Blue Cross Travel Insurance for Canadians

Blue Cross travel insurance protects Canadian residents when they leave their province. You choose your coverages: emergency medical care up to $5,000,000, trip cancellation and interruption, baggage, and accidental death or dismemberment. Blue Cross 24/7 Travel Assistance is included in every contract. Protecto sells this plan, helps you pick the right coverages and stays your contact after you buy. Your online price takes under 2 minutes.

Single-Trip or Multi-Trip Annual

Blue Cross offers two main products for Canadian residents:

• Single-Trip: one contract for one specific trip. You choose one or more coverages to fit your needs.
• Multi-Trip Annual: a full year of protection for every trip outside your province, with no limit on the number of trips. Each trip must fit within the maximum length you choose: 4, 8, 17, 31, 60, 90, 120, 150 or 180 days.

Blue Cross designs Multi-Trip Annual for people who travel more than once a year. Your advisor can price both options.

Coverages and limits

Emergency medical coverage pays for hospital, physician, tests, ambulance and repatriation, among other things. If an illness or accident delays your return, a subsistence allowance of $300 a day, up to $3,000, pays for lodging, meals and essential calls.

For a trip entirely within Canada, the Single-Trip contract also offers an “Emergency medical care in Canada” version. Blue Cross benefits are paid in addition to your provincial plan, not instead of it. Read why RAMQ is not enough in the U.S..

Who can buy it

• Canadian residents covered by their provincial health plan for the entire trip.
• Anyone older than 30 days on the departure date.
• Multi-Trip Annual: 85 or under for maximum trip lengths of 4 to 120 days, and 80 or under for 150 or 180 days.

From age 55, some situations make you ineligible, for example: medical advice not to travel, kidney disease treated with dialysis, cancer with metastases in the last 5 years, or home oxygen in the last 12 months.

Pre-existing conditions: the stability period

A pre-existing condition that has not stayed stable for a set period before your coverage takes effect is excluded, except for a minor ailment. That period depends on your age, the length of the trip and the coverage. Stable means, under the policy: no new diagnosis; no new symptom, worsening or increase in frequency; no hospitalization; no new medication or dosage change; no new treatment or test pending, prescribed, ongoing or recommended; no treatment changed or stopped; no treatment or medical advice ignored.

For emergency medical care:

• 54 and under: 3 months of stability before your coverage takes effect.
• 55 to 59, trips of less than 18 days: 6 months.
• 55 to 59 on trips of 18 days or more, and 60 and over: 6 months. In addition, some conditions are excluded unless your certificate of insurance says otherwise: cardiovascular conditions (including angina, arrhythmia, heart attack, congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension) and certain transplants diagnosed or treated at any time in your life, kidney disease in the last 24 months, and cancer (except the exceptions set out in the contract) or certain digestive conditions in the last 12 months.

For trip cancellation and interruption, it’s 3 months at any age.

To go further, read what “stable” means in travel insurance.

What the insurance doesn’t cover

Exclusions include: pregnancy and childbirth within 9 weeks before or after the due date; certain sports or activities; abuse of medication, alcohol or drugs; criminal acts; war; suicide and self-inflicted injury. Travel insurance covers sudden, unforeseen emergencies and generally does not cover follow-ups or recurring care. You also need to call Blue Cross Travel Assistance before receiving care, or the claim may be refused.

How much does Blue Cross travel insurance cost?

The premium is personalized. According to the policy, it is based on:

• the age of the people insured;
• the destination;
• the length of the trip, or the maximum trip length chosen for Multi-Trip Annual;
• the product, the coverages chosen and the amount insured;
• your answers to the health declaration, if one applies;
• the deductible, if you take one.

So two travellers of the same age can pay different prices. The exact number is the one calculated on your profile: get your price, with no commitment.

Buying through Protecto, and what to do if something goes wrong

1. Fill in the online quote in under 2 minutes.
2. One of our advisors may call to check your health and coverages. They call to help, never to push.
3. Pay before the contract starts. The insurance must be bought before you leave your province and cover the whole trip, from departure to return.

Trip getting longer? Single-Trip: contact your advisor before you leave or, at the latest, before the end of the covered period. Multi-Trip Annual: before you leave or, at the latest, before the maximum stay is exceeded. Changed your mind? You can cancel for a full refund before the contract start date, or within 10 days of purchase, unless you have submitted or intend to submit a claim, or the contract lasts 10 days or less.

In an emergency, call Blue Cross Travel Assistance at the number on your certificate. They direct you to an appropriate facility, confirm your coverage and coordinate payment when possible. In all cases, the claim form goes in within 90 days of the event; Blue Cross processes it within 30 business days of receiving all the documents. Claims are filed directly online, on the website of CanAssistance, the company mandated by Blue Cross, or by mail. Contact details are on our Claims and assistance page. If you have trouble reaching them, our advisors can help.

See also

See also our Blue Cross all-inclusive, trip cancellation and snowbird pages, our travel insurance plans for Canadians and all our insurers.

Protecto is a firm registered with the AMF (#602624) and licensed in Ontario (FSRAO 41378M), rated 4.9 out of 5 by more than 800 clients on Google. This summary doesn’t replace the policy: if there’s a difference, the Blue Cross policy wording prevails.