What Travel Insurance cover?

The scope of Travel insurance coverage varies from insurer to insurer.

Usually It may cover the following:

1. Travel Medical expenses - Travel insurance may cover the medical expenses that could occur while travelling. This expenses may include the hospitalisation charges, Medicinal cost and evacuation costs.

2. Baggage Insurance - Travel insurance may cover for the lost baggage. It provides reimbursement for the stolen baggage.

3. Trip cancellation - Some time due to illness, the trips may be cancelled and this may be be covered by the Travel insurance. It may also cover the situations like .... you become sick during your trip and you need to cancel the travel and return home.

4. Trip delay - Some insurers provide reimbursement for delays in trips like delay in departure time of flight.

5.  Flight Insurance - Covers Accidental Death & Dismemberment while you are traveling on the commercial aircraft.

Apart from all these most of the insurance companies provides a 24 hour help line for their customers to assist them in handling various tight situations that could happen while they are on their trip.

There is an insurer which provides 24 hour Assistance to their customers and strictly use medical professionals to answer their emergency assistance lines. That means during a medical emergency, where minutes can save lives, an insured's call for assistance is answered immediately by a real doctor or nurse. There is no screening process and no waiting on hold for an available nurse.

The cost of the insurance you opted depends on your age. If you are Young the trip rate will be low. Travel medical and evacuation plans are quite inexpensive, especially if you are young.

Purchasing a Travel insurance from a trusted insurer will :-

protect your financial investment
protect your personal items while traveling
cover the high medical costs that could occur during your trip
protect your health and well-being.
cover the cost of being evacuated to a medical center  or back home.

Finally the Peace of mind..

So next time when you travel Make sure, You had purchased a Travel Medical Insurance....Safe Travels

Travel Insurance for Kids!

Travelling with kids? They need travel insurance, too!

The Travel Heath Insurance Association of Canada recently released a travel warning for March Break travellers.

The article talks of the important fact that while a parent maybe careful while travelling, children are usually excited and unaware of their new surroundings; and therefore not careful and perhaps more susceptible to having an accident.

Though, accidents are not the only peril one should consider. The imune systems of children are often more fragile than that of an adult. Travel in new places and countries bring the risk of infection. Whether from sanitary conditions of the hotel/resort, or from new foods or bugs therein; an infection can potentially lead to several days in a foreign hospital.

If you believe the comments by Medipac Travel Insurance: "Travel Medical Insurance claims can often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or upwards of $20,000 per day in a foreign hospital.". Most families would not be able to afford a prolonged sickness of their child. Perhaps this is why provincial governments often remind the public of the importance of travelling with proper travel medical insurance.

One source of government travel warning is DFAIT - Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

This agency publishes several FREE booklets that are key to travel. The most related to this blog is the Bon Voyage But...

Have a look at their other publications are well, they do provide some interesting facts about travel.

Insurance for Travel to Hurricane Alley

Typically, if there is a travel warning issued by a government organization that suggest restricting travel to a particular area on the globe, travel insurance will not cover any loses that may occur in those destinations.While most travel warnings are issued to address unrest in developing countries or war zones, during the hurricane season governments will also issue warnings against travel to such areas as  Hurricane Alley.

Here is a link to travel warnings issued by the United States.



Other travel related organizations also issue warnings, not about travel, but about the importance of purchasing proper travel insurance, or knowing what your travel insurance policy will cover in such locations and events. A few examples of such organizations are the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (or of the United States), and the Canadian Snowbird Association.

Here is a link of travel warnings, compiled by an insurer, posted by Canadian government organizations.

"Hurricane Alley is an area of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the west coast of northern Africa to the east coast of central America and Gulf Coast of the southern United States. Many hurricanes form within this area."

"Traditionally, hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with the peak occurring during August and September, although major storms have also caused considerable personal and property damage in July and October in recent years."


Here's a company that when a hurricane passed through Florida, the travel insurance company, during the off travel season for Canadians, went to inspect the damage of their clients' winter homes. How's that for an impressive level of service?

Dual Benefits of Travel Insurance

Most of the travellers who travel outside country would admit that financial saftey is as important as health safety. Here comes the importance of Travel insurance. A good Travel insurance policy from a reputable trust worthy insurer can assure travellesr with both financial and health safety.

As you know the medical expenses in countries like US are high, So, It is very important that the people who are traveling outside their country should be properly insured to meet the unfortunate health issue which might happen during their travels If you are holding a provincial insurance, make sure sure what is the scope of coverage of that isurance. If not covers the emergencies outside country, then make sure to purchase a travel health insurance form a reputed private insurer which can cover the medical emergencies outside your country.

