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Travel Health Insurance

I’m asking this question of people on our forum who have been recently looking at travel health insurance. Our son’s sister-in-law and her two children, who live in Montreal, have dual US/Canadian citizenship. They want to come to the US to visit her parents for a period of time. They know they can officially travel between the two countries on their passports even with the borders being closed. Their problem is that they always buy travel health insurance when they come and they have not been able to find any health insurance that covers covid-19. Has anyone, and I know we have several posters here with dual US/other country citizenships, been researching this problem and found any travel health insurance solutions?

The sister-in-law has given a lot of thought to this. They have a private house to stay in when she comes (where she’s very willing to quarantine for 14 days), she has a great deal of time now for this trip and she really wants to see her parents. The one thing that is preventing them from coming is insurance that would cover coved-19 with the borders still being closed.

Any leads on travel health insurance with this coverage? I will tell her about the brokers insuremytrip and squaremouth that I see recommended on the forum.

Posted by
32171 posts

Mona,

Unfortunately I don't think the fact they have dual US/Canadian citizenship has a bearing on this situation. I haven't checked recently, but I'm familiar with the usual terms of travel medical insurance policies and I expect that all of them will have exclusions for Covid-19. Given the fact that they live in one of the worst affected provinces (and cities) of Canada, and want to spend an extended period of time in the U.S., I doubt they will be able to get any insurance.

Travelling without medical insurance would be a big mistake as if they were to contract the virus, the hospital bills could bankrupt them. They could also put the health of their parents at risk. If I were in the same situation, I'd use Skype or FaceTime until the situation improves.

Posted by
82 posts

You might give Steve a call at Tripinsurancestore.com and ask. They are very knowledgeable about the companies they represent and will give an honest answer. No affiliation, I'm just a satisfied repeat customer of theirs.

Posted by
4495 posts

I think there is an error in confusing trip insurance and travel medical insurance. A quick internet search revealed 4 insurance companies that cover health costs for covid, although some require testing first to prove it's not pre-existing.

Posted by
4495 posts

Well your sister-in-law may not have been so careful. Heath insurance that excludes coverage for a specific disease, unless it pre-exists the policy--I haven't heard of that. I have seen policies that exclude injuries from certain activities

Posted by
3514 posts

I have seen several traveler insurance policies for cancellation/interruption that do not cover anything related to covid-19 because it is a known risk, like terrorism and so on, and they don't like to cover things that have a high possibility of occurring. So if you book travel arrangements now and you cannot take the trip because of lockdowns or other things preventing you from going, they will not cover that because you (should) know the possibility exists of not being able to go.

However, I have not seen any travel medical insurance plans that specifically call out covid-19 and refuse to cover you if you get ill from it. That is unless you enter an area that is restricted or locked down due to the disease without proper permissions.

This of course is all from the view of a US citizen purchasing insurance for going elsewhere. Not sure about the reverse. Which means the terms of any insurance will have to be carefully reviewed before purchase to make sure it covers what is needed, just like anytime you buy insurance.

Posted by
5835 posts

It sounds like your person living in Canada presumably is covered by a Canadian health insurance program for services in Canada. If they want medical insurance for services delivered outside of Canada, ie. the USA, they need a MEDICAL insurance policy that would pay for a Canadian resident receiving medical services outside of Canada, ie the US. They would likely want insurance that would cover evacuation/transportation back to Canada should they need continuing medical care. For Americans, that would be some kind of Medical/Evacuation insurance. The policy should be underwritten by a Canadian underwriter.

The coronavirus exclusions that you are seeing are likely exclusions regarding travel expenses beyond medical treatment. Those are comprehensive travel policies for transportation and cost of accomodations.

Posted by
1970 posts

We have been trying to find this information as well. We have annual policies through DAN, and they, like most others, specifically exclude pandemics. So Covid is not covered. We are postponing our trip this summer and are replanning for summer 2021. We still need health insurance for the trip, and would like something that does cover Covid just in case.

Posted by
3938 posts

They’ll need to continue on with FaceTime. Thank you all for your confirmations. Covid-19 and dementia are heartbreaking.

Posted by
5835 posts

The starting point of you question appeared to be medical (health) insurance for Candian residents traveling to and in the United States. Many of the responses applied more to American residents traveling to other countires.

There may also have been some confusion about comprehensive travel inclurace that includes medical and medical evaculation coverage.

Looking at the AIG Travel Guard website, AIG clarifies the COVID-19 coverage with respect to trip cancellation, interruption etc being a known (not unforeseen) hazard and therefore not covered. However, AIG reaffirms that COVID-19 does not affect Medical Benefits.
https://www.travelguard.com/covid19notification

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared
Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic. Therefore, any losses for trip
cancellation, trip interruption and/or trip delay
caused by or
resulting from quarantine due to COVID-19 is not considered
“Unforeseen” and will not be covered under the terms and conditions of
this insurance policy.

However, this does not affect any Medical Benefits available under
the insurance policy. If you contract COVID-19 prior to departure, you
would be covered for Trip Cancellation, if you have a confirmed and
documented diagnosis and/or you are medically unable to travel at the
time of departure due to COVID-19. If you contract COVID-19 while on
a covered trip, you would be covered for Medical Expense and Trip
Interruption/Curtailment benefits
if you have a confirmed and
documented diagnosis.

Posted by
3938 posts

Thanks for more information and links for this relative to pursue. If she is able to reliably acquire health travel insurance by some means, I’ll report back to this thread.

Posted by
3514 posts

Tom_MN, Insurance can cover or not cover whatever the company issuing the policy wants it to.

I am going through that with my current medical insurance even at home. Many things that were covered under my former employer's policy are not covered under the policy I now have -- even though they are from the same insurance company.

So beware what you purchase and make sure it covers what you need it to.

Posted by
1970 posts

I took a look at the Travelguard policies. A glaring issue is that the highest medical coverage was only 50k, which is a drop in the bucket if you get really sick. My husbands coworker came down with Covid while we were all overseas, but thankfully he made it back to the US (but not home) before symptoms really started, so his care has been all within the US. He was admitted to ICU on Jan 31 and spent 2 months in the hospital, another few weeks in respiratory rehab, was at a relatives for a couple weeks and then is now back in ICU. So 50k would have been used up probably on his first day. That little amount of coverage is not something I personally am willing to gamble on.

Posted by
3938 posts

Mikliz97 I agree that $50,000 is totally inadequate. Thanks for noticing this. I hope for the best for your husband’s colleague. This is a serious situation still for many people.