Every year we survey about 10-12 companies for our winter travel insurance. This year we plan to take advantage of the 7 months out of province and spend a month going accross Canada before crossing for 6 months into the USA. In our quest for travel insurance most insurers (over 3/4 of those we have contacted) will not issue a travel insurance policy for more than 6 months. What gives? Thought the Alberta "time out of province" was changed last Dec.
Well, some of this may not be quite accurate. For instance, If I leave Ontario for Manitoba, OHIP will not cover my ambulance. There are also other charges not covered if I'm out of province. Check the rules at home, buy coverage when you travel.
Every travel insurance plan I have seen requires that coverage start the day you leave your home province. If one leaves AB and spends a month in other provinces before crossing to the USA, the insurance would be invalid. AHCIP would cover you for the month but your 6 month travel insurance must begin the day you leave AB. If you have a plan that does not state that, I would like to know who provides that so I could get a quote from them. We have had 2 claims against our travel insurance in the past. In both cases (different companies) the first thing we had to prove before they accepted the claim, was the exact date that we left our home province.
You would be covered by your AHCIP plan for the first month while you're still in Canada... the is no need to buy other insurance coverage for that period. Then you'd be left with the 6 months period outside Canada which is much easier to cover (6 months) than for 7 months (more choices).
Used Medipac one year,,,had claim...was handled well......but since then its been a real hassle to renew. Gave up on trying to satisfy their requests for info so have gone elsewhere the last couple of years. They are one of the few that will issue a 7 month policy so I may be forced to consider them again.