Canadian Snowbird Association and Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs advises Canadian travellers or Snowbirds who travels to United States during Winter to have a travel protection plan with proper coverage. Have a look on the Travel insurance plan suggested by Canadian Snowbird Association.

Matters that Snowbirds should be aware of

Before snowbirding to US vacation places, it would be appreciable if snowbirds check themselves to confirm whether they are aware of certain important matters such as...

• How to handle emergency situations like accidents or illness that may happen while they are in US.
• What are the tax implications on vacation home in US, if you own it.
• Will you have to file US tax return if you have earning from your US holdings.

How to handle emergency situations like accidents or illness
Emergency situations can be any thing like illness, accidents or baggage loss that may happen while you are travelling. So snowbirds  must make sure that they are well covered from all these. Provincial Health insurance will cover only a mere fraction of your outside country health care cost. Snowbirds are strongly advised to purchase an additional health insurance from a private insurance company before you leave your home province. Without insurance, an unexpected medical expense in the U.S could drain the savings of your life time.

Surveys of leading travel organization suggest that Comprehensive Coverage is the most important attribute to travel medical insurance. So find a reputable company that understands the risks of travelling with medical conditions, and that write insurance policies that actually cover insureds for such conditions, at reputable prices. Travel Organisations such as CSA(Canadian Snowbird Association) and Royal Canadian Legion recommends Medipac as a good option for travellers.

Declaration of foreign Property
Foreign property includes the US bank accounts and foreign stocks in your Canadian brokerage account. You have to mention this while you submit Your Canadian Tax return. in the form their will a question like -- "Did you own or hold foreign property at any time in 2011(Assessment Year) with a total cost of more than $100,000 (Cdn)?" -- and here you have declare your foreign property.

File US Tax Return and US Estate Tax
If you stay more than 122 days a year in US, then IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will treat you as a resident Alien. Submit IRS Form 8840, a Closer Connection Exemption Statement for Aliens to prove you are a resident of Canada so that you are exempted from filing Tax in US.

If you die while owning U.S. property worth of over 60,000 US Dollars, your executor will be required to file a U.S. estate tax return, whether or not any U.S. estate tax is payable. The typical Canadian snowbird's estate should be exempt from U.S. estate tax if the worldwide value is under 5 million US dollars. The exemption limit is changeable according to Government Decisions.

Do you have faith in travel insurance?

Here is a great example of a travel insurance company that is interested in one thing - profits!

Do you have faith in travel insurance?

If you read between the lines, you will see that terms of the policy were open to interpretation, and that where the medical term in the policy is being interpreted by a medical professional, ie doctor, the client is covered; whereas, where being interpreted by a lawyer with limited knowledge in the medical field, the claim is denied. Either way you read the article, it appears the claim should have been paid.

I have read other articles, however, that are more clear cut, and the insureds tried to use the media to corner the insurance companies, and force them to pay a travel insurance claim on a clearly deniable scenario. A great example of this is where the client gets drunk, falls off a balcony, submits a claim for his or her injuries, the claim is denied based on the level of alcohol in his or her blood, then goes to the media as a victim! Get serious. Does the insured not realize that they are only harming their image, and that for the most part the public will read between the lines and side with the travel insurance company that denied the claim in the first place?

That said, regarding the article, should you happen to read the comments from the readers on the travel insurance industry, it is evident that – regardless of the shameful act of the insurance company in this particular case – the readers haven’t a clue about what travel insurance is about and why a person of sound mind should purchase coverage.

Travel Insurance Coverage is for emergency health care, and it should not considered for the coverage of any pre-existing condition, routine medical review, or to expedite treatment of a condition in a foreign country where medical care is not accessible in Canada in a timely manner.

There are unique travel insurance companies, however, that promote the concept of coverage for stable pre-existing conditions. Whether through their regular travel insurance plan, or through a special underwritten insurance policy, always disclose all pre-existing conditions. Reputable plans will be able to offered coverage for most stable pre-existing conditions.

Travel insurance is a contract. And the contract in the case of travel medical insurance is contemplated for the coverage emergent medical conditions of sound people of sound mind. People that binge drink and that are alcoholics in reality cannot be considered of sound mind, and therefore coverage for alcohol abuse and alcoholism is never a covered term under any travel insurance contract. Alcoholism would be considered an unstable pre-existing condition, and therefore not covered.

Travel Medical Insurance - Emergency Assistance Services

Medical emergencies while travelling are the impetus behind purchasing travel medical insurance. But what does an insurance company know about medical emergencies? When one buys travel medical insurance, are they not merely reducing their potential financial risk? Why should you consider the a travel insurance policy anything more than a financial product?

Well...YES! Travel medical insurance can greatly reduce the risk of the financial perils that are associated with a medical emergency that may occur while travelling - especially to the United States where health care costs are out of control!

BUT...a medical emergency often is not just a stubbed toe or a broken arm, where you go to the hospital or doctor, you get fixed and pay $100, then submit a claim to the insurance company for reimbursement. Sometimes a medical emergency can be a complicated condition, such as a heart attack, or vehicle accident. In such emergencies, a traveller needs assistance to navigate the complicated medical systems they will find abroad when travelling. If your medical emergency finds you incapacitated or bed ridden, you will require a great deal of assistance. This is where the services of the travel medical insurance company come into great use.

Travel insurance companies almost always use a emergency assistance services company to manage any medical emergencies of insured travellers when travelling. These companies are ofter knowledgeable about the health systems abroad, and the protocols required in order to receive appropriate care. However, you must be cognisant that these companies also, are responsible to applying the travel insurance policy to an insured's medical emergency, and to determine if the traveller is actually coverage by the insurance they purchased.

So what happens in the event of a medical emergency when travelling? Well, the first thing that you should do is manage the emergency first. Call 911 or the local authorities for help. Then, and when able, contact your travel insurance company. This is where minutes can save lives! Often these emergency assistance companies will answer your calls for assistance using call-center staff that are not medical professionals! They then screen the call to determine if medical attention is required. If such is the case, the call will be transferred to a medical professional, either a doctor or nurse.

Imagine talking with a $10 per hour call center clerk, during a heart attack, then waiting on hold to receive proper instruction from a real doctor or nurse.

There are some emergency assistance companies that take their roll in providing emergency medical assistance services very seriously. Such companies strictly use medical professionals to answer their emergency assistance lines. That means during a medical emergency, where minutes can save lives, an insured's call for assistance is answered immediately by a real doctor or nurse. There is no screening process and no waiting on hold for an available nurse.

When selecting a travel medical insurance policy, do your research! Read travel insurance surveys and reviews. Ask about the emergency assistance services that support your insurance policy. If the emergency assistance lines are not staffed exclusively with medical professionals, then the travel insurance policy should not be considered. Minutes can save lives, and when its your life, make the right choice.

Check out the emergency assistance services and travel medical insurance product recommended by the Royal Canadian Legion - www.RCLInsurance.ca. It appears they only use nurses to respond to medical emergencies.

Travel Insurance Pre-Existing Conditions

Travel insurance pre-existing conditions are one of the most important areas of concern for any travel insurance plan. Next to eligibility criteria, pre-existing medical conditions can dictate whether or not you have actual insurance coverage, should a medical emergency occur while on vacation.

While an individual may purchase travel medical insurance for peace of mind, they must remain cognizant of that fact that an insurance policy is a contract and has, by definition, conditions and clauses that may render the contract for insurance ineffective, or null and void. Pre-existing conditions are an example of such clauses, and therefore one should fully understand these prior purchasing the travel health insurance policy, and more importantly prior to travelling.

Travel Insurance Reviews

Travel insurance 101 talked about the importance of a Canadian traveller understanding their travel medical insurance policy they've purchased prior to traveling. That is the most important aspect to snowbird insurance.

But, how does one know what type of travel health insurance to purchase?

Well, the are several important Canadian associations that support the travel, snowbird and senior lifestyles; namely, the Canadian Snowbird Association and the Royal Canadian Legion. These associations make up Canada's most experienced travelers who know and understand the importance of protection.

Travel insurance 101

Travel insurance - the best way to start  a blog about travel insurance is to describe the what's important in a travel insurance product. Well its the policy! You can buy cheap, you can buy expensive, or somewhere in between. Bottom line is - if you don't understand your travel insurance policy, you're throwing your money away!

Most travellers think that nothing will happen on their travels. And, most are right. But that's not why we buy travel insurance. Some buy travel insurance for the trip cancellation portion. Some buy it emergency medical insurance. Some buy it for the baggage insurance. And some buy it for all of the above coverages. Mostly travellers buy travel insurance for peace of mind.