North American Travel Insurance

One thing I’ve never used, touch wood, but never leave home without is travel insurance, not because i worked at an insurance company but because if things go bad especially with my health I want to be sure i can get adequate treatment. If you’ve purchased travel insurance before you may of noticed when you select a region, North America and Japan are separated from the rest of the world. Now without confirming with an insurance expert i assume this is because in those countries(USA, Canada and Japan)  you’re required to have private health insurance to get medical assistance or at least have some means of paying for it. I know for certain to obtain the working holiday visa once you arrive in Canada you will need to provide proof that you have insurance.

So in the context of the working holiday you will need to obtain insurance for the time you are there. This means if you’re there for a year you’ll need insurance for a year. I like to sort these things out before i go so i have less to worry about whilst I’m on the road so i researched into options for 12 month travel insurance and let me tell you it is not cheap. Yes, we could get 3 months then extend as we go but given we are doing some travel beforehand we chose the 12 month option. These are the companies we found that provide travel insurance for extended periods of time:

 http://www.worldnomads.com

https://www.insure4less.com.au/travel.php?step=2

http://www.columbusdirect.com/aus/step2.cfm

http://www.itrektravelinsurance.com.au/travel/coversummary.html

We went with World Nomads as they seem to provide the cheapest and most comprehensive insurance cover, what we particular liked was the adventure sport cover such as skiing, white water rafting etc.  They also seem to be associated with the fantastic Footprints Guides, which gives them good traveller credit.

In the context of general travel it may be a requirement of your entry that you provide proof of travel insurance and i’d advise anyone that they’re downright crazy travelling without insurance.

Late-r
Hutch