If you do and if you have a medical problem outside Canada you will have a substantial financial hit. And because you do not have out of country medical insurance there could be grounds for negligence..
Free style skier, Canadian Sarah Burke, suffered a serious injury in the United States and was in the hospital for a week before she died from her injuries. She did not have insurance and her medical bills were estimated to be between $200,000 and $500,000. We will never know but likely it was closer a half a million dollars. Or more. Air ambulance, hospital care, surgeons, medicine, family expenses and returning her body home are just some of the expenses. She suffered irreversible brain damage resulting from her fall and a major artery rupture. Her association did not have insurance for her injuries or other athletes at non sanctioned events. Sarah did not purchase her own insurance. The result of this is that sponsors and athletic associations will be looking at making sure – this would be the hope – that in all instances their athletes will be covered with medical insurance for any out of country illnesses or accidents. One would have to wonder why this was not done at the outset. In Sarah’s case, because she represented her sport well, and was a beautiful young woman, donations came in to cover off her costs. Her family commented ” we are extremely grateful for the outpouring of support and messages honouring Sarah and the generous contributions that have been made. Our family will not have any financial burden related to her care.” This was an exceptional case
A more recent case, and unfortunately not the only one, was Canadian tourists staying at Mexican five-star hotel and one of the spouses was savagely beaten up in the hallway of the hotel. Injuries were life threatening. This was a Calgary couple. They did not have out of country medical travel insurance and now a fund is being set up requesting that donors make a contribution. Likely they will not receive much assistance from strangers. Other cases like this have occurred and many are in Mexico. If these Canadians organized their own travel arrangements they neglected to get insurance coverage. If they had a travel agent they may or may not have been asked if they want insurance coverage for their trip. In both cases such insurance coverage is not a cost. It protects your financial assets from being depleted – just like car insurance, home insurance and life insurance. Do not leave home without it.
National
This entry was posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:41-05:0001 and is filed under Estate Planning, Financial Commentary, Tim Bits! .....And Philosophy?, Wealth Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Bradley Sumner's Blog 
MEDICAL INSURANCE COVERAGE – DO NOT LEAVE CANADA WITHOUT IT
If you do and if you have a medical problem outside Canada you will have a substantial financial hit. And because you do not have out of country medical insurance there could be grounds for negligence..
Free style skier, Canadian Sarah Burke, suffered a serious injury in the United States and was in the hospital for a week before she died from her injuries. She did not have insurance and her medical bills were estimated to be between $200,000 and $500,000. We will never know but likely it was closer a half a million dollars. Or more. Air ambulance, hospital care, surgeons, medicine, family expenses and returning her body home are just some of the expenses. She suffered irreversible brain damage resulting from her fall and a major artery rupture. Her association did not have insurance for her injuries or other athletes at non sanctioned events. Sarah did not purchase her own insurance. The result of this is that sponsors and athletic associations will be looking at making sure – this would be the hope – that in all instances their athletes will be covered with medical insurance for any out of country illnesses or accidents. One would have to wonder why this was not done at the outset. In Sarah’s case, because she represented her sport well, and was a beautiful young woman, donations came in to cover off her costs. Her family commented ” we are extremely grateful for the outpouring of support and messages honouring Sarah and the generous contributions that have been made. Our family will not have any financial burden related to her care.” This was an exceptional case
A more recent case, and unfortunately not the only one, was Canadian tourists staying at Mexican five-star hotel and one of the spouses was savagely beaten up in the hallway of the hotel. Injuries were life threatening. This was a Calgary couple. They did not have out of country medical travel insurance and now a fund is being set up requesting that donors make a contribution. Likely they will not receive much assistance from strangers. Other cases like this have occurred and many are in Mexico. If these Canadians organized their own travel arrangements they neglected to get insurance coverage. If they had a travel agent they may or may not have been asked if they want insurance coverage for their trip. In both cases such insurance coverage is not a cost. It protects your financial assets from being depleted – just like car insurance, home insurance and life insurance. Do not leave home without it.
National
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This entry was posted on January 25, 2012 at 1:41-05:0001 and is filed under Estate Planning, Financial Commentary, Tim Bits! .....And Philosophy?, Wealth Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.