Travel and the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan

Albertans are lucky because all residents are able to get health care. Unfortunately, you cannot always take the coverage with you when you leave your home province. Whether you are travelling for pleasure or for business, you need to know important facts about when you are covered and when you should get Alberta travel insurance.

travelling within Canada

For care provided while travelling outside of Alberta, there are reciprocal agreements set up that allow Canadian provinces to bill each other for medical care provided. In order to receive coverage, you can just show your province’s health care card in any Canadian province that has a reciprocal agreement with Alberta.

However, at the time of this writing, there was one province that still did not have a reciprocal agreements with any other province. In Quebec, you must pay out of pocket for your medical services than try to get a reimbursement. Plus, travelers are responsible for all medical bills incurred while travelling outside of Canada where there are no agreements in place. There are certain things you should expect from your Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) when you leave the province.

Albertans Leaving Alberta

AHCIP will cover you in any province in Canada. As mentioned above, the only exception is Quebec. You will need to apply for a reimbursement after paying for your services if you are outside of Canada or in Quebec. Prescription drug coverage is not covered by this inter-provincial agreement, and neither is care from practitioners such as

· Massage Therapists

· Chiropractors

· Acupuncturists

Coverage only extends to care by physicians. So, be sure you only go to qualified health care professionals and fill your prescriptions before you leave the province. There are also a number of other exclusions that apply when it comes to travelling to other provinces, including transporting an injured person back to Alberta and ambulance services. Another exclusion is routine dental care, though oral surgery and other forms of medically required oral care are covered.

Albertans Leaving Canada (or Visiting Quebec)

If you are leaving the country, you will no longer have coverage, unless you purchase Alberta travel insurance. 83 per cent of Albertans plan on travelling abroad this year. Of those, only half will get medical insurance. This will leave them open to crippling medical bills in the event of an accident. As Albertans, we are not used to having to pay for any health care. Therefore, few of us are aware of the costs associated with getting any treatments.

Let us say for the purpose of demonstration that you travel to the United States, one of the most expensive countries for health care in the world, and you get into a car accident. For the hospital stay alone, you will likely have to pay up to $8,000 per day. If you are in intensive care, you can double that cost. You also need to factor in the costs for the specialists to perform surgery on you. It is easy for you to be out $50,000 for an accident that in all likelihood was not your fault.

pucherinsurance.com will help you find a policy that will cover you when you leave Canada or visit Quebec. In addition, they can also find a plan for you that covers all of the exclusions that are not covered by the inter-provincial healthcare agreements. pucherinsurance.com can find insurance plans for you as little $25 per month for younger and healthier travelers. And, for those who are older and more vulnerable, there are still great deals on Alberta travel insurance. Contact pucherinsurance.com for a quote.