How much is considered sufficient coverage?
I am covered through work with Great West Life up to $100000 for out of country emergency services for trips up to 41 days long, and I would consider that suitable for day trips or overnighters to Buffalo, but for longer trips further from the border and on the bike I am not sure if $100k is sufficient.
Last year I just picked up one of those travel insurance cards you can buy at Loblaws or Superstore, but I never really looked into the details of how much or what I was covered for.
This year I am considering going with a CAA multi-trip or similar.
One problem with OHIP is that we have no idea what hospitals cost. In Canada I hear averages of $7,000 a day. In the USA it's 50% higher but those are averages. Surgery and ICU will be higher. If you knew what was going to go wrong you could buy accordingly or, wiser yet, stay home.
If the incident involves a motor vehicle your accident benefits kick in but unless you have purchased extra coverage it is limited to $50K CDN.
Outside of accidents there are the things you never think of yourself having. Mine was a pulmonary embolism. Yours could be a kidney stone or appendix attack. Even in Buffalo do you want to be on the Peace Bridge trying to get back to OHIP-land with a one hour wait?
Act of violence doesn't mean squat to the US system. You still pay. Boston Marathon bombing victims have to pay. Since it was an act of terrorism I don't know if the insurers use that as an out.
I would go with a minimum of $250K but better, $1M
Unless you are a medical professional you don't know if the treatments are required. Do you need that $4,000 Scan? Repeat X-rays.
The part that is really P's me off is that it is almost impossible to get FACTS from the insurance business. Who has a good track record, what the odds are etc. All you get is "You should buy more insurance".
What also P's me off is that if it costs $5K to $7K a day here why OHIP only pays 200 to 400 dollars of the tab per day. I guess it would help their bottom line if we all went to the USA as soon as we felt sick.
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