COVID-19 travel insurance: costs, coverage and the fine print

More and more travel insurance providers in Canada now cover COVID-19. But not all policies are created equal.

The federal government has lifted its blanket advisory against all non-essential travel. The U.S. land border is once again open and growing numbers of Canadians are ready to travel.

While bookings aren’t expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until sometime well into 2022 or even 2023, travel agents are receiving a growing number of inquiries, especially from clients eyeing sunny getaways in February or March of next year, says Wendy Paradis, president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA).

But for every trip they’re helping to plan, travel agents these days are having an average of seven to eight calls with clients, twice the number they’d normally field before COVID-19, according to Paradis. The number one question, she says, is about travel insurance.

The good news is that COVID-19 coverage is no longer hard to find. More than half of travel insurance providers in Canada now offer options to protect yourself in case of medical emergencies or trip disruptions linked to the virus, estimates Will McAleer, executive director of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA).

And the pandemic hasn’t had much of an impact on travel insurance costs, he adds.

“If you’re vaccinated, most plans aren’t going to charge you extra to receive coverage for COVID-19,” he says.

For example, Medipac Travel Insurance, which is endorsed by the Canadian Snowbird Association, said most of the rate adjustments it has made over the past couple of years reflect medical inflation and aren’t directly related to the pandemic.

Still, the tricky part is ensuring you have the coverage you need, Paradis says.