Travel insurance for Ontario residents: what to check before you go

A medical emergency abroad can be very expensive, and your provincial health plan pays only a small part of it. Here’s what OHIP covers outside Canada, what travel insurance can add, and the details worth checking before you leave.

What OHIP covers outside Canada

OHIP pays only limited amounts for emergency care outside the country:

• Up to $400 a day for emergency inpatient care in an intensive care unit, coronary care unit, operating room or special care unit, and up to $200 a day for lower levels of care
• Up to $50 a day for emergency outpatient services
• Doctors’ services at the rates paid to Ontario physicians

Hospital bills in other countries, especially the United States, can be far higher. The Government of Ontario recommends buying travel medical insurance before you leave, including coverage for transportation home if you need it.

Source: Ontario.ca, OHIP coverage while outside Canada

What travel insurance can cover

• Emergency medical: hospital stays, doctors, emergency prescriptions and medical transportation home
• Trip cancellation: prepaid, non-refundable costs if you have to cancel for a covered reason before you leave
• Trip interruption: extra costs if you have to cut your trip short or come home early for a covered reason
• Baggage and personal effects

All-inclusive packages combine these, while stand-alone plans let you buy only what you need.

Pre-existing conditions and stability periods

This is where most claim surprises happen. Many policies only cover a pre-existing medical condition if it has been stable, meaning no new symptoms, treatment or medication changes, for a set period before you leave, for example 90 or 180 days. The definition and the period vary by insurer and by age.

Check the coverage you may already have

Some credit cards and workplace benefit plans include travel medical coverage. Before relying on it, check:

• How many days each trip is covered, and whether there’s an age limit
• The maximum amount payable
• Whether you must pay for the trip with the card
• Whether pre-existing conditions are covered

If your existing coverage is too short for your trip, you can often buy a top-up plan for the extra days.

Single trip or annual multi-trip?

A single-trip plan covers one trip. If you travel several times a year, an annual multi-trip plan can be simpler, as long as each trip fits within the plan’s maximum trip length.

Visiting Canada or applying for a Super Visa

Visitors to Canada aren’t covered by provincial health plans, so visitor insurance matters for family coming to stay. For the parent and grandparent Super Visa, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada requires private health insurance that:

• Is from a Canadian insurance company, or a company outside Canada approved by the minister
• Covers health care, hospitalization and repatriation, with at least $100,000 of coverage
• Is valid for at least one year from the date of entry, and for each entry to Canada
• Is paid in full, or in instalments with a deposit (quotes aren’t accepted)

Source: Government of Canada, Super visa: get your documents ready

A quick checklist before you buy

• Your travel dates, destination and everyone travelling
• Government of Canada travel advisories for your destination, since some policies limit coverage where an advisory is in place
• Planned activities, such as a cruise or higher-risk sports
• Your medical history and medications, for the questionnaire
• The coverage you already have
• The insurer’s emergency assistance number, saved in your phone

How Frank’s two-stage travel review works

In Stage 1, you share the basics: who is travelling, when and where, the type of trip and the coverage you already have. When more detail is needed, you get a secure link to complete the Stage 2 travel assessment, where medical eligibility is reviewed against the insurer’s policy wording.

This article is general information. Coverage, eligibility and exclusions depend on each insurer’s policy wording. OHIP amounts and Super Visa requirements are from government sources as of September 2026.