If you can't afford travel insurance, stay home....

[momof5boys]

I just want to remind people to make sure they have travel insurance when you leave the country. We just came back from overseas and the last thing we expected was that our son would be taken by ambulance to the hospital, undergo a CT scan and be admitted due to a fall. He was diagnosed with a concussion.
Thankfully, prior to leaving, we decided to take out some extra insurance even though we do have travel insurance through my husband's work (I was not happy with the fine print on this insurance).

The ambulance costs alone were 800 euro which is approximately $1000 - I would not want to know what the CT scan and hospital costs were. Our travel insurance was absolutely fabulous. They looked after everything for us, stayed in touch with us daily and assured us that any costs incurred would be covered. We are home now after this scare....

[thriftygranny]

I hope your son is on the mend and you actually were able to enjoy some of your holiday before this happened.Travel insurance is so important even for healthy young people I wouldn't go anywhere without it. Thanks for sharing, hopefully it will make people think twice before travelling without it.

[Brad]

Good advice, there was a recent story in the news about a canadian woman getting injured and not having travel insurance, and her family coudlnt' afford the costs, but luckily donors pitched in and raised some money for her: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...urns-home.html

[miztia]

great advice. Friends of our family travelled to texas every year for the winter with their 5th wheel trailer. He had a heart attack and died on the tennis court, leaving her alone down there. The hospital bill alone was just over $5000, and he had already died before arriving there.
Insurance took care of everything, and paid for my parents to go there and bring her and the trailer home. Never know when you need it!

[DianneS]

Excellent post! Most people are very surprised by how inexpensive travel insurance actually is. There seems to be an assumption out there that it is costly so they don't even look into it. Most motorist associations (eg. BCAA) offer it. You can also purchase it on-line from Manulife -- from the comfort of your own home.

[Ciel]

OP made a valid point about fine print-some travel insurance forms want applicants to have stable conditions 6 months before travel. Travel agencies sell insurance too-there is a questionnaire that customers have to answer with the agent. Manulife seems to sell insurance policies under different names as I have seen the company name as the underwriter on an auto club travel insurance policy and one from a policy sold by a travel agency (family member went overseas and I read the fine print!).

However, anyone who reads Moneyville or Toronto Star has seen articles about snowbirds who get billed for health expenses because the insurance carrier investigations found information that was relevant to carrier to deny coverage.

[gourmetsue]

Hope your son is on the mend.

After breaking my arm in the states when I was a kid (thank goodness my parents had travel insurance!) I am a die hard fan of it, even with our work coverage. You can never be too safe.

[Abby5]

We went to Texas a few years ago. We took out caa insurance before we left. My oldest ds got a crazy flu that dehydrated him so badly I needed to take him to get iv fluids. They sent me and my insurance company the bills...$25000! So glad I always have insurance even for one day out of province.

[marstec]

A acquaintance of mine just got back from England and she had to go to emergency because of a flare-up of arthritis...they took great care of her and gave her crutches that enabled her to enjoy the rest of her vacation. Total cost to her? $0. They look at tourists as contributing to their economy from all the other aspects...give them a good impression of the country, a $25K hospital bill won't do it.

I think the USA would be the worst place to be stuck without health coverage.

[kanewtz]

For my one week stay in Las Vegas for my wife and I was $30.15 CAD for $5 Million in coverage.

Pretty cheap if you ask me.

[itsjustmebub]

my DH broke his elbow on our honeymoon. Thank goodness we had paid the $30 for insurance too! Never leave the country without it! In fact, I hear you even need it to leave the province.

So glad your son is okay

[Natalka]

Hope your son is okay!

Great reminder you have given for everyone.

[tjthemanto]

We went to Texas a few years ago. We took out caa insurance before we left. My oldest ds got a crazy flu that dehydrated him so badly I needed to take him to get iv fluids. They sent me and my insurance company the bills...$25000! So glad I always have insurance even for one day out of province.

If you are out of Ontario , but still in Canada in some other province , OHIP will cover almost all the bills, as all the provinces in Canada have a reciprocal agreement.

But if you leave Canada and are in some other country like US etc , its a whole difeerent story.

[momof5boys]

Yes, this all happened during the latter part of our holiday and we were so thankful the doctor there gave him the ok to fly just three days later. He is on the mend - no sports for a couple more weeks but otherwise things seem fine. Thanks for all your kind words

I hope your son is on the mend and you actually were able to enjoy some of your holiday before this happened.Travel insurance is so important even for healthy young people I wouldn't go anywhere without it. Thanks for sharing, hopefully it will make people think twice before travelling without it.

[Natalka]

Glad to hear he's okay!

So, where did you go? Inquiring minds want to know..... (post here or in the Tea Room....)