Multiple trip medical insurance

[erinlynn2020]

I am getting a quote for $102 for a year of emergency medical insurance for multiple trips to the US, up to 18 days each, no deductible - Manulife via Costco. Has anyone found coverage under $100?

 

[bankr63]

Family or single coverage?

 

[ottawamom]

For reference sake. Last year I paid $18.16 (Costco) for my 23yr old son 8 days in US (1 trip only).

 

[hardis5]

We pay for family coverage just over $140 yearly through Desjardins. I know Costco/Manulife almost 1/3 more than what I pay now (though 15 day trips instead of 18).

 

[Starwind]

If relevant to you, be sure to check the pre-existing condition stability clause. Last I checked the Costco/Manulife policy had IIRC a 90 day stability requirement.

We ended up going with a policy with TuGo that costs more, allows each trip to be upto 35 days, and has a 7 day stability requirement.

SW

 

[minnie56]

I’ve been with Intact insurance since way back when and have had a travel policy on my homeowners for maybe the last 15 years. It’s underwritten by Manulife ..it covers my family of 2 now ( kids are grown) for approx $200 a year. Multiple trips , up to 30 days duration per trip. $2M pp/ trip interruption/cancellation/medical
BEST insurance we’ve ever had

 

[bankr63]

Just a reminder to always read the terms and conditions of medical travel policies. It may not be the deal you think. My former carrier (TD) had a whopping 180 day prior condition clause. Think about that. If I so much as had the flu in the SIX MONTHS prior to my trip, they could deny coverage. Even a 90 day elimination is an awfully long time for many people to remain fully healthy.

I also discovered that my kids actually had to be travelling with me as the primary insured to be covered. That means my kids were not covered if going to a school sporting event SOTB. DS is in Varsity Track at UofO and attends meets all over the North East US; he even had US meets in high school that I could not attend. He was not covered until I realized the terms of my policy and changed carriers.

Really cheap (and some expensive) policies really aren't worth the paper they are written on.

TuGo has excellent policies with liberal terms including only a 7 day elimination period. As long as I am healthy for the week leading up, I'm covered. Prices were reasonable as well.

 

[BLAZEY]

Check with your work's extended benefits plan. Many have travel medical insurance included. As always read the T&C's. Both of us have out of country travel medical included in our work plans. It's great knowing we have coverage, especially for quick last minute trips over the border

 

[erinlynn2020]

Family or single coverage?

Just single.

 

[erinlynn2020]

Check with your work's extended benefits plan. Many have travel medical insurance included. As always read the T&C's. Both of us have out of country travel medical included in our work plans. It's great knowing we have coverage, especially for quick last minute trips over the border

Thanks!

 

[erinlynn2020]

Thanks for the suggestions & comparisons! That helped a lot.

 

[bankr63]

Just single.

So not a bad price for single coverage, would have been a great rate for family. Our Tugo is $185 for a family of 4.

 

[Donald - my hero]

So not a bad price for single coverage, would have been a great rate for family. Our Tugo is $185 for a family of 4.

I want to give you a HUGE thanks for suggesting Tugo, i didn't even know it existed till you mentioned it! Question for you, how did you decide which company to go with? We definitely want the 7 day stability clause for the reason you mentioned (who doesn't end up needing some kind of medial attention at some point in a 3 - 6 month period of time ?!?!) but the list of 9 i have to pick from shows 5 partners offer that. Allstate is quoting me $369 for 10 days and the others are all quoting $460. I've compared the information side by side till my eyes went square and it appears to be identical

 

[bankr63]

I want to give you a HUGE thanks for suggesting Tugo, i didn't even know it existed till you mentioned it! Question for you, how did you decide which company to go with? We definitely want the 7 day stability clause for the reason you mentioned (who doesn't end up needing some kind of medial attention at some point in a 3 - 6 month period of time ?!?!) but the list of 9 i have to pick from shows 5 partners offer that. Allstate is quoting me $369 for 10 days and the others are all quoting $460. I've compared the information side by side till my eyes went square and it appears to be identical

Hi Jacqueline,

First of all those rates sound awfully high for a single trip policy, unless you have cancellation or other benefits rolled in. Our full annual (unlimited trips) MEDICAL coverage for a family of 4 is about half that (actually a hair over $200 this year, the $185 quoted above was from my 2017 renewal).

