Inter-provincial Travel Insurance
Do You Need Travel Insurance For Trips Within Canada?
For Canadians leaving their home province, it is important to realize that provincial health providers will not cover 100% of all out-of-province medical costs, including incidental hospital room charges, medical appliance rentals, ambulance charges, etc.
While most provinces will usually bill your home health care provider for the expenses you incur in their province, that's not always going to be the case. In the case of Quebec, you will often have to pay the costs yourself, and then file a claim with your provincial health plan to recoup as many expenses as possible.
However, differences exist between what one province may charge for a certain service (i.e., placing a cardiac stent, or running an MRI, etc.) and the maximum amount that is paid by your home province for that same service. Without travel insurance, you will be expected to pay the difference between provincial charges (while you are in the hospital)!
With your own travel insurance policy, you can avoid that inconvenience. Travel medical insurance can be a good way to fill in those gaps in coverage, and to cover other non-medical expenses that your provincial health provider won't such as:
- Emergency paramedical service including chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist, or podiatrist;
- Emergency dental treatment;
- Expenses to bring someone to your bedside;
- Expenses for meals, hotel, phone calls, taxi, or incidental hospital expenses;
- Emergency evacuation, local & air ambulance and expenses to bring you home;
- Expenses to bring your vehicle home;
- Expenses for medical appliance rental;
- Expenses to bring your children or travel companion home;
- Expenses related to your death.
Out of province insurance is usually offered at half the cost of out of country plans, and may also include Canada trip cancellation insurance and trip interruption insurance for Canadians. You can even buy trip cancellation and interruption insurance for trips that you take withing your own province. So in the event of a medical emergency, death in the family, job loss, etc., your cancellation costs are covered. Or in the event that your Canadian vacation is interrupted mid-trip, you don't suffer the financial losses that can result.
Tip: If you are travelling within Canada only and looking for affordable coverage get a quote by checking the 'Canada travel only' destination on your quote request form. You'll be presented with all plans that will cover you but the plans that will be cheapest will be marked as Canada plans. Then, make sure to ask for the same quote but for all-inclusive coverage with zero trip cost. Note the low premium from Travel Guard for their plan, which includes out-of-province trip interruption insurance, baggage insurance and accidental death and dismemberment, as well as change of mind coverage, vacation rain check, and their live travel & concierge service! Now that's good value for Canadians!
And remember that if you're from Ontario travel insurance is just as valuable in Vancouver as it is in Florida if the insurance company ever has to return your vehicle for you! Just choose Canada travel only for your destination when using the quote request form.