Travel Health Insurance

You’ve climbed Kilimanjaro, rafted the Amazon and traipsed Calcutta with nary a scratch to mark the occasions. Maybe you subscribe to the view all accidents are preventable. But maybe too, you got lucky. No typhoons to contend with, no tsetse fly getting under your skin. These things can happen, despite your best efforts. In the early days of adventure travel “people just ran their companies until something happened,” says Don Forster of Adventures Incorporated, a division of GoAway Travel. Until suddenly, tragically, something did. A truck on a tour in Africa had an accident, killing the driver and leaving one traveller a paraplegic. She sued the western-based company, he says, which wasn’t insured. And that incident “changed the industry, woke people up.”

Buying travel health insurance can be challenging for people from countries with nationalized health care, since it’s not something you’ve ever had to investigate. Yet so imperative is having the right kind that most travel operators won’t let you on the plane (so to speak) without evidence that you bought it. And many hospitals abroad won’t treat you unless you have it. Emergency medical and repatriation services are the two most important components to include, and you need to look for the terms, limits, restrictions and exclusions of a policy—what conditions, circumstances, activities, behaviours, hazards and countries that can restrict coverage or nullify a claim. Typically insurance is more about its exceptions than its rules—what it doesn’t cover than what it does. Adventurers for example, should note that hand-gliding comes at a cost, if it’s covered at all. More generally, some policies not only have a maximum but also a minimum time for a hospital stay. And one big nullifier can be whether alcohol was consumed prior to an injury, even though you deem it had little to do with anything that happened.

A good guide and travel company will tell you what you can and can’t do on a trip with regards to insurance. (If they don’t, ask.) Or, they’ll get permission from an insurer if the opportunity to bungee jump unexpectedly arises. That’s advice any independent traveller should heed: get permission, in writing via email if possible, before you get in the shark cage—chances are that one isn’t covered!

In Canada travel health policies operate in conjunction with provincial and territorial health schemes, which in most cases require you to be a resident for eligibility. You can leave for up to a year and still be covered¬, but even a day more could void your insurance. Be warned—you should get insurance long before taking off. It’s harder to buy it, if at all possible, once on the road.

Good insurers always have a 24/7 hotline, are contactable from most places on the planet, and will call your family if a problem arises. One of the best things they often offer is “third party assistance”—a company or contacts who work with people on the ground where you’re injured or sick who help make the necessary medical or transportation arrangements. You just can’t put a price on that kind of reassurance.

Things to Keep in Mind When Buying

• Shop around/compare policies: what’s covered or exempted; can you, or how can you, extend policy if trip is extended?
• Pre-existing conditions: if you have a diagnosed health condition like heart disease some insurers won’t cover it; others have restrictions, which may include not covering costs relating to the condition.
• Amount you are insured for: medical care is expensive everywhere, don’t go cheap.
• What’s the deductible? Is there a co-payment clause?: some polices require you to pay a percentage of the total cost of care, which can reach into thousands of dollars.
• Travel activity: where you’re going, what you’ll be doing, length of time.
• Credit cards & employers often provide travel health insurance: but never assume this and always call before trip to find out what a policy covers.
• Can policy be combined with trip interruption/cancellation, lost/stolen goods insurance?

Things to Ensure You’re Insured For

• Emergency medical care, in-patient hospital care, out-patient care at doctor’s office, ground & air ambulance service, necessary medications, other treatments deemed necessary by certified health care professional.
• Evacuation & repatriation services: evacuation from any location, transportation home with appropriate medical backup.
• Flight or travel accident insurance: covers death/disability due to airplane or other licensed carrier (i.e., train) accident.

Things To Pay Special Attention To

• How your insurer defines “pre-existing condition” & “medical necessity”: definitions are not uniform across industry.
• Full Disclosure clauses on age, health status, travel itinerary: to be fair, as adventure travel becomes more common, insurers have become more flexible.
• Don’t Delay Calling clause: does insurer need to be contacted ASAP prior to seeking medical care?; delaying calling, or getting treatment before talking to insurer, can lead to conflicts where claims may be refused.
• Non-emergency health care: often not included, this may include follow-up care for an injury.
• Getting detailed receipts from hospitals, doctors abroad; putting in claims immediately.
• Getting letter from doctor or medical facility stating all treatments were necessary.
• Bringing provincial/territorial health card, copy of policy, contact number of insurer.

Good Adventure Travel Health Insurance in Canada

• Travel Insurance Cooperative (TIC), RBC Insurance, Trip Mate. Also, ask any insurance company if they have special provisions for adventure travel.

Check out our Q&A with Adventure Incorporated’s Don Forster on Page 2…