Undisclosed Top-Ups

Most insurance companies, including Medipac, have a fee to Top-Up other insurance plans which can range from $20 to $50. Some snowbirds attempt to save this fee by not telling their insurance company that they have a second plan. For instance, a teacher may have a plan for 60 days and wish to leave on October 1st. To save the fee, they will tell their insurance company that they are, instead, planning on leaving on December 1st and buy a reduced number of days of coverage.

If you read any policy carefully, you will find that coverage begins on the day you leave (unless you have applied for the Top-Up coverage). Many companies enforce that clause very strictly and you can find yourself without any insurance for the latter part of your trip. In the teacher's case, there would be NO coverage during the last 60 days of their trip and, the later in your trip, the more likely a claim. An even more punitive interpretation by the insurance company, and it happens, would be to rescind your policy for misstatement; in this case you would have NO coverage for any part of your trip. You must be very honest with your insurance company as a small little fib can end up costing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars - US.

Suspending Medicare Premiums?

It has come to our attention that some snowbirds have attempted, and perhaps succeeded, in suspending their Medicare premiums while they are away, in provinces that have specific premiums for their health care benefits. DO NOT SUSPEND YOUR PREMIUMS! This is very dangerous as, on your return, you must usually wait for three months to become eligible again. You will have NO medical benefits during this waiting period.

An even more serious consequence, is that the travel health insurance you purchase for your trip will, in most cases, be invalid. Almost all policies state that you must be a resident of Canada and have an underlying provincial health plan. If not, they may rescind (cancel at inception) your policy and refund your premiums, rather than paying a claim. Some policies may pay your claim but limit benefits to, say, $10,000 which is an insignificant amount if you should have a large claim.

Gadget Alert

The U.S. department of homeland security has added a new directive to security screeners at airports to more employ greater scrutiny with the following items at security gates and airport check in areas:

• Keyless Entry Devices
• Camera Flash Attachments
• Cellphones
• Dual Speaker multi band radios

From intelligence gathered from various sources they have determined that these items can be easily modified to be used as "stun" devices or storage for explosives.

A warning has also been issued that screeners should be wary of items in which knives can be stored such as belt buckles, lipstick cases, canes, umbrellas, key chains, pens, mock credit cards and money clips.

CIBC Currency Exchange Fees Increase

The CIBC has announced that users of their credit cards will be assessed a 2.5% administrative fee on all transactions involving foreign currency starting on September 15, 2003.

Be sure to check with your credit service provider before you travel to determine what rate they will levy on top of currency conversion cost in order to get the best deal.