Travel insurance for father, with pre existing medical condition.

[jay_12r]

Hello,

My father is here in canada, came last week and I am thinking of taking the visitor medical insurance for him.
My father is on visitor visa and had a bypass surgery in 2011 and since then he had no issue - its stable from lat 10 years. ANd even before coming to canada he had all the test and all looked fine. However, I am still thinking of buying an insurance for him.

Please suggest the company covering the bypass surgery happened more then 10 years ago.

 

[canuck78]

Hello,

My father is here in canada, came last week and I am thinking of taking the visitor medical insurance for him.
My father is on visitor visa and had a bypass surgery in 2011 and since then he had no issue - its stable from lat 10 years. ANd even before coming to canada he had all the test and all looked fine. However, I am still thinking of buying an insurance for him.

Please suggest the company covering the bypass surgery happened more then 10 years ago.

No matter what you should take out some for of private medical insurance unless you have a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare. Whether his cardiac issues will be covered depends on his current cardiac health. BP, what medications he is taking, whether he has had any recent hospitalizations or irregular tests, etc. If he has been stable for 3+ months he should be able to get coverage that covers cardiac issues.

 

[canuck78]

Could be that I am mistaken, but seems to me that one must obtain travel insurance before one starts a trip.

You need travel medical insurance for supervisa but for a normal TRV it isn’t required. It is highly recommended because If you do end up needing medical care in Canada it can get very expensive very fast. We see lots of examples of families ending up with bills of 50k+ having not taken out insurance and then are panicked about having to pay the hospital.

 

[jay_12r]

No matter what you should take out some for of private medical insurance unless you have a couple hundreds of thousands of dollars to spare. Whether his cardiac issues will be covered depends on his current cardiac health. BP, what medications he is taking, whether he has had any recent hospitalizations or irregular tests, etc. If he has been stable for 3+ months he should be able to get coverage that covers cardiac issues.

Yes, thankyou.
He is stable since then. Like its been more then 10 years with no issue.
Do you know any, who will be covering cardiac? I checked with manulife, they are not.

 

[canuck78]

Yes, thankyou.
He is stable since then. Like its been more then 10 years with no issue.
Do you know any, who will be covering cardiac? I checked with manulife, they are not.

You’ll need to look at each policy. Not sure if having a bypass leads to a lack of cardiac coverage for anyone visiting Canada. Even if no cardiac coverage getting travel medical insurance still worthwhile. Small fee for potential huge cost.

 

[scylla]

Yes, thankyou.
He is stable since then. Like its been more then 10 years with no issue.
Do you know any, who will be covering cardiac? I checked with manulife, they are not.

Just to be clear, are you looking to get emergency medical coverage for him excluding any pre-existing conditions? Or are you looking to get cardiac issues covered as well? I think it's going to be challenging (and very expensive) to find something that provides coverage for cardiac issues given his medical history. I would recommend you work with an insurance agent. They can help you review the various policies available (across multiple companies) to suggest what's best and what's available given the situation. I expect anything you can get will have lots of exclusions (e.g. further bypass surgeries not covered, etc.).

 

[canuck78]

Yes, but my point was simply to observe that, in general, travel medical insurance must be purchased before the start of the trip. A small amount of online research today confirms this. For example, Wikipedia (I know, not a particularly authoritative source) says:

Most travel insurance policies must be purchased prior to departure from home, or from the first departure point (e.g. an airport), depending on the product. A smaller number of brands offer travel insurance for travellers who are already overseas and have forgotten to purchase travel insurance or have a policy which has expired.[3] Most policies require ones to start and finish one's journey in one's country of residence. However some policies offer coverage for one-way travel for people who are permanently relocating to another country.

See also:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/last-minute/

However, the OP has not specifically referred to travel medical insurance and it might be possible to obtain medical insurance at any time, any place, such not being considered "travel" insurance, but simply "medical" insurance. One can probably get just about anything if willing to pay the premium.

They’ll need to look at the various policies and consider potential short travel outside Canada. In general always a good idea to get travel medical insurance especially for seniors.

 

[scylla]

Yes, but my point was simply to observe that, in general, travel medical insurance must be purchased before the start of the trip. A small amount of online research today confirms this. For example, Wikipedia (I know, not a particularly authoritative source) says:

Most travel insurance policies must be purchased prior to departure from home, or from the first departure point (e.g. an airport), depending on the product. A smaller number of brands offer travel insurance for travellers who are already overseas and have forgotten to purchase travel insurance or have a policy which has expired.[3] Most policies require ones to start and finish one's journey in one's country of residence. However some policies offer coverage for one-way travel for people who are permanently relocating to another country.

See also:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/last-minute/

However, the OP has not specifically referred to travel medical insurance and it might be possible to obtain medical insurance at any time, any place, such not being considered "travel" insurance, but simply "medical" insurance. One can probably get just about anything if willing to pay the premium.

Agreed with this. Most policies are only available if purchased before travel / before departure.

IMO the OP needs to be working with an insurance agent who has knowledge across multiple companies and policies.