The Best Travel Insurances in Canada

Looking for the best travel insurance in Canada while preparing for a vacation there? Here is everything you know about finding Canada travel insurance as a visitor to northern neighbors.

Financial protection from a variety of emergencies that can occur while you're traveling is provided by travel insurance. Costly consequences could occur, such as costs for medical care, trip cancellation, or misplaced luggage, whether you're planning a weekend trip across the province or an annual business trip abroad. You won't have to worry about these costs if you have comprehensive travel insurance coverage in place, allowing you to enjoy your trip.

Every travel insurance policy is unique, and the level of coverage you choose will determine what is and isn't covered. You can typically anticipate the following medical services to be covered:

• Emergency hospital visits and medical expenses
• Costs of ambulances and air ambulances
• Non-hospital services
• Medical and laboratory fees
• Medicines on prescription
• Direct payment to the medical facilities and practitioners treating you
• Help getting a family member to your bedside
• Commercial repatriation or air ambulance
• Return of your car if you're sick and need to return home
• cancellation of a trip due to non-refundable financial losses
• Trip cancellation
• Baggage loss, damage to a rented car, and personal expenses
• Accidental mutilation and death

Travel insurance policies in Canada vary widely. You can select an insurance package that meets your individual needs whether you're a seasoned traveler or arranging your first trip abroad.

• Single-trip insurance: Offers protection for just one trip, from the start date of the policy to the termination date of the policy.
• Multi-trip insurance: Offers coverage for each trip you take during the year, though there may be restrictions on how long each trip can last.
• Top-up insurance: Offers extra protection on top of any existing insurance advantages you may have.

Best for frequent travelers: Allianz Travel Insurance

As a significant provider of travel insurance, corporate help, and concierge services, Allianz Travel Insurance is recognized as a global leader in the Canadian travel insurance and assistance sector. It aims to assist its clients to find solutions for a range of travel-related problems. Travel agencies, airlines, hotels, websites, brokers of event tickets, enterprises, academic institutions, and credit card organizations are just a few of the renowned businesses that Allianz Travel has collaborated with.

Anyone looking for travel insurance in Canada should consider Allianz Travel Insurance. Travelers who leave their homes and stop at one or more other locations before returning home may benefit from its one-way plans. With varying levels of safety and coverage, its parent company, Allianz Global Assistance, offers five different insurances.

Allianz Travel Insurance offers annual/multi-trip plans that are perfect for frequent travelers who travel for both work and pleasure. There are four different alternatives available.

Best for Families: CAA Travel Insurance

Long a dependable Canadian institution, CAA travel insurance provides adaptable travel plans to fit every kind of traveler and vacation, but their family-friendly coverage is especially fantastic. They provide a very comprehensive stand-alone emergency medical policy that covers up to $5 million in medical expenses, including reimbursements for pet boarding and care as well as medical repatriation.

For pre-paid, all-inclusive vacation packages, the Vacation Package Plan offers comprehensive cancellation/interruption insurance, as well as family transportation and kid escort in case of emergencies. CAA travel insurance is available to everyone, but CAA members get a 10% discount on policies.

Customers who have received the COVID-19 vaccine are now covered by COVID-19-related illnesses under CAA's emergency medical policies. If only partially immunized, coverage is up to $2.5 million, and if fully immunized, coverage is up to $5 million.

The downside of this insurance is Stand-alone emergency medical coverage policy does not include trip cancellation/interruption coverage.

Best for budget travelers: Travel CUTS Bon Voyage Insurance

Travel CUTS Bon Voyage Insurance offers very reasonable travel insurance packages in Canada. Prices start at about $1.36 per day. It is designed with students in mind (for instance, you can change your trip dates without paying a fee if your schedule conflicts with an exam), but anyone between the ages of 15 and 50 can buy a policy.

The base plan comes with hospital and medical coverage up to $1 million, dental treatment, air ambulance evacuation, trip interruption/cancellation insurance, and flight accident coverage. Extreme sports and adventure are also covered.

Best for thrill-seekers: World Nomads

Designed for thrill-seekers with a wanderlust, World Nomads covers 200+ a long list of adventure sports, activities, volunteer/work adventures, as well as sporting equipment delay/loss/theft. Furthermore, you have access to a 24-hour helpline that offers information on the weather, travel warnings, finding the closest path, and finding a place to rent equipment.

The typical policy includes emergency dental bills up to $5 million, trip cancellation/interruption/delay, baggage delays/theft/damage, and more. The disadvantage is that you have to be younger than 66 to be eligible.

Ideal for seniors and retirees: Blue Cross

1 in 4 Canadians uses Blue Cross travel insurance, which has been around for more than 70 years. Emergency medical coverage from Blue Cross extends up to $5 million. Blue Cross is a great option for seniors because it offers unique "snowbird" travel insurance plans created for Canadians who vacation to warmer regions every year and VIP “Serenity Service” for flight delays.

Serenity Service, which was just released, is a component of the package. If your trip is delayed, this free perk offers a number of advantages, such as access to an airport lounge or even a hotel room (depending on the length of the delay). In general, pre-existing conditions are not covered.

Best for emergency medical assistance: Medipac Travel Insurance

The Medipac Assistance hotline is staffed by a team of in-house, highly qualified medical professionals, making Medipac one of the few travel insurance companies in Canada with such a service. When you have an urgent medical need, Medipac's medical staff should be your first port of call. When dealing with a high deductible, this service is particularly beneficial for navigating foreign medical systems and helping to avoid irrational costs.

No age restrictions, a claim-free discount, and a 90-day stability period for most pre-existing conditions are just a few of the competitive benefits Medipac offers for their travel insurance plans. Medipac also offers customized, underwritten insurance policies to help you fulfill your needs if your pre-existing medical condition isn't covered by a normal Medipac insurance plan.

Clients who have received a minimum of one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine are eligible for the new MedipacMAX option as well as a 5% vaccine discount from Medipac. In addition to its other advantages, this COVID insurance option offers maximum coverage of up to $5 million USD for COVID-19.

The disadvantage is that only the TravelEase package offers coverage for pre-existing medical issues.

Best choice for Canadians with pre-existing medical conditions: Manulife CoverMe

For individuals who are visiting Canada as a visitor, a student, or a family, Manulife CoverMe offers extremely comprehensive Canadian travel insurance packages. Additionally, you get access to the TravelAid smartphone app, which offers call numbers for local emergency services as well as directions to the closest medical facility.

TravelEase, a unique policy created to cover fully revealed medical issues, maybe the characteristic that stands out. It covers a wide range of costs for transportation and medical services for travelers with pre-existing diseases. A unicorn in the field of travel insurance, it offers emergency medical benefits up to $10 million.

The disadvantage is coverage for pre-existing medical conditions is limited to the TravelEase package only.

Travel insurance in Canada protects you in the event you have to cancel or cut your journey short for many reasons, including weather, illness, government shutdowns, and more. Many policies also cover lost luggage or medical expenses incurred when traveling abroad.

The top travel insurance policies are inexpensive while still providing great coverage with minimal exclusions or limits and high customer satisfaction.

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