Back in 2016, only about four percent of people worked remotely. By 2021, that number grew to over 30 percent of Canadian workers. And now, many Canadians have chosen to re-locate their homes and families and are prepared to travel a long journey between provinces for monthly meetings with staff or occasional face-to-face team meetings when they are needed. After work is done, there are often plans to blend in some extra personal time on the trip to catch up with family or friends over a weekend or as part of a personal vacation.
Inter-provincial travel poses a new problem that many haven’t really thought about: the health insurance provided by your province of residence does not cover all of the emergency health needs you may have when you are out-of-province. That means you are at risk for some significant out-of-pocket healthcare bills unless you have emergency medical travel insurance in place.
Understand what is and isn’t covered when you travel out of province
In the event of an unforeseen sickness or injury during your business trip, showing your provincial health card will only let you visit a physician or hospital. Remember, fees that aren’t covered in your province won’t be covered when you’re travelling outside the province, either.
The amount of coverage you’d get in your home province may not be enough to cover the same medical service that you need while in another province or territory. If that’s the case (and you don’t have travel insurance), you’ll be stuck paying the difference.
What kind of medical help could you need? Anything from a simple slip and fall resulting in a broken wrist to an unexpected heart attack can happen. Here are just of few of the fees you may need to pay out of pocket:
- The cost of medical transportation to a hospital, which can be hundreds of dollars.
- Hospitalization costs including private or semi-private hospital room costs, X-rays or other medical imaging services, rental of crutches or TV in your hospital room. This may not be a major issue if your medical bill is a couple hundred dollars. But what happens if it comes to a total you can’t afford?
- Services provided by a healthcare professional other than a doctor are not covered. Something as simple as a dental emergency can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in costs you will have to pay.
Out of province travel insurance helps to cover healthcare costs
Travel insurance can provide emergency medical coverage up to $10 million for:
- Hospital and physician services
- Paramedical services
- Ambulance transportation
- Emergency dental treatment
- Preparation and return of remains
- Additional meals and hotel
- Vehicle return
With travel insurance, you also have 24/7 emergency assistance. When you’re away from home and something unexpected happens, your comforting, friendly emergency assistance team is available to answer your call for help.
Don’t depend on your employer or credit card travel coverage
If you have health coverage through your employer or credit card, you may or may not be covered for out of province healthcare costs. Check the fine print on those plans prior to travel to make sure that you are protected from unexpected out-of-pocket healthcare bills.
If you have employer health insurance, call your group insurance provider before you travel for your meetings to ensure you have all the coverage you are going to need. When it comes to credit cards, the first thing you should check is that they actually cover out-of-province domestic trips, as some may only apply to international travel.
Whether you drive or fly, if you travel within Canada, there are no federal travel requirements but there may be provincial or territorial rules and restrictions.
Travelling within Canada for work? Travel safely. Give us a call.
Make sure you always travel safely out-of-province and protect yourself from unexpected health expenses. Travel insurance is affordable and SBIS offers affordable plans specifically for travel within Canada.
When you travel out of province often for your work, choose a multi-trip plan that automatically includes coverage for unlimited travel (during a one-year period) throughout Canada. Go online or give us a call today to find out more.