I'm not quite sure how you are approaching your pricing quote. I switched to TuGo about 3 years ago now through the Toronto based online broker Ingle Insurance. Looking at Ingle today, they no longer appear to partner with TuGo, and TuGo does not cross link to them from their site. Tugo is the actual insurance company (not broker) and it you go to their site, they will link you to one of several Ontario on-line broker partners. I suspect it is at one of these partner sites that you are seeing the several options? Since the policy language will be the same from all of the brokers for the same TuGo coverage, I would go with whichever one offers the lowest price. For medical coverage, the broker isn't providing much service - when there is a problem on the road you are calling the insurer, not the broker.

I will say that back when I switched, Ingle offered several travel insurers, now it appears to be only one. Back then you could review the policy terms and pick the one that was right for you. TuGo was best for my family situation; there were better options for snowbirds or for those with pre-existing conditions from other insurers. Perhaps someone else can suggest a site that still lets you compare different policies from different insurers so that you can make an informed decision.

ETA:

Did a little more poking around. It actually looks like Ingle may have changed from a broker to an underwriter (they are issuing their own policies).

I did find a site that offers multiple quotes from various carriers. https://www.insurancehotline.com/
It is possible to review the terms of all offered policies but they do NOT make it easy. You can click through "i" button on the multiple quote screen. However this requires reading a bunch of fairly dense policies to find the best coverage for you. If you do find a carrier that looks good, then shop that insurer around to get the best rate.

I did note that Tugo came up in the results for our family there - a bit more expensive than I am currently paying (but then I have passed one of the major milestone birthdays). They were mid-pack in price, but I know that a couple of the lesser priced options have much worse policy language.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Thanks for helping me tease this mess out @bankr63 Let's see if i can explain what I was (attempting) to do.
2 of us currently 57 & 58, looking for medical & trip interruption since we have excellent cancellation thru Air Transat that covers 100% up till 3 hours before we leave for any reason ( and now i feel like a bit of a dope! I had no idea i could put together a package myself that doesn't include cancellation) One trip for 10 days

I googled Tugo and selected Ontario and this box popped up

I then had to go thru every single partner to get the quote and wow, confusing much???

OK now that I've figure out i can customize it to have only medical (even adding the "unstable pre-exsisting to cover our butts!) & trip interruption it comes in at $163 with Allstate. I'm happy with that. Still mildly confused but that's the norm for me most days

 

[Starwind]

For our TuGO annual multitrip medical policy, We used to use R. Battiston, but then the policies he carries changed so that there was no longer the 7 day PE clause, it was longer. We were quite disappointed since we had used them for years.

We switched to Travel Secure, whose TuGO policy has the 7 day stability clause.

SW

 

[Sue M]

Here BCAA travel insurance is by TuGo. I have Blue Cross extended thru work and now retiree benefit. So I’ve always gone with Blue Cross for travel too. They also have 7 day pre existing too.

Most extended insurance policy’s have lifetime limit max. Even though my Blue Cross extended medical policy covers me while traveling, it you got into a serious accident, or illness while away with what US medical costs, it could wipe out your limit. So I always buy the Blue Cross extra travel policy. It’s also first payer.
Be ware if your travel policy isn’t first payer. Some will try to recoup costs first thru your provincial plan, then go after your extended coverage for those that have, before they pay anything.

 

[Sylvain Leroux]

Always remember that you are not shopping only for a price...
Read the contracts, the fine prints, and ask a lot of questions....
Insurance is essential, a good insurance is a must, I always go with Blue Cross.