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Our VerdictBlue Cross may be a household name when it comes to extended health insurance and group plans, but the company has been offering travel insurance for almost 50 years. A huge plus to a Blue Cross policy is the ability to pick and choose your coverage options to suit your travel needs and budget. There’s no mandatory medical questionnaire, and there’s included flight delay coverage for all plans. While some payout limits are lower than other plans, this is still solid coverage for a good price.
Blue Cross began in 1929 as a way to make healthcare more accessible for patients at Baylor University hospital in Texas. Subscribers paid $0.50 a month for up to 21 days of hospitalization per year. Buoyed by the company’s success in the U.S., Manitoba became the first province in Canada to establish a Blue Cross prepaid health care plan in 1938 in response to government funding shortfalls for hospitals after the Great Depression. Ontario followed suit in 1941.
Today, Blue Cross provides group health coverage, as well as travel and life insurance through seven regional not-for-profit service organizations. These member groups include: Alberta Blue Cross (serving Alberta and Northwest Territories), Manitoba Blue Cross (serving Manitoba and Nunavut), Medavie Blue Cross (serving New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and PEI), Ontario Blue Cross, Pacific Blue Cross (serving British Columbia and the Yukon), Quebec Blue Cross and Saskatchewan Blue Cross. Blue Cross is part of a larger global network, including the American Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Blue Cross launched its first travel insurance policy in Canada in 1977.
Blue Cross travel insurance is underwritten by Canassurance Hospital Service Association (CHSA) or Canassurance Insurance Company.
This review is based on plans from Ontario Blue Cross. If you live elsewhere in Canada, your plan offerings may differ.
Here are the key types of travel insurance coverage offered in Blue Cross travel insurance plans:
Blue Cross allows you to customize and combine the amount of coverage you need. You can either choose the all inclusive plan or pick individual coverage options à la carte. So, for example, you could choose emergency medical coverage and baggage coverage, or trip cancellation/interruption coverage and baggage coverage.
Package Plus: This option is a combination of the most popular coverage options and includes at least one of emergency medical care and/or trip cancellation or interruption, along with accidental death or dismemberment, and baggage coverage.
Coverage for emergency medical treatment includes:
Medical coverage also covers the cost to return home if medically necessary (and includes a travelling companion or family member), as well as baggage return and pet return. If your return home is delayed due to a medical emergency, this benefit covers meals and accommodations.
Emergency Medical: If you’re only worried about medical emergencies while travelling, this benefit offers all of the medical coverage listed above.
Trip Cancellation or Interruption: This coverage option reimburses you for insured travel expenses (such as hotels or prepaid excursions) if you have to cancel, interrupt, extend or modify your trip due to a covered reason. With this coverage, you can also choose not to insure your trip, but opt in for additional trip coverage. This includes transportation expenses if you have to interrupt, modify or extend your trip, as well as a subsistence allowance for hotels and meals if your return home is delayed.
Accidental Death or Dismemberment: This coverage option offers reimbursement in the event you die, or lose the use of one or more limbs during a travel accident. The amount paid out depends on your age and the severity of the accident.
Baggage Coverage: This insures you if your baggage is delayed for more than 12 hours, or lost, stolen or damaged during your trip.
Flight Delay Service: This service is available at no extra cost to anyone with Blue Cross travel insurance, even if you don’t have trip cancellation or trip interruption coverage.
If your flight is delayed, you automatically receive the following benefits:
Once registered for the service, the Blue Cross system tracks your flight in real time. If it’s delayed, you’ll receive a text message or email telling you how to access your benefits. Your hotel room, if required, will be booked for you and there is no need to submit a claim later.
We’ve highlighted the key benefits for each coverage option available for the single trip plan when travelling outside of Canada to help you identify which is the best fit for you. One of medical or trip cancellation/interruption coverage is mandatory, but accidental death or dismemberment and baggage are optional.
The price of a Blue Cross travel insurance plan depends on factors such as the cost of your trip, your age and the amount of coverage you choose.
Here are some examples of the cost for Blue Cross single trip plans for healthy travellers based in Ontario. These quotes do not include the optional protection for pandemic related costs.
These quotes do not include baggage coverage, except for the all inclusive plan option.
Using the example of the Mexico trip, baggage can be added to the medical only plan for $19.96 (making the plan total $74.22) and to the Trip Cancellation and Interruption only plan for $19.96 (for a plan total of $142.12)
With your emergency medical coverage, you can also add an optional deductible, or the amount you will pay out of pocket before your coverage kicks in, of $250, $500, $1,500, $2,500 or $5,000.
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: Yes, 50% to 75%
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,000
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500
Blue Cross offers an Optional Protection: Pandemic add-on that reimburses travel expenses normally excluded under the Trip Cancellation or Interruption Coverage. This add-on must be purchased with trip cancellation and interruption coverage and within five days of the first trip deposit or at least 45 days prior to the departure date.
The benefit is dependent on whether or not there is a Canadian government travel advisory in effect or not on the date the coverage takes effect.
If a travel advisory is in effect, then the pandemic is known and foreseeable, and reimbursement will only be paid due to a travel delay.
In general, when the return date must be delayed due to a diagnosis, positive screen test or contact tracing in relation to a pandemic, benefits include:
If there is no travel advisory in effect, then the pandemic is unforeseeable, and the trip cancellation and coverage applies to the full extent, per the policy wording. In other words, in this case a pandemic is not considered a reason for exclusion.
Here’s how the costs compare for single trip insurance with and without the optional pandemic coverage
Blue Cross offers a preferred rates discount for snowbirds aged 55 and above travelling more than 32 days, as well as a $25 travelling companion discount and a $15 grandchildren discount.
Yes. You can buy multi-trip annual insurance if you travel more than once a year for multiple individual trips. Blue Cross offers medical only coverage, trip coverage and all inclusive coverage for four, eight, 17, 31, 60, 90, 150 or 180 days per trip.
Here’s how the prices between single trip and multi-trip insurance compare for the all inclusive and medical only plans:
Blue Cross Travel Assistance is included with all travel insurance products and is available 24/7, 365 days of the year either before or during your trip. Depending on the coverage provided by your insurance policy, emergency support includes:
When calling Blue Cross Travel Assistance, you’ll need your insurance contract number and your provincial health insurance number.
If you (or someone calling on your behalf) do not contact Blue Cross Travel Assistance before receiving medical treatment, your claim may be denied. A relative or medical staff member must contact Travel Assistance within 24 hours of starting medical treatment. It’s important to remember that certain services, such as paramedical treatment, must be approved in advance. If you need to cancel or modify your trip and you have trip cancellation and interruption coverage, you must notify Blue Cross within 48 hours of becoming aware of an event that triggers a change.
Blue Cross will not pay any medical expenses related to any medical condition that is not stable for a set period of time, either three or six months (depending on your age), before your coverage takes effect.
A medical condition is considered stable when all of the following are true:
In addition, Blue Cross has a number of age- and condition-specific exclusions, including:
For policyholders aged 54 and under during the three months preceding the effective date of coverage or for policyholders aged 55 to 75 travelling less than 32 days during the six months preceding the effective date of coverage:
For policyholders aged 55 to 75 who are travelling 32 days or more and for people aged 76 or over, the following medical conditions are excluded unless the insurance certificate stipulates otherwise:
Travellers over age 54 who are travelling for longer than 31 days and travellers aged 76 and older can have their physician complete an optional medical questionnaire that is then submitted to Blue Cross for evaluation. The Blue Cross medical team can then decide if your pre-existing or chronic condition is approved for coverage or not.
