SNOWBIRD TRAVEL INSURANCE ANNUAL PLANS

There is little doubt that travel health insurance is a necessary precaution while traveling. However, it is often something that is left to the last possible moment or in some cases, forgotten altogether.

This is one reason that Snowbirds should consider an annual travel insurance plan.

They are described using various terms such as 'shuttle plan', 'multi trip plan' etc, but the common them is this: It is purchased once a year, and after that multiple trips are covered so long as each trip is less than a certain duration. ('17 days' and '30 days' are common variants)

Choosing the right duration is something will cover in a moment.

In addition to being convenient, this can actually save the Snowbird some money. Why? Because a fairly large percentage of each travel insurance sale goes into covering administration costs. Travel insurance coverage for short trips can have hidden administrative costs as high as 50% of the premium.

As a general rule of thumb an annual plan will cost about 2.5 times the cost of a single trip plan for the same duration. In other words, if a '17' day single trip plan costs $100 - a '17 day' annual plan will cost about $250.

Obviously the more one travels, the quicker this strategy will pay off.

A word of caution: Make very sure that the annual plan you purchase allows 'top ups' (extensions to coverage) Not all plans allow this and it is an important feature that allows travel flexibility.

Choosing the right duration is important. Too short, and it defeats the purpose of convenience - Too long and you end up over paying for coverage you will never use.

An extreme example of this would be a '90 day' annual plan. Since the payback period is 2.5 trips, a Snowbird would have to be out of the country for nearly 8 months of the year to break even. (given that many Canadian Provinces cut off underlying coverage after 6 months, and given that having underlying coverage is a condition of most travel insurance polices very few people are going to get value from '90 day' annual plans)

Even Snowbirds that spend extended time out of country will find that the best strategy is to use a much, much shorter duration (30 days or less) and then 'top up' as needed. Top up rates are generally lower, or there is a credit applied for the first days of coverage.

Even with the example of someone who takes two 90 day trips a year, it is often cheaper to buy a 30 day annual plan and then top up with 60 days of coverage on each trip than it is to purchase a 90 day annual plan !

So bottom line recommendation: If you're a frequent traveler, get a short duration annual plan (8 days, 17 days, 22 days or 30 days) to cover the little trips. And top up for the longer ones.