Travel insurance is as essential to your clients’ trips as plane or train tickets, hotel reservations and luggage. Without insurance, travel to other provinces or even a brief foray to the U.S. means clients are gambling with their life savings.

As your retired clients plan their spring and summer road trips, now is the time to talk with them about travel insurance.

Many Canadians don’t pack travel insurance for their trips within Canada, which can be an expensive oversight. A recent RBC Insurance/Ipsos-Reid Corp. survey shows that 65% of Canadians who travel within Canada but outside their home province never purchase travel insurance for these trips.

Canadians travelling interna-tionally usually are better prepared. David Redekop, principal research associate at the Conference Board of Canada in Ottawa, says the board’s annual surveys show that about 90% of people aged 65 and over are covered for trips abroad in some manner — by purchasing insurance or through employers or credit cards.

The Conference Board forecasts that Canadians will make slightly less than nine million interprovincial leisure trips this year.

“Injuries, illnesses, accidents and lost luggage can happen, regardless of your destination,” says Stan Seggie, president and CEO of RBC’s travel insurance division in Toronto. “Many Canadians assume they’re covered under their provincial health plans. But provincial plans and employee health plans are not designed to cover everything and may limit reimbursement.”

Basic emergency medical costs, including hospital stays in other provinces, are covered up to the home province’s maximum fee schedule. “But, if your client falls ill in another province with higher rates and, on top of that, specialists are called in, the home province may not cover the difference,” says Lawrence Barker, executive director of the Canadian Snowbird Association, a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to promoting the rights of travelling Canadians.

A big area of concern is ambulance transport — both ground and air. Canadians are covered for this only in their home provinces, and ambulance bills could be a huge expense if your client is injured or falls ill in a rural area of the country, notes Martha Turnbull, director of Assured Assistance, RBC’s emergency travel and medical assistance service, in Toronto. “We get quite a few out-of-province claims every year,” she says. “An air ambulance trip from Vancouver to Toronto can cost $26,000 to $28,000.”

X-rays, crutches and prescription drugs may not be covered by the home province. “X-rays will set you back a couple of hundred dollars,” Turnbull adds.

Barker says coverage for prescription drugs bought outside the home province varies across the country: “British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick do not cover prescription drugs bought out of province. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Northwest Territories and Nunavut do. Newfoundland and Labrador will reimburse up to its maximum rate. Yukon may reimburse, and Nova Scotia reimburses only in the case of a medical emergency, but doesn’t define what a medical emergency is.”

Robin Ingle, president of Ingle International and Imagine Financial in Toronto, says he has heard of people paying $15,000 for medical care after an accident outside their home province. “I recommend insurance because many clients aren’t aware they need it,” he says. “It’s so inexpensive that many insurance professionals regard it as a very small part of their business. But it earns clients’ trust and helps build a book of business.”

Coverage under RBC’s Travel Within Canada package would cost a 65-year-old $77 for a five- to nine-day trip. A 10- to 16-day trip would cost that traveller $89. The package covers: cancellation and interruption of the trip; flight accident; travel accident; medical emergency; and baggage and personal effects.

Under the Canada-only plan offered to members of Canada’s Association for the Fifty-Plus (CARP) by the Waterloo, Ont.-based McLennan Group Insurance Inc. , a 65-year-old would pay only $1.43 a day for emergency out-of-province travel protection. CARP membership is $19.95 a year for individuals aged 50 and over, or for two people living at the same address.

RBC requires a medical questionnaire from people aged 60 and over. McLennan’s Canada-only plan does not require a medical questionnaire.

Ingle notes many insurers are more relaxed about pre-existing medical conditions for in-Canada coverage because at least part of the medical bill would be picked up by the home province. By contrast, your client will need to disclose all serious conditions when applying for coverage outside Canada. Some in-Canada plans don’t have medical questionnaires, but, Ingle says, most companies use a standard “stability clause” that says the client’s medical condition has been stable for a certain length of time and the individual is not travelling against a physician’s advice.

@page_break@A major concern is that your clients may be tempted to cross into the U.S. on their road trips, forgetting that they are not insured for medical emergencies outside Canada. Because of the proximity to the international border of many Canadian cities and travel destinations, “cheaper gas prices and shorter routes may make it tempting to cross into the U.S.,” says Irene Klatt, vice president of health insurance at the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association in Toronto. “It isn’t worth exposing themselves, even if they’re just shopping for an afternoon in Buffalo or Seattle.”

Gerry Brissenden, president of the Canadian Snowbird Association, who divides his time between Orillia, Ont., and St. Petersburg, Fla., notes that a week in a U.S. hospital can set a Canadian traveller back a staggering US$60,000 or more.

“For a night or two, many travellers deem it an acceptable risk to visit the U.S. without insurance,” Redekop says. “They don’t realize it could cost them their homes if, say, they have a road accident and are seriously hurt.”

Before heading off, your client should look into the wide array of annual medical plans that provide coverage outside Canada. Most require medical questionnaires, so make sure the client understands the importance of full, accurate medical disclosure; an incomplete or inaccurate application is a “material misstatement,” which gives the insurer the right to turn down a claim. IE