Travel iNSURANCE facts

By Travel Underwriters

Did you ever wonder why, after a lifetime of paying taxes and premiums for-your comprehensive, universal, and so-called portable, health insurance coverage, your Medicare benefits stop at the border? Why do all provincial health plans urge you to buy private insurance if you plan on crossing the border to visit relatives for a day, or go shopping, or take a vacation?

It's because several years ago Canada's provincial governments saw a way to save money,even though that meant exploiting you. They stopped paying medical emergencies you may have while travelling, even though the Canada Health Act obligated them to pay at least as much as they would spend if you had that emergency in your home province. Now, most provinces disregard that obligation and the federal government  does nothing about it. The provinces pay so little of your out-of-country health bill, you'd hardly notice.

British Columbia pays $75 a day (Canadian) to reimburse you or your travel insurer for an inpatient hospital stay, even though the actual charge will more likely be $2000 or $3000 or more per day.  And it's not only American hospitals that will charge that much. Hospital care is expensive everywhere in the world. A foreign visitor to Toronto who needs emergency hospital care will end
up being charged at least $4000 or $5000 per day. And though B.C. is the stingiest, other provinces are not far behind. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec and New Brunswick will pay only $100; Ontario $200 for a regular hospital room and $400 for ICU, Nova Scotia up to $525; Newfoundland $350 per day for a general  hospital up to $465 for a specialized teaching centre level specialized hospital; Manitoba and Prince Edward Island will pay the equivalent of average standard ward charges within their provinces.