Personalized Travel Medical Plans for Snowbirds and Seniors

Learn the advantages of our personalized policies, including coverage for pre-existing medical conditions with no stability period requirement

* Personalized Travel Medical coverage is now available for our single-trip plans and annual multi-trip plans! See details below

What is a Personalized Travel Medical Plan?

A personalized travel medical plan is a cutting-edge travel insurance policy that uses sophisticated technology and data analysis to provide customized coverage and pricing based exclusively on your unique medical history, conditions and age.

Our personalized travel medical insurance policies can offer a number of coverage and cost-saving advantages, making them an ideal option for many snowbirds and seniors.

How is a Personalized Travel Medical Insurance Policy Different?

Many standard travel insurance policies have three issues that can disadvantage applicants:

  1. They group applicants together to determine premiums
  2. They require “stability periods” for pre-existing conditions
  3. They deny coverage to individuals with significant health issues

Personalized travel medical policies, on the other hand, can offer solutions to these issues.

Below is an overview highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of policies:

Personalized Travel Medical
Insurance Policies

vs.

Standard Travel Medical
Insurance Policies

Pricing:
  • Every applicant is evaluated based on their personal characteristics such as age, health and trip duration, and their premium is determined accordingly.

 

 
  • Individuals are grouped together based on age, health and trip duration “ranges”.

    Everyone in a group pays the same premium, with younger, healthier individuals often subsidizing older, less healthy individuals.

    This disadvantages some group members while providing an advantage to others.

Stability Period Requirements:
  • Policies do not have a “stability clause” requirement.

    All pre-existing medical conditions that exist at the time you obtain your policy will be covered, regardless of whether they are stable or not, as long as you fully and accurately disclose them when you are applying for coverage.

 

 
  • Policies include a “stability clause” that requires pre-existing medical conditions to be stable for a specific period of time prior to applying for insurance - usually 90, 120 or 180 days - depending on the policy.

    Conditions that have not been stable for the required period are excluded from coverage.

    This means that if you require medical attention related to an excluded medical condition while you are travelling, your policy will not cover the costs.

Coverage for Significant Medical Conditions:
  • Individuals with certain significant medical conditions may be eligible for coverage - depending on the conditions and risk.

    Policy premiums will reflect the risk associated with those conditions.

 
  • Applicants with significant medical conditions are often found to be ineligible for coverage during the application process, leaving them without travel medical insurance.

What is a Stability Clause?

Most standard insurance policies have what is commonly referred to as a “stability clause”.

This clause requires any pre-existing medical conditions to be stable for a specific period prior to applying for insurance coverage

To further complicate matters, the term “stable” can be misleading, as it usually applies to any change in your medical condition, whether it is negative or not, and often includes things you may not normally consider to be “changes”, such as increases or decreases in medication doses, stopping a medication and scheduled appointments and tests for possible medical issues that have not yet been diagnosed.

In addition, many travellers aren’t aware that an exclusion from coverage doesn’t just apply to the excluded condition, it also applies to any medical treatment for a condition related to that condition, which means that you may unexpectedly be denied treatment coverage for a medical issue you didn’t anticipate would be excluded.

Our personalized travel medical insurance policies don’t have stability clauses and do not require pre-existing medical conditions to be stable for any period of time prior to obtaining coverage. However, it’s important to be aware that you must fully and accurately disclose all of your medical conditions during your application process, or your policy may be void.

Who Can Benefit from a Personalized Travel Medical Plan?

The potential benefits will vary depending on your health and medical condition. Below is a breakdown of the potential benefits to different types of travellers:

Travellers with Minor Health Issues

Travellers who are relatively healthy can save money by having their premiums determined exclusively based on their own health and medical conditions.

This differs from standard policies, where you would be grouped in with a pool of other travellers to determine your premium, many of whom may have more serious health conditions than yourself.

In this situation, you would pay the same premium as the other individuals in your group, despite the fact that you are healthier. Essentially, you would be subsidizing the other less healthy individuals in your group instead of paying a premium that is in line with your unique medical condition.

Travellers with Unstable Medical Conditions

Under most standard travel medical insurance policies, if you have pre-existing medical conditions that have not been stable for the required period when you purchase your travel insurance policy (usually 90, 120 or 180 days, depending on the policy) then any medical issue you have while travelling related to those conditions will not be covered under your insurance policy.

Our personalized travel medical policies, on the other hand, don’t have a stability period requirement, which means any pre-existing medical conditions will be covered by your policy, regardless of how long they have been stable for, as long as you have provided full and accurate disclosure about those conditions in your application.

However, it’s important to remember that the no stability clause feature only applies to your medical conditions at the time you apply for your policy. If your medical condition changes after your policy is issued, you will still need to call one of our agents immediately to inform them of the change so they can determine if your coverage still applies or if your premium will increase based on the changes.

Travellers with Significant or Difficult to Insure Medical Conditions

Travellers with serious medical conditions are often declined outright when applying for travel medical insurance, leaving them with two bad options: Stay home for the winter or risk financial ruin by travelling without medical insurance.

Under our personalized travel medical policies, some travellers with certain serious medical conditions may still be eligible for travel medical insurance coverage, even if they have been denied coverage by other providers.

Keep in mind that your premiums will likely be higher if you fall into this category, but at least you will have coverage.

Is a Personalized Travel Medical Policy Always My Best Option?

While personalized travel medical policies can provide many advantages over standard policies and are often an ideal choice for snowbirds and seniors, there are some situations where a standard policy may be more cost-effective, depending on your specific circumstances.

That’s why we offer both personalized and standard travel insurance policies, allowing you to compare the two and make an informed choice.

Our experienced agents can assist you in evaluating which type of policy best meets your needs based on price and coverage.

Personalized Coverage Available for Single-Trip and Annual Multi-Trip Plans

We are pleased to announce that we now offer Personalized travel medical insurance coverage options for both single-trip and annual multi-trip plans.

At this time, personalized coverage for annual multi-trip plans:

  • Is availble for purchase by phone only
  • Comes in 10-day and 18-day options
  • Offers a top-op option for individuals with longer trip durations

And remember, just like standard plans, personalized plans still require you to inform us of any change in your medical condition that occurs: 

  1. after you purchase your policy and before you travel, or
  2. at any time while you are back in your home province during your coverage period

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