Family visiting from abroad? Here’s how emergency medical insurance can help

Welcoming family visiting from outside Canada can be exciting, especially if you haven’t seen them in a long time.

Along with clearing out the closet in the spare bedroom, how else can you prepare for the visit? You may want to talk to your relatives about taking out emergency medical insurance. No one wants to think about something going wrong during such a happy time. But knowing you have health insurance coverage can let you focus on having a great visit together.

How much does health care cost for non-Canadians?

When people are talking about travel insurance, you often hear about the high cost of medical treatment outside Canada. But medical care in Canada can be expensive, too – for non-Canadians. And you don’t have to be elderly or in poor health to run up medical bills. Even young and vigorous people can have accidents. Take a look at these examples of common costs for patients without provincial health insurance:

• An emergency room visit could cost $1,055.67¹
• An intensive-care room could cost up to $8,976 per day¹

Compared to numbers such as these, the cost of travel insurance is small.

Look into travel insurance with flexible coverage

When you’re searching for emergency medical travel insurance, look for a provider that offers flexible coverage. Look for:

• The ability to buy insurance year after year for as long as your relatives stay in Canada
• Emergency medical care and limited dental care
• Coverage limits that suit your relative’s needs or that meet Canadian government Super Visa rules
• Coverage for the cost of prescriptions (benefit limits apply)
• A choice of family or single coverage
• Coverage for short visits to other countries that aren’t the country they came from. (For instance, you might want to take your brother visiting from Poland to New York City for a weekend.)
• Direct billing so you or your relatives don’t need to pay medical bills out of pocket

An illness or injury doesn’t have to turn your family’s visit into a financial burden for them or for you. Speak to an insurance professional about how a travel insurance policy can help your relatives during their visit. Your Sun Life advisor can help.

Talk to an advisor

¹ Cost estimates are based on 2022-23 fees at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital.