Medical insurance for traveling 6 months or more

[echao]

Hello,

My partner and I are about to go to Canada and she is planning on visiting for at least 6 months, perhaps a year. Reason being that we have applied for common-law visa and have been waiting for over 15 months and its irritating us a lot. We have decided to go to Canada and she will wait out the application in Canada, perhaps going to school and stuff.

We are going to go to Edmonton Alberta and are looking up health coverage for her. We are confused with regards to "Emergency health coverage" and the terminology; suppose she has a bad cold and needs medicine; I take her to my family doctor...will whatever insurance she gets help cover that?

Furthermore, does anybody have any recommendations or experiences with private health insurance in Alberta for travelers?

Your help is much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[scylla]

I'll help with one of your questions. Basic travel insurance only covers emergencies. It will not cover trips to the doctor or medications for a common cold. There are premium insurance policies that will cover these types of visits. However the cost of these policies is significantly higher and you also need to look closely at the deductibles (for example, sometimes the first $1K in expenses isn't covered). Generally you are better off buying basic travel insurance to cover yourself for emergenies and paying for the common cold doctor visits out of your own pocket. Keep in mind that insurance companies are in the business of making money. So they're not going to offer policies where they know they will lose money.

 

[MizAngel]

If you are an Alberta resident, your partner may be covered by Alberta healthcare. I say maybe because I'm not sure if it also applies to commonlaw, but my husband was immediately eligible for Alberta healthcare as soon as we got married. That would cover basic doctor's appointments. You can find out more information about it here: http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-care-insurance-plan.html If you are just moving now, then you yourself would not be eligible for 3 months (I think) so you would have to wait. Once your 3 months is up, you would both apply together for AHCIP.