Travel Insurance: Are you covered?

Snowbirds, winter vacations, March break with the family…it’s that time of year when Canadians are preparing to take flight to escape our cold and snowy winter. As you pack your shorts, you should also turn your mind to taking measures to protect yourself in the event that you have an out-of-country medical emergency. Emergencies whilst travelling do happen, if you do end up making a claim then you will need to be well prepared, you can find out more information about claims by reading the Top 10 Travel Insurance Claims That Travellers Make to give you a better idea of what sort of claim you will be making if needed. When it comes to selecting your insurance provider, a service like GoBear which allows users to search and rate insurance and financial products can simplify the process greatly – read the Gadget Pilipinas article on GoBear to learn more about the service they provide.

A few days in a hospital in Ontario may cost your family some parking expenses incurred when they visit you. A few days in a hospital in another country may require you to mortgage your house. In the United States, for example, hospital costs can run up to $4,000 per day. OHIP will cover a percentage of this bill, but, the maximum amount they will reimburse you is the comparable cost of the expense had it been incurred in Ontario – which is about 10% of what is charged in the U.S.

The purpose of a travel insurance policy is to provide coverage for sudden, unexpected medical emergencies. A travel insurance policy is a smart purchase; however, before you buy one, you should beware of the limitations that are typically set out in these types of policies. Many travelers do not realize until after the emergency has occurred that their insurance may be null and void from the outset, or, that the insurance company may deny a claim for reimbursement because the policy is laden with exclusions and conditions. An insurance company will deny a claim in one of three situations: (a) your emergency medical care was related to a pre-existing (i.e. pre-departure) medical condition; (b) there is another exclusion in the policy that negates coverage; or (c) you made a “material misrepresentation” when you completed the application form.

The Application Process

Travel insurance is a form of retroactive underwriting. Typically, you complete an application for insurance, and, more likely than not, you will be approved for coverage with a company like Singapore’s Gobear. This does not, mean, however, that the insurance company will reimburse you in the event you incur out-of-country health care expenses. “Approval for coverage” only means that the policy is now in place. It is only after you have become ill while on vacation and later submit your medical bills to the insurer, that the insurance company does its investigation into whether you are entitled to be reimbursed.

It is the application forms that unwittingly trap most people. Often, these application forms are no more than one or two pages and ask you very broad questions about your prior medical health. The Application Form itself may be worded very simply, and it is your answers that lead you to an accompanying page that sets out the conditions for coverage (i.e. the terms you have to satisfy before the insurance company agrees to pay your bill) and exclusions (i.e. the circumstances under which the insurance company will not pay for the medical expenses).

Pre-Existing Medical Conditions

The exclusions in most policies are usually written in small, dense print on the back of the Application Form or in the policy booklet that is provided to you after you have paid for the premium. By this time, excited about their trip, most people do not bother taking a comprehensive review of the booklet.

The exclusion for pre-existing medical conditions is the exclusion that causes the most difficulty for travelers and is the main exclusion that ultimately leads to a denial of coverage. This type of exclusion is worded in various ways. For example, the Application Form may say that the policy will not cover:

“expenses incurred that are directly or indirectly related to a medical condition for which you have seen a doctor, have had treatment or been prescribed medication, in the last 12 months.”

“expenses incurred for a medical condition for which you sought treatment for a related condition in the 12 months before your departure date.

“health care costs incurred as a result of a reasonably anticipated medical condition.”

These exclusions are so broad that they allow the insurance company to rely on them quite easily. For example, “Indirectly related” medical conditions can catch almost any pre-existing medical condition. Who decides what constitutes a “related” medical condition?

If you are applying for insurance, read the Application very carefully and make sure you are aware of all terms and conditions before you pay the premium. If you see similar wording as I have provided above, ask the insurance company, and your doctor, for clarification.

Other Exclusions

There may be other exclusions unrelated to prior medical conditions that will allow the insurer to refuse to reimburse you. You must read and understand these exclusions so that you may purchase additional or supplemental coverage before your trip. Exclusions that may be overlooked, and could be detrimental, include:

  • The policy may provide coverage for hospital treatment only, and not for treatment in a medical clinic.
  • The policy may cover hospital expenses only where a person is admitted for at least 48 hours (or 24 hours, depending on the policy).
  • The policy may require advance authorization from the treatment provider before the insurer will agree to pay for the medical expense – this is deadly where you have to undergo emergency surgery and the hospital does not have your insurance information or is unable to contact the insurer.

When in doubt about the meaning of any clauses in the policy or Application Form, ask your insurance agent, your broker, or the person who is selling you the travel insurance, for further clarification.

Material Misrepresentations

If you provide information to an insurance company at the time you apply for insurance, and the insurance company relies on that information in deciding to extend coverage to you, but later learns that the information was wrong or incorrect, the insurance company can declare the policy null and void. A failure to disclose pertinent information is called a material misrepresentation. With travel insurance, the Application Form usually asks you questions about your past medical history. This is where most
misrepresentations occur. If you later make a claim for expenses, the insurance company will seek to obtain your pre-travel medical records and review them to ensure that you have not made any material misrepresentations.

Some people may forget that they had a mild heart attack 10 years ago, or that they once had blood tests to rule out a certain disease, or that they once suffered from a mysterious skin ailment. Thus, they fail to disclose these long-forgotten episodes on the Application Form. Or, the Application Form may use medical terminology foreign to the average person; for example, many people do not know what a myocardial infarction is (it’s a heart attack), so they fail to reveal the heart attack to the insurer.

A misrepresentation or failure to disclose is a valid basis for denying insurance coverage. Until the matter is resolved, the foreign hospital and/or its collection agency will be chasing you with its unpaid bill.

Tips and Advice

If you need a magnifying glass, dictionary or instruction manual to assist you to read the Application Form and accompanying exclusions, it is inevitable that you will not completely understand all the terms of the policy, you may make an error, and you may find yourself without reimbursement if you have an out-of-country medical emergency. There are ways to protect yourself so that you do not have to file bankruptcy, re-mortgage your house or start a lawsuit.

  • Read the application form and policy booklet very carefully before you pay the premium;
  • Go through the medical questionnaire with your doctor, especially if you are over 65 and/or have a history of medical problems;
  • Do not buy a policy online, and do not shop around for the cheapest premium;
  • Purchase travel insurance through an insurance agent or broker. They will then bear the onus of explaining all exclusions and policy conditions to you and ensure that you understand them;
  • Do you have health insurance through your employment? If so, find out how much that policy will pay for out of country medical expenses. See if you can purchase supplemental coverage.
Written by

Najma Rashid is a partner at Howard Yegendorf & Associates. Her practice is devoted exclusively to personal injury litigation, including motor vehicle accident claims, SABS disputes before the License Appeal Tribunal, and LTD claims. She was a director on the OTLA Board of Directors for 4 years, and was the Chair of the Long-Term Disability Section in 2020/21.

In addition to OTLA, Najma is a member of the Advocates Society, as well as a supporter of organizations such as REACH Canada, Probono Ontario, the Ontario Brain Injury Association and the Canadian Paraplegic Association.

1 Comment

  • Travel Insurance: Are you covered? – Ashley Gnys Personal Injury Law
    March 4, 2019 - 11:05 am