Travel

Ms. M was a university student invited to participate in an archaeological dig in South America. It sounded like the trip of a lifetime. She wasn’t sure if she needed insurance, after all she was young and healthy, but the trip organizers recommended that the students all purchase travel insurance. Ms. M arranged hers through CanAM.

It’s fortunate that she did! During the trip Ms. M became ill and needed to be re-routed to the U.S. When she was admitted to a hospital in Florida she was diagnosed with severe pulmonary histoplasmosis, a serious form of infection.

Ms. M spent 11 days in a hospital in Florida before she was able to return to Canada. Her travel insurance policy provided coverage for the following expenses:

• U.S hospital bill – $197,285
• Air Ambulance service bill – $21,500

Mr. C and his wife were enjoying their retirement. Like many Canadians, they escaped winter for a few weeks each January and headed down to Florida.

One night they visited their favourite restaurant. As they waited for their table they sat in the bar and Mr. C enjoyed one glass of wine. Suddenly Mr. C lost his balance and fell off the bar stool injuring himself.

After arriving at the hospital and having tests, it was determined Mr. C had fractured his back in several places. Mr. C wanted to return to Canada but the doctors advised against it warning that he would risk paralysis. As a result he decided to have the surgery in Florida before being repatriated back to Canada by Air Ambulance.

Mr. C’s travel insurance policy with CanAM covered the following expenses:

• U.S hospital bill – $272,738
• Air Ambulance service bill – $21,140

Miss R was enjoying her vacation in the Dominican Republic when she fell at breakfast one morning. The hotel helped her get to a nearby hospital and fortunately no fractures were shown on the X-rays that were done. Miss R was so relieved she hadn’t broken anything. Now in her sixties she didn’t recover like she used to. Miss R was still in quite a bit of pain though and decided to stay at the hospital for one night.

Miss R was glad that she had purchased a travel insurance policy. At only $7.56 per day, it was a fortunate decision because the tests and one night stay in hospital came at a significant expense. She would have had trouble financing the bill herself.

Dominican Republic hospital bill – $14,700

*while some fictitious details have been added to these case studies to keep the details about the client private, these are actual claims experienced by CanAm clients and the expense figures are accurate of the claim experienced by these clients.