Travel Insurance for the States

justride

justride

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what travel insurance do you get when traveling to the united states? what things should i keep in mind when purchasing traveling insurance.
don't want to think I am covered when i am not really covered. thanks
 
you might have coverage through your Extended Health Benefits plan at work...check them out first...no sense in buying anything, if you're already covered...if not CAA has very reasonable rates...got some for my hubby who wasn't covered through his work before we were married...
 
Some credit cards have decent travel insurance. My world elite MC doesn’t look like a good deal with the $150 yearly fee but I get excellent cancellation insurance and supplementary medical insurance for me and the wife on every trip we take (need to use the card to pay for fares and accommodation) and I get free passes to the VIP lounges at airports for the open bar and food, which really sets up a vacation well. I looked at the cost and all the benefits I actually use more than cover the fee. If you don’t want to pay the fee these credit cards often come with first year free and around $300 worth of points (usually to use for travel) and you can “churn” the card after a year.

One of my flights back to Kingston was cancelled at TO one time so I booked a limo with driver and the insurance paid for it no questions asked. It paid for a couple of nights accommodation with all expenses when we got snowed in at Dulles airport too.
 
Elite MC or Infinite Visa will provide good coverage, up to $1M for 21 days if you are under 65.
 
My Scotiabank Gold Amex includes coverage up to $1m. Previously I have purchased travel insurance from CAA. It's cheap and reasonably comprehensive. From memory, single trip is maybe $30, or one year multi entry (15 days per trip I think) is around $100.

CAA covered my bills when I crashed and broke my arm in Virginia, as well as the U-Haul rental and gas to bring my bike back to Toronto. That was about seven years ago though.
 
If we are talking travel medical coverage I go with CAA. There have been horror stories with other companies using loopholes to deny claims. One has to understand that travel med is different from auto insurance. With auto they check you out first, give you a rate and then you know you are covered.

With medical they give you a rate and insurance based on what you tell them. If you put in a claim they check you out to see if you misinformed them and can deny coverage. If you forgot to mention an insignificant detail, even totally unrelated to your medical situation, you could get screwed. It has happened. CAA limits what you have to pay if there is a screw up. It's $5,000 which is a ton less than any visit to a US hospital.

Keep in mind that Canadian medicare doesn't cover everything so a trip to PQ, BC etc could have you holding the bag for ambulance or worse a medical flight.
 
CAA is an okay option
as is CC rider, if you have that

I did this recently and found that my bank - CIBC
offered identical coverage to CAA
but was half the price even with my Plus membership discount
and went for that even though my CC does have a medical emerg rider
and I have coverage through the group work plan as well

if for some reason you end up seriously messed up
would be unfortunate to end up at an emerg dept
and find out that hospital does not accept your policy
redundancy is a good thing for some situations
 
If you buy insurance separately and travel more than once a year a yearly plan usually works out better than multiple individual trip plans too.

Also forgot to add that the credit card I mentioned, and also the others mentioned above probably, covers rental car insurance and personal item loss/theft.
 
jc100 said:
If you buy insurance separately and travel more than once a year a yearly plan usually works out better than multiple individual trip plans too.

Also forgot to add that the credit card I mentioned, and also the others mentioned above probably, covers rental car insurance and personal item loss/theft.
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If you're under 65, travelling less than 21 day at a time and can qualify for a MasterCard Elite or a Visa Infinite (min $5K credit, $60K income or combined $100K with a single partner)-- that is the way to go. The card will cost you $120ish a year -- if you keep $5k in your chequing account most banks waive the annual fee.
 
jc100 said:
Also forgot to add that the credit card I mentioned, and also the others mentioned above probably, covers rental car insurance and personal item loss/theft.
Click to expand...

one possible caveat to the rental car coverage
read the fine print, I didn't until after had rented a compact pickup
my card has the rental car rider, but cargo vans and pickups are excluded
had to eat the cost of a windshield
one more reason to dislike logging trucks

YMMV
 
Mad Mike said:
If you're under 65, travelling less than 21 day at a time and can qualify for a MasterCard Elite or a Visa Infinite (min $5K credit, $60K income or combined $100K with a single partner)-- that is the way to go. The card will cost you $120ish a year -- if you keep $5k in your chequing account most banks waive the annual fee.
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This is what use - the visa infinite. All you have to do to activate your travel insurance is use the card. So on my current trip, I filled up gas using it once I crossed the border and then it's good for 21 days coverage after that.
Also gives me enough travel points for at least one free trip a year of around $1000.
Works for me!
 
shanekingsley said:
This is what use - the visa infinite. All you have to do to activate your travel insurance is use the card. So on my current trip, I filled up gas using it once I crossed the border and then it's good for 21 days coverage after that.
Also gives me enough travel points for at least one free trip a year of around $1000.
Works for me!
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If you use it for gas, groceries and recurring bill payments you can get 3x miles/points/cashback. If you get a Visa Black (Infinite Privilege), when you check in for a car rental or stay in a decent hotel they usually bump you to the best available car/room available at no charge.
 
JavaFan said:
one possible caveat to the rental car coverage
read the fine print, I didn't until after had rented a compact pickup
my card has the rental car rider, but cargo vans and pickups are excluded
had to eat the cost of a windshield
one more reason to dislike logging trucks

YMMV
Click to expand...

One more caveat too...sometimes you need to provide the translation of the collision/damage coverage for the vehicle you're renting in the language of the country you rent it in. It's a way for some rental companies to deny the coverage of your card and make you buy their own (often overpriced) insurance. Most good travel cards have a translation available on their website, don't forget to take it. Also realise that often though tires are not covered and, although it hasn't happened to me in multiple years of renting in Central America, that's a common way for disreputable rental companies to ding you. Sometimes though I find it's not a bad idea to get the rental company coverage, especially if laws are a bit weird. I always get it in Costa Rica because they have a "no worry" type of insurance that I've had to use a couple of times due to driving offroad a lot. I tore a bumper off a turbo diesel 4x4 on some rocks halfway up a hill and the company drove 3h with a replacement no questions asked, nothing extra charged.
 
Lightcycle said:
Also luxury vehicles worth more than a certain amount ~65K.
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I like how you roll , LOL
rental cars for me are never the worst, but never the best. We always end up parking everywhere, driving the B roads and in a lot of countries they seem to park by wiggle, bump, bounce method. I saw no square corners on any car in Rome. When we had the house in AZ we had to sign that we would NOT take a rental car into Mexico, they last about an hr. My world elite Mastercard provides very adaquet insurance without buying additional from the rental guys. On a car under 65K in value.
 
Mad Mike said:
If you use it for gas, groceries and recurring bill payments you can get 3x miles/points/cashback. If you get a Visa Black (Infinite Privilege), when you check in for a car rental or stay in a decent hotel they usually bump you to the best available car/room available at no charge.
Click to expand...
Visa black? Which one is that? I have Visa momentum infinite from Scotia. Is that one what you meant?

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