Got a big trip coming up? Chances are you are excitedly planning your itinerary around Canada or mapping out your European driving vacation, but don't forget about one very important thing: international travel medical insurance. Most overseas vacations are very successful and you do not need to make a claim, but if disaster strikes you want to make sure that you are covered.
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 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.
Some of the inclusions that are usually included with different policies are: emergency medical care, emergency dental care, medical evacuation (covers the cost of transporting you to the nearest hospital equipped to handle your medical emergency), trip cancellation or delay, lost or delayed baggage up to a set amount. It is worth weighing up the likelihood of different conditions and events and you may be able to make realistic cutbacks on inclusions to save some money.
There are also some items that are not typically included in a travel insurance policy. It is common for pre existing conditions to be excluded. If you do have some condition that you need covered, you will have to find out whether the company will insure you. If they do, you may have to pay an extra fee. Extreme sports are not usually covered by insurance companies. Pregnancy, mental illness and self harm incidents are also unlikely to be covered.
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.
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