The typical Canadian Snowbird can be perceived as being insurance heavy. We insure our cars, our houses, our mortgages, our property, our lives, even sometimes our credit card debt. Canadians might be considered to be over insured.
Regardless of the perception, there is one insurance that you MUST have if you are travelling South for an extended winter stay. That insurance is country-specific health, or travel insurance that includes health coverage.
There are many facets to travel insurance. Along with the information on this page, here is a menu of additional pages of information which we expect you will find useful:
What does a hospital stay in the United states cost? Here are details.
The current average daily rate for hospital stay in the U.S. can be found here.
Why Travel Health Insurance?
Well, for example, if Florida is your destination of choice when you become a Canadian Snowbird, the daily rate for persons admitted to the hospital – according to “Becker’s Hospital Review in 2010” – is:
- State/local government hospitals — $1,708
- Non-profit hospitals — $2,092
- For-profit hospitals — $1,492
What will the Ontario Health Insurance plan reimburse you should you be one of the snowbirds that experiences a health problem while out of country? This is a quotation from the http://www.health.gov.on.ca website:
“When I travel outside of Canada, will OHIP pay the same medical expenses that are covered in Ontario? No. If you are a resident of Ontario and you are insured under OHIP, you are entitled to very limited funding for a certain range of medical services when you are travelling outside of Canada. For this reason, you are strongly advised to purchase additional health insurance every time you leave Canada and ensure that the supplementary insurance you have purchased provides adequate coverage.”
Specific OHIP Reimbursements in 2014
This too is a quotation from the OHIP website:
“For inpatient services, OHIP will pay $200 CDN per day. If the services are inpatient services rendered in an operating room, coronary care unit, intensive care unit, neonatal or pediatric special care unit, then OHIP will pay at the higher rate of $400 CDN per day for hospital services.”
It would not take too many days of hospital stay in Florida to financially ruin your trip, and could even force you to abandon your warmer locale to head back to Ontario and the fuller coverage you experience when you are in a hospital in your home province.”
What does a hospital stay in other states cost? Here are details.
Other pages of interest relating to Canadian Snowbird insurance:
The current average daily rate for hospital stay in the U.S. can be found here.