Travel Insurance Blog

Ipsos Reid recently released a survey that found out that many Canadian vacationers are not protecting themselves while away from home. In fact, Canadians are lagging behind travelers in other parts of the globe. This may be due to the lack of understanding of the benefits of travel insurance cover or maybe Canadian’s blind faith in the nation’s universal healthcare system. The poll stated that 59.1% of those who travel to the USA always or usually purchase travel insurance. Some people in Canada still believe that their domestic healthcare covers them abroad and this is simply not the case. The government healthcare only covers a small fraction of any emergency medical care if that person is traveling outside their province or country.

One example of some of the highest coverage rates for out of province medical care come from the Maritime provinces and the lowest can be found in British Columbia. In BC, the residents covered under the Medical Services Plan (MSP) rarely receive more than $75 a day for emergency medical costs. That wouldn’t buy you much in the United States where medical costs can reach in the high thousands per day.

Unfortunately, most Canadians are not able to pay out many thousands of dollars in hospital bills should they fall ill or become injured while traveling. It is critical that people get the message that if you travel outside your province, you must get travel medical insurance to cover your unexpected medical costs. The policy should also cover medical evacuation back to Canada if necessary. One should also consider purchasing trip interruption and cancellation insurance to cover the vacation costs. Canadians should not rely on the government medical plan to come to their rescue should they get sick or injured abroad.