How to navigate travel insurance ahead of spring break
BNN Bloomberg
Canadians looking to get away for spring break now have a more robust range of travel insurance options.
MONTREAL - With the Omicron variant in retreat, Canadians looking to get away for spring break now have a more robust range of travel insurance options.
The federal government announced last week it will roll back testing and quarantine restrictions and lift its blanket advisory against trips abroad, effective Monday.
Although Canada's requirement for pre-departure COVID-19 molecular testing will end on that date, potentially cheaper and easier-to-access rapid antigen tests will be mandatory. Unvaccinated children under 12 will also no longer need to self-isolate upon return to the country.
For insurance seekers, the biggest change will be felt after the travel warning is removed. An insured traveller can now get full medical coverage if they're hospitalized on foreign soil due to COVID-19, as companies add the virus to their polices again after removing or reducing it when Ottawa rolled out its travel warning in mid-December.
“Now there are no riders, no caps on it,'' said Marty Firestone, president of Toronto-based insurance broker Travel Secure.
If tourists test positive they will still have to wait 10 days before returning to Canada, but it's a cost they can hedge with a relatively new insurance option.
