is just too high. It can literally put you in the poor house if you are not properly covered.

Travel Insurance for Canadians

A recent survey found that many people, young and old are taking the chance of traveling abroad without health insurance coverage and unfortunately ending up with huge medical bills that most people just cannot afford. Canadians are not used to paying for their health issues. After all it is covered by government programs. Travel insurance for Canadians while traveling is extremely important.

Many People Travel Without Health Insurance

Many People Travel Without Health Insurance survey went on to say that as many as 65% of younger travelers will travel without health insurance, which by itself is an amazing statistic when a day in hospital can cost as much as $20,000 or even more. A major accident could cost several hundred thousand dollars and there are many of these every year were foreigners are hurt in major car crashes.

What Coverage do You Have When Traveling

Many people think that their own health insurance will cover them when they travel. They might and then again they may not. A broken leg could cost $16,000 for a two day stay in the hospital, while some local government health care agencies that Canadians have will only cover about $200 per day. That is a huge number to make up. Health insurance for that same person might have cost less than a hundred dollars.

The cost to be transported from one state to another, from one province to another or from one country to another country is usually not covered by government health agencies. You need to have travel health insurance to cover these sorts of things. Someone who suddenly takes ill while traveling, or has a car accident and needs to be transported home will spend thousands of dollars on travel costs or transport by air ambulance. Travel health insurance can cover all of this including transporting your immediate family and your car if you are driving.

For the small amount of money that health and travel insurance costs you, it is definitely worth having to ensure that you and your family is adequately protected while traveling.

Travel Insurance Tips

• Before you go review your coverage and what it does not cover
• Are you covered for the right number of days
• Are you covered for transport home
• Do you have to pay and claim or will they pay the hospital up front
• What will your current health insurance cover?
• Review the various plans available and select the one that meets your needs
• Are you covered within your home country, even if you are out of state or province
• Do you need trip cancellation insurance or
• Trip interruption insurance
• Lost baggage insurance and replacement cost for items that you need

Read the details of the coverage, especially the exclusions to ensure that you will be covered for everything that you are doing. If you have any questions ask the experts and do not make assumptions. Assumptions can cost a lot of money especially if they are the wrong assumptions.

Travel safe and plan well to ensure that you have a successful and enjoyable vacation.

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