In its most basic form, travel insurance is purchased as protection against potential accidents, injuries, or other events that could adversely affect your trip.
Typical travel insurance coverage may consist of trip termination due to unforeseen weather, bad weather or unforeseen illness, treatment of emergency situations while traveling, loss or damage to baggage, travel delays, and more.
Travel insurance can be used for travel around the world and travel within Canada, for a few days, a few months, or more than a year.
Based on a current InsuranceHotline.com survey, more than 40 percent of Canadians travel abroad 2 or more times each year, but 22 percent of people don’t fully understand what travel insurance covers and doesn’t cover.
Travel Insurance 101: Package Type
The types of travel insurance that Canadians typically purchase fall into several main categories: Package Plans, and Travel Clinic Packages. There are special categories of additional insurance that can be added or purchased independently, and can consist of travel accidents, evacuation only, or accidental death. These plans concentrate on providing detailed and specific coverage as opposed to more basic clinical travel plans and package plans.
Package Packages
Many Canadians choose Plan travel insurance because of its broad coverage. It usually consists of one of the most common factors for a claim, which consists of a clinical emergency situation (consisting of a clinical evacuation), trip stoppage, damaged warehouse or baggage, and missed onward travel. Package plans usually offer a wide range of coverage options at a premium price to suit the moving range. For example, Basic plans tend to be cheaper than Premium plans and offer much less coverage than top-tier plans.
Basic vacation travelers, (families or individuals), business travelers, senior citizens (consisting of snowbirds) and those on cruises are among the most regular purchase of package packages.
Travel Clinical Plan
Typically purchased by Canadians leaving the country for a few days to a fiscal year, travel clinical packages provide concentrated clinical coverage while traveling. This plan usually consists of emergency clinical coverage, emergency assistance, clinical medical diagnosis, therapy, & evacuation.
While this plan is typically used by Canadians leaving their home country, those traveling to Canada from an international venue, consisting of visiting family from their home country, are also eligible for comparable coverage, called Canadian Site Visitor Insurance.
Traveling in Canada
Health care across the country means most of our clinical needs will be met within the country, even if we are outside our home district. But many Canadians don’t know that because our health and wellness coverage is based on a connected provincial plan – as opposed to a single statewide plan – benefits in one district are not always available in another. In other words, your Ontario-based OHIP may not cover you in British Columbia, and that’s where travel insurance can help. Because coverage differs from district to district and area to area, what may be included in your home district benefit, (for example, ground or air rescue, treatment of emergency situations, extended medical facility stay), may not be covered at your Canadian vacation location.
