People Travelling Domestically
You may wonder if you need travel insurance if you are just travelling within Canada. The answer is yes. Your provincial health coverage may not cover all emergency medical expenses incurred when traveling to another province. Additionally, the cost of ambulances varies from province to province. For example, In Ontario currently, the cost for using a medically necessary ground ambulance is $240.00 if you are not a resident. In Alberta currently, a non-resident can expect to pay $585 if a patient is transported and $450 is the patient is not transported.
People with Existing Benefit Coverages
If you already have Travel Insurance; however, you want to extend your period of coverage. This is also referred to as a “Top-up” to an existing policy. Additionally, people with coverage from their employer benefits, credit card, auto clubs, or coverage from another source can also top-up their policy. Top ups are also for anyone going on an extended trip; however, their current travel insurance plan only covers short trips.
Frequent Travellers
It is highly recommended that frequent travellers who plan to travel multiple times throughout the year have an annual travel insurance plan. This way, they are not purchasing travel insurance for each individual trip they take. Frequent travels can include personal and business travels.
People with no Coverage
People without any coverage will be required to pay out of pocket for any medical assistance they require while away. Additionally, you may not be compensated by the airline if you need to cancel or reschedule your trip.
People Travelling Internationally
Travel insurance is a must when travelling outside of the country as your Provincial Health Insurance covers very little out of country expenses. Further more, foreign hospitals can be very expensive and may not attend to you unless you have insurance or pay cash.
Trip Specific Travellers
People travel for a variety of reasons such as a destination resort vacation, a family reunion, sporting activities, business and of course, snowbirds. As a result, there are various travel insurance plans such as Emergency Medical, Travel and Medical Expenses, and High Risk Sporting Activities. In addition, there are individual trip short or longer duration coverages as well as annual plans for frequent out of province travellers.
Select the insurance package that meets your specific needs. SBIS staff are there to help you select just the plan you need.