Visitor to Canada Health Insurance

If you are going to visit Canada then it’s important to have insurance that covers you for any medical treatments or care you might need while you’re in Canada. Or to put it another way you’ll need to get yourself visitor to Canada health insurance.

Often, buying your visitor health insurance from a Canadian insurer is a good and cheaper option.

When we’ve needed health insurance for parents visiting Canada, we’ve bought the insurance from a Canadian insurer as it’s been the cheapest (rather than insurance from companies based elsewhere).

In this article we’ll cover what you need to know about health insurance for visitors to Canada, what the cost will be and how to make sure you get the best health insurance.

So let’s jump in.

Do visitors to Canada need health insurance?

The short answer is that regular visitors to Canada don’t need medical insurance to be allowed into the country. But it is definitely something that most travellers should have as healthcare for visitors is not free in Canada.

If you are not coming as a regular visitor for six months or less then different rules might apply, so check the details of your visa. For example a Super Visa, which lets family of Canadian residents stay for more than six months, does require that health insurance is in place for the duration of the trip. Many insurers offer Super Visa Insurance specifically catered to this.

So if you’re visiting Canada as a normal visitor, on a normal visitor visa or eTA (Electronic Travel Authorization), you don’t need visitor visa health insurance as a condition of entry into Canada. i.e. the border guard isn’t going to ask to see proof of medical insurance before they let you in.

But, as a visitor to Canada you are not covered by provincial health plans which provide free healthcare to residents. So any medical services you need while in Canada would have to be paid for by you. This is what the Canadian Government pretty succinctly says about it.

And, depending on the medical treatment you might need when you’re in Canada, costs can very quickly add up to a serious amount of cash!

So it’s definitely sensible to make you have visitor insurance for Canada in place.

What are the key things to compare visitor insurance quotes on?

There are no government requirements about what medical insurance for visitors to Canada must include.

So you should pick the policy that covers the things that are important for you.

Some of the key things to look out for are:

Coverage amount. Basically what’s the maximum amount the insurer will pay out if you needed it. There will usually be a large headline figure for the coverage amount (like $100,000) but within that you’ll want to check each item (as below).

Coverage. What elements does the insurance actually cover and what is the coverage amount for each of those elements? For example it might be key for you that the policy includes dental, or medication coverage, or ambulance services or whatever. So make sure the elements you want are included and that you’re happy with the maximum they’ll pay for each of those elements.

The deductible. This is how much you’ll have to pay out of your own pocket before the insurer does. It can range from zero right up to the thousands of dollars. Often you can vary the deductible on the policy which will change the insurance cost.

Health insurance for visitors to Canada with pre-existing conditions

If you have a pre-existing health condition then you’ll need to get visitor health insurance that covers pre-existing health conditions.  

Normally there are two broad classes of health insurance for visitors to Canada: health insurance for visitors with pre-existing conditions and policies for those without.

We’ve bought health insurance for parents visiting Canada that’s included pre-existing conditions. And while it’s more expensive than policies that don’t cover pre-existing conditions, it’s easy to get and there are a good amount of insurers to choose from.

If you have a pre-existing condition then you’ll often have to answer a bunch of questions about the condition to determine if you’re insurable and what the cost to you will be.

Normally it’s makes a big difference if the pre-existing condition is stable or not.

My recommendations below for the best health insurance for visitors to Canada cover both pre-existing conditions and not.

Benefits of health insurance from a Canadian insurer

Speaking from personal experience, when my family have visited there have been two big benefits of getting Canada visitor insurance from a Canadian insurer.

The first one is that many travel insurance companies’ coverage is dependent on the travel advice from their government.

If the home-country’s government advises against travel to Canada for whatever reason then it’s likely the insurance from a home-country provider would be invalid.

In such a case the insurance from a Canadian provider would still cover you.

The second benefit we’ve found is coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

When my parents visit us in Canada, health insurance that covers their pre-existing conditions is significantly cheaper from Canadian insurers than UK ones.

Visitor to Canada health insurance cost

Canada visitor health insurance is, I think, fairly reasonably priced.

As with all insurance, cost varies based on coverage amount and the deductible you are willing to pay before the insurance will cover you.

Things like age and pre-existing medical conditions also have a big impact.

The cost of visitor to Canada health insurance for a 14-day trip with $100,000 of coverage and zero deductible should be in the range:

$45 to $70 for one person in their mid-40s with no pre-existing medical conditions.
$85 to $140 for a couple in their mid-40s with no pre-existing medical conditions.
$95 to $150 for a family of three consisting of a couple in the mid-40s and a teenager, all with no pre-existing medical conditions.
$90 to $150 for one person in their early 70s with no pre-existing conditions.
$120 to $180 and above for someone in their mid-70s with a stable pre-existing medical condition. But keep in mind this can vary a lot depending on the condition

These figures are only indicative so as to give you a feel for the cost. It will vary depending on what your situation is and what level of insurance you want.

The best way to find out how much Canada visitor insurance might cost you is to get a quote from a price comparison website like BestQuote. That way you can see a whole bunch of quotes from different insurers in one place and pick the one that works for you. More on this below.

Best health insurance for visitors to Canada

As with other insurance, there’s no one provider that’s always going to be the cheapest visitor insurance for Canada.

The best policy will vary depending on your circumstances so I can’t really point you to a specific insurance company.

That’s why I always recommend using a price comparison website.  You put in the specifics of the insurance you’re looking for (dates, travellers etc.) and the site returns a whole bunch of quotes from different insurers for your trip.

The comparison site I use for arranging health insurance when my family visits is BestQuote Travel Insurance. When I’ve been looking for insurance they’ve most often had the best deals. Here’s the link to their site if you want to get some quotes.  

It’s particularly handy that you can see a summary of the policy benefits from the BestQuote results page so you can easily compare quotes to see which one works for you.

Once you’ve found the policy that works for you, you can go through the purchase process right from the BestQuote site.

* All of the products and services I recommend on Canada for Newbies are independently selected based upon what I’ve personally found to be useful. If you buy insurance through BestQuote using one of the links in this article, I might earn a small affiliate commission. It won’t cost you anything at all and I would never recommend something I don’t believe in or use myself.

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So that’s my overview of visitor to Canada health insurance.

I hope you’ve found it helpful.

Please drop me a comment below about any questions or anything – I’d love to hear from you.