There are a number of scenarios not covered by travel insurance and it’s critical to know what not to do before you make a claim. The following are some of the most common situations not covered by travel insurance:
To be eligible for insurance with Blue Cross, the following must apply:
In addition, for travellers aged 55 and over, you must not:
You can file a claim online 24/7 by visiting the Blue Cross secure electronic document filing website where you can start a new claim, submit your required documentation and follow the progress of your claim. The website currently notes that processing your claim could take up to 30 days.
In addition to your claim form you may be asked to provide:
You must submit the completed claim form within 90 days of the event, including all supporting documentation and itemized receipts.
According to the company, Blue Cross Travel Assistance is part of a worldwide assistance network that includes hospitals, clinics, medical escorts, and air and land carriers and “when the situation allows, we pay the medical costs directly to the provider so you don’t have to pay anything upfront or out of your pocket.”
Emergency medical care for COVID-19 is covered as long as you have not contracted or experienced symptoms prior to the effective date of your contract. This does not cover the cost of COVID-19 tests while travelling, unless one is prescribed by a physician due to a medical emergency or sudden illness.
Yes. Your coverage is automatically extended for 24 hours starting on the final day of your trip due to a transportation delay. If you or your travelling companion are hospitalized, your coverage is extended for the period of hospitalization and the 24-hour period after discharge. If your return home is delayed due to a medical emergency that started within 24 hours before your scheduled return date and required emergency treatment, your coverage is automatically extended for up to 72 hours.
You can also request an extension if you want to stay longer on your trip, provided you apply before the expiry date of your policy, you are still eligible for insurance and your health has not changed since your departure. Your request may be denied if you have a claim in progress or the Canadian government has a new travel advisory in effect or recommends travellers return home.
No. Unlike other insurance providers, a medical questionnaire is not mandatory, but is offered to travellers over age 54 who are travelling for longer than 31 days and travellers aged 76 and older. All travellers answer a basic health declaration to confirm eligibility that asks questions such as, has your doctor advised you not to travel, do you suffer from a terminal illness and do you suffer from kidney failure treated through dialysis. A medical questionnaire, which is completed by your physician, is optional but is recommended if you have pre-existing conditions. Your answers to these questions will be assessed by the Blue Cross medical directors and if you have pre-existing conditions that do “not present an increased risk, it will be covered.”
Yes. Travellers must be at least 30 days old. If you are 85 years or under, the maximum number of days you can purchase until the annual multi-trip plan is 120 days. If you are 80 years old or under, you can purchase multi-trip insurance for maximum days of 150 or 180 days. Travellers age 76 and above can not get a quote online and must call the Customer Relations Centre for assistance.
In general, if you purchase cancellation coverage, it begins the day you buy your policy and ends the day when you make a claim or leave on your trip. Your interruption coverage, if purchased, begins when you leave home. Your delay coverage begins once an insured risk prevents you from returning home as scheduled.
You can request a cancellation and full refund of your contract before the effective date of the contract (or the date the coverage begins) or during the 10 days following the date of purchase, with some exceptions.
Yes. Blue Cross gives you 10 days after purchase to review and cancel your contract if you’re not satisfied with it, unless you have made or intend to make a claim related to the contract, the contract is for a period of 10 days or less or if the contract was purchased within 11 days before the trip and includes the trip cancellation or interruption coverage.
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Fiona Campbell Forbes StaffFiona Campbell is a Staff Writer for Forbes Advisor Canada. She started her career on Bay Street, but followed her love for research, writing and a good story into journalism. She is the former editor of Bankrate Canada, and has over 20 years of experience writing for various publications, including the Globe and Mail, Financial Post Business, Advisor’s Edge, Mydoh.ca and more.
Aaron Broverman is the lead editor of Forbes Advisor Canada. He has over a decade of experience writing in the personal finance space for outlets such as Creditcards.com, creditcardGenius.ca, Yahoo Finance Canada, Nerd Wallet Canada and Greedyrates.ca. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario with his wife and son.