Clark Wealth Management Group - ScotiaMcLeod Fredericton

With the leaves almost off the trees and a bite in the morning air, thousands of New Brunswick snowbirds are dreaming of taking flight for another season out of the snow in the Southern US. Things are good for snowbirds these days. The Loonie is strong and the cost of accommodations in Florida is certainly not going up. Even the price of gasoline south of the border is cheaper.

Traveling outside of the Country is not without risk. The risk we’re going to look at today is the costs of medical care should you have an accident or get sick while you are away. We’ve all heard the horror stories like the friend of my Snowbird parents who had to spend three days in hospital at a cost to him of $40,000. Another friend of theirs who had bought the bare bones coverage returned from a cruise with a bad bug. A brief $100,000 stay in hospital followed. Sadly their insurance covered only $60,000 of the expense. Ouch!

There are not many New Brunswickers whose lifestyle wouldn’t be negatively affected if they had to pony up for a $40,000 medical bill.

The fact is our Provincial medical plans cover only a fraction of the cost of medical care outside the Country. You can and should buy out-of-Country travel insurance to protect you from these extra costs.

The types of coverage available vary greatly. For example, you can buy it for your once per year trip or, if you travel to the US frequently throughout the year, you can buy annual coverage that’s valid for all your trips.

Here are a few things to consider as you make your purchase decision:
• Shop around to make sure your rates are competitive. Travel insurance is offered by many organizations. You can get it through your bank, your financial advisor, your insurance company, your seniors association, your alumni association and of course via travel agencies.
• When it comes to applying for coverage, be sure to answer the questionnaire honestly and completely. Failure to provide accurate details could leave you with a useless policy.
• Consider upgrade options. Some plans allow you to buy trip cancelation and lost baggage coverage for very reasonable prices.
• Since the cost of health care is so high in the US, consider selecting fairly high total coverage limits.
• Finally because things often don’t go wrong between 9 and 5 Monday to Friday, be sure that your plan has a 24 hour support line where they can be contacted if you run into problems.

Keir Clark, is a senior wealth advisor, with Clark Wealth Management Group and branch manager at ScotiaMcLeod in Fredericton, NB. He can be reached online at www.keirclark.ca or by telephone at 506-450-6465.

Information and opinions contained herein have been compiled from sources believed reliable but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy or completeness.