While hubby was working we were covered through his employer for the majority of health and travel insurance. When he retired we lost those benefits.
As we live in Ontario we are covered for a lot of things under OHIP. It does not cover prescriptions, dental care, glasses, eye exams. As hubby is over 65 he does get a lot of his prescriptions paid for but pay's a $100 fee per year and a reduced dispensing fee.
I am only 61 and am on a lot of meds, so have to pay out of pocket for all my things. We looked into private health insurance and for what we were going to pay, it truly wasn't worth it. We can claim back our out of pocket medical expenses, when we do our taxes, but we'll only get a fraction back of what we paid out.
I do know the solution to this problem; get off the medications, but it's not possible.
They have brought out a plan for reduced fees on the dental and we should be below the income threshold next year, as that is also all to pay for. Mind you I had to go in for a check up on my tooth and when I said I had no insurance they reduced the bill from $250 to around $150!!!
If you have good medical benefits, hold onto them, as they are worth their weight in gold!!
Travel insurance is also an issue now as well. We are going away for 10 days to the States, and it is a MUST that you have good insurance especially when you're older. We are CAA members so get four days of insurance free. Despite being on twice the number of medications that hubby is on, I got insurance no problem at $55 for the ten days. Hubby's cost $460 for the 10 days, as he has had a mini stroke and has been on a drug this past year that insurance companies hate????
We need to research more into travel insurance. After June of 2026, hubby's travel insurance will be $460 for the year once he has past the year since he was last prescribed the "no-no" drug!!! The "no-no," drug by the way is PREDNISONE.
Again if you have travel insurance through your work, hold onto that as well if you have the option.
We didn't have the option to hold onto either. As I told hubby we need to change our mind set from now on and include travel insurance costs as part of our vacation expenses.
Do you have good benefit plans? Do you have any tips or tricks regarding travel insurance here in Canada?
13 comments:
Paying for the various insurances (health, home, life, auto) in our lives is my biggest expense each month.
Wow that's a lot of expense on top of a holiday.
I think, especially for Americans, health care is a major reason why a lot of people don't retire when they can. It certainly is a worry!
I think it’s smart that you’re researching options, factoring insurance into your vacation budget, and asking about reduced rates when possible. Staying on top of it like you are makes a big difference and helps keep both your health and travel plans worry-free.
I am very fortunate, my late husband worked at a gov. hospital shortly after we were married. The hospital was then changed to a new company. Employees had the option of staying with gov. health care coverage or going with the new hospital run company. He stayed with the gov, when he died, I could keep the health care coverage. Everything is covered either by 80% or 90% with me paying a very small monthly fee.
My late husband worked for a gov. hospital and he had health coverage and a pension with that job. The gov. sold the hospital and everyone had the option to keep the health care and pension or take the new company's coverage. He kept the gov. coverage, almost everything is covered, either by 80% or 90% with me paying a small monthly fee. Out of province is also included. I also get the widow portion of his pension.
This is really interesting to me, Gill. I was lucky, when I retired, I was able to keep my full health insurance benefits, which is an outstanding plan. Combined with Medicare (at least for now -- who knows what will happen in Congress), my otherwise overwhelmingly expensive medical costs each month would be a nightmare. My dental was 50 percent up to $600, which doesn't cover a lot of major work but pretty good for cleanings and such. One month I looked and my Rx for one drug was $3000. How do people do this who can't afford? (It's only getting worse with our current administration.) I never bought travel insurance till my trip to England last fall but with Covid on the horizon and my other issues, I needed to be sure to be covered. I think it was about $148 for three weeks, if I remember correctly, and to the best of my knowledge, they didn't ask about prednisone (which I took with me, but wasn't currently using). I don't know what rates for that would be like in Canada but I'm happy to share the name of the company with you. I didn't need to use it but friends who traveled before and who recommended it, DID on their trip and were pleased with the service. In any event, these are things we have to think about.
We're in the same fix when it comes to prescriptions - DH gets his pretty much free after the $100 deductible (just has to pay dispensing fees) whereas I have to pay for everything. Luckily (touch wood) I'm only on two meds and neither are that costly.
When it comes to travel insurance we only travel within Canada so that means it's a lot cheaper. We discovered that, rather than paying for an entire year, CAA will cover us for just the duration of any given trip (we always add a couple days on the end just to be sure that we're covered should there be any flight delays). Doing that saves quite a bit.
When I retired, I was given 90 days to find additional extended health benefits. I stuck with Blue Cross because that is who I had through work. You do get a 30 day travel insurance policy included in the plan. It also covers some dental work, vision care, and prescriptions. You have to do the math and figure out if it's worth it.
But remember you can write the premiums off on your taxes.
We are the same. Being self employed we could never afford private health insurance and have depended on our Medicare system. Mostly it’s all covered, except for prescription, eye glasses (the optometrist appointment is covered by Medicare) and dental.
There is a push to add dental and I would be more than happy to pay more into Medicare for that.
Our system isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it’s way ahead of the American system. We don’t fear going bankrupt if we become sick or have an accident
Travel insurance went up from $50 to $350 when I mentioned that I have anaphylactic episodes to something I have no idea of what it is.
I was happy to pay the extra to know I was covered And yes it is always figured into the final price I have to save for
We were allowed to go onto a follow program when Harvey retired. It does not pay the same as the insurance did when he worked, and costs a bit more every year, with less being covered. We belