Tag Archives: travel insurance

The importance of Global Health Insurance for Canadians moving abroad

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By David Tompkins

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

More and more Canadians are either moving overseas or are contemplating life abroad. It may be a dream for many to work or retire overseas. Many others may travel for an extended period or become a digital nomad, which is someone who can live and work anywhere they have digital access to work back home.

There are a lot of preparations to make before you move abroad for both yourself and your family members: schools, housing, tickets, visas, taxes, selling your house, moving expenses and much more. It can all get very daunting.

One of the most important preparations for your life abroad is to secure your family from large medical expenses: meaning obtaining a global health insurance plan.

Don’t rely on Canadian medical coverage if you are a Canadian Expat

Most Canadians are fully covered by their provincial medical plans such as OHIP in Ontario or MSP in British Columbia. They may even have individual or employer-based extended medical and dental coverage. However, those plans do not cover someone living abroad as an expat. Canadian travel insurance plans will only cover emergency claims and can only cover you as long as you keep your provincial medical coverage in place. As you may know, provincial medical coverage has limited or no coverage beyond Canada. Most Canadian expats will eventually lose their provincial medical plan once they are no longer a Canadian resident, so it makes sense to purchase an international health insurance plan.

What is Global Medical Insurance?

Well, the easiest way to think about it that it is the same as US healthcare, but it covers you globally. Or put another way, an expat health plan will probably cover everything your provincial plan covers (hospital, out-patient, doctors’ visits, scans) and the extended medical plans as well (medication, physio, travel, medical appliances). If you are going abroad as a Canadian expat, you will need global health coverage.

What about relying on Destination Country coverage?

Depending on where you are relocating, that may work. Your employer may provide coverage or you can get a local plan. However, there are often many disadvantages to such local plans:

  • You are only covered locally
  • Local medical care may be limited or sub-standard
  • The local insurer may be unreliable
  • Local insurance may not be available to expats
  • Expats are portable, local plans are not
  • You won’t have any coverage outside your destination country, but most expats want to be able to be treated when back home or regionally.
  • Any many more.

If you are an expat, you most likely need an expat health plan. Continue Reading…

5 rare types of Credit Card Travel Insurance coverage

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By Maria Weyman, creditcardGenius

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Having a form of insurance coverage while travelling gives tremendous peace of mind. And when that important coverage comes from the credit card you already have and you use to book your travels, even better.

Why? Because insurance coverage built in with your credit card has no additional cost, not to mention it’s convenient.

Despite the convenience and potential to save money, it pays to read the details.

Reading your insurance certificate

Your credit card insurance certificate should have the details of what coverage comes with your credit card as well as information on exclusions and limitations.

For example, here’s a list of coverage one credit card offers:

However, even after reviewing this list, it’s always best to still review the certificate to read all the fine details so you know exactly:

  • what is covered,
  • what’s excluded,
  • the maximum amount you can claim per coverage, and
  • any additional terms and conditions.

5 rare types of travel insurance coverage

There are 16 types of insurance coverage we track; however here’s an overview of the five rare types of travel insurance coverage your card might include:

1.) Trip Cancellation

Opting for lower-cost non-cancellable flights and hotels saves money up front. But what happens if you need to cancel? Trip Cancellation coverage takes care of that for you if you’re cancelling for a list of emergency reasons.

Keep in mind there will be a cap to how much you can claim, typically around $1,500. However $1.5K is still better than $0 without this coverage. Continue Reading…

Top Ten questions & answers on Medical Tourism

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Medical building in Guatemala City

By Akaisha Kaderli

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Because Billy and I live a lifestyle of travel, we often get readers asking us basic questions about medical tourism. Below we have the answers to some of the most common questions we get asked. How do you know if this option will work for you? The following should help you decide.

Q: I have heard the term “Medical Tourism,” but what exactly is it?

A: Generally, Medical Tourism refers to going elsewhere other than your own city or state/province to receive medical care. For example, people in the U.S. have been going out of their home state to Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic for years, and no one thinks twice about it. Canadians will come to the U.S. for procedures perhaps because they don’t want to deal with long waits in their own home country or maybe they have other personal reasons.

Today, there are dozens of countries like Thailand, Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Guatemala, Singapore and the Philippines which offer excellent medical care delivery in ultra-modern facilities for very affordable prices.

The importance of medical tourism – and this cannot be overstated – is that its availability offers options to those who are:

  • Under-insured
  • Self-insured
  • Not insured and,
  • For procedures not approved in the USA (or the patient’s home country).

Q: Is Medical Tourism expensive? And how does one choose a hospital or country?

A: In terms of budgeting for medical tourism, we think it’s a good idea to have an emergency fund, or institute your own style of a Health Savings Account, where you only utilize that money for health related issues.

When you purchase medical care overseas, you will know how much it will cost before you purchase. There is no guessing game because you check off what you want as if from a menu. If you want to have an “Executive Physical” for instance, you can choose all the features you would like: lung x-ray, bone density test, colonoscopy, full panel blood tests, and so on, and with every choice, your total at the bottom of the page changes. You see beforehand what your cost outlay will be and what price everything is individually.

The delivery of medical care in the States is expensive and out of the reach of many. If you have a high deductible, and you go out of network, sometimes that deductible doubles.

Treatment in the States for a heart condition or cancer can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not so overseas.

A heart valve replacement in the States can cost US$170,000 but will run you US$24,000 in Guatemala City. Chemotherapy in the States runs about $75,000 but is under $20,000 in Guatemala City. A bone marrow transplant can cost up to $200,000 in the U.S., but will run up to $25,000 in India. A spinal fusion runs between $80-100,000 in the United States but will cost you $6-10,000 overseas.

There are many medical tourism concierge services available and websites of hospitals in various countries have their prices listed for procedures. Continue Reading…

Pack your bags, not your stress this March Break

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By Brigitte Gougeon

Special to the Financial Independence Hub 

Taking a vacation is supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy a week away from the stresses of work and daily commitments. But with two in five Canadians planning to travel during March Break, there will be many people worrying about some aspect of their trip.

A recent TD Insurance survey found that for nearly half (49%) of Canadians planning to travel, the potential of falling ill while away was one of the top three causes of stress. Other top travel stress factors were losing a wallet or travel documents (58%) and other personal items such as a camera or mobile phone (41%).

Even though Canadian travellers are worried about the prospect of needing medical care while they’re away, only four in ten (39%) report regularly buying travel insurance. Canadians who don’t regularly buy travel insurance list a variety of reasons for not doing so, including it not being top of mind, thinking they don’t need it or thinking it’s not worth the cost.

Those planning to travel over March Break should take care to make travel insurance part of their broader travel-planning checklist. The cost of not buying travel insurance can have a devastating financial impact. Covering unexpected medical costs out of your own pocket can be financially ruining as, on average, government provincial health insurance will only cover a small portion of medical expenses. And even then, that coverage is capped.

Travel insurance has to be bought BEFORE your trip

Even when taking a short trip across the border –- which many Canadians take for granted –- you never know if something unexpected will crop up, like a fall or accident that requires medical attention. To safeguard you and your family, it’s important you ensure you have the right coverage that fits your unique needs and situation. And remember, you have to get insurance before your trip starts; it won’t protect you if you get the insurance after an accident happens or your trip is cancelled.

Additional travel tips for cutting down on stressors: Continue Reading…