Where to find travel insurance for a dialysis patient?

January 4, 2008 6:26 PM

My Dad does hemodialysis 3-times a week. He is a Canadian, but we have found a great dialysis clinic that will treat him here in Louisiana when he visits. The problem is that it now looks like we are going to have trouble finding travel insurance for him. Mom and Dad won't travel to the States without it. Has anyone got any ideas how we can best find this insurance for him? Do you know any dialysis patients who have found travel insurance for a U.S. vacation?
posted by MotorNeuron to health & fitness (6 comments total)

Why would any insurance pay for something that is a certain, costly, 3 time-a-week service? Isn't there any way that the Canadian health system allows for, and pays for, Canadians to get needed services when they travel?
posted by beagle at 6:59 PM on January 4, 2008

Your Dad's Canadian health coverage should pay what it would cost to have the treatment at home. Travel insurance for Canadians only pays the costs (if any) in excess of this amount.

Insurance is based on risk, sorta like betting. To oversimplify a little, f you're getting insurance against some occurance and your insurance costs you one-tenth of what that occurance would cost you, then you're betting that there's a one-in-ten chance of that eventuality. If there's a 100% chance of the event occuring, you're going to pay 100% of the cost -- an insurance company can't make it magically cost less.
posted by winston at 7:53 PM on January 4, 2008

What medicare will cover and how depends on the province, as it is administered provincially.

I'll give you Ontario just as an example. There, written approval would be required before travelling out of country for care.

But that's not the same thing as travel insurance -- they would want to get Blue Cross or whatever if they want enhanced emergency health coverage. Typically your home province will reimburse major emergency care when something arises out of country and where treatment is needed immediately. They'd have to contact their province for details on that. (I only know one person who's ever done it.)

If you post the province I'll look up the info for you.
posted by loiseau at 9:24 PM on January 4, 2008

I guess I should have been clearer.

We plan to pay for the dialysis. The insurance would be against unforeseen eventualities.

They are from Alberta, loiseau.
posted by MotorNeuron at 10:45 PM on January 4, 2008

Info on out-of-country health care -- says what Alberta will cover wrt emergency care

I think like any private insurance you'd have to inquire with the provider as to whether they would cover him with his particular preexisting condition. I don't know of any easy way to find out who would, other than to maybe go through a broker, but I'm not an insurance expert by any means. If he has a medical plan through his job that would be a good place to start. If not then try Alberta Blue Cross. You haven't specified his condition but exclusions are listed in the Blue Cross pdf brochure.
posted by loiseau at 12:50 AM on January 5, 2008

I live in BC. When I travel south, I walk into any insurance agent and ask for medical travel insurance. They sell me the insurance with no questions at all asked about my medical situation. The restrictions of the coverage are for pre-existing conditions. It will still cover MVA's (probably the primary reason that I buy medical insurance) and other situations not resulting from a chronic condition I have.
posted by Neiltupper at 4:54 AM on January 5, 2008