Here is a brief overview of the three common types of insurance plan options.
Extended Stay Insurance
This coverage is intended to protect you for the whole duration of your travel or Snowbird stay in the U.S., Mexico or elsewhere, for a continuous period. The premium is based on the duration of your stay, for example up to six months. You pay for the exact number of days you need.
Multi-Trip Insurance
This plan is designed for shorter-term stay coverage outside Canada. You arrange coverage for a packaged number of days, e.g. a maximum single duration stay not exceeding 15, 30, 45, 90 days, etc. This means you can travel outside Canada as many times as you like within the length of your policy coverage, as long as any one trip does not exceed your maximum number of days per trip (e.g. 15, 30-90, etc.). As soon as you return to Canada for at least a day, the cycle starts again.
These multi-trip plans are usually based on an annual premium, for example covering a calendar year period or 12 months from the time you take it out. One of the key benefits of a multi-trip plan is that it is available for spontaneous trips any time you cross the Canada-U.S. border. You can obtain multi-trip plans through travel agents, banks and some credit card companies or insurers directly.
Top-Up Insurance
This plan provides additional supplemental emergency medical coverage to top-up an existing out-of-country medical plan. This existing plan could be coverage as a retiree from a government, other employer, union or association plan or credit card plan. There are risks, however, with this top-up approach. Some plans don’t permit top-ups. There can be great differences between different plan policies. There is a risk that there could be a lapse in time periods between coverage, or disputes between different insurers as to the issue of coverage. For example, if your basic medical plan coverage has a ceiling cap of say $50,000, and lasts for a maximum number of days, and your top-up plan kicks in at the end of that time period, what happens if you have a catastrophic injury just before the first plan lapses? You are only covered for $50,000. Your expenses could be $200,000. You would be out the difference. Another problem could arise if the top-up company deems your illness was pre-existing, if you make a claim with your first insurer first. An alternative is to co-ordinate a basic plan and top-up plan from the same insurer.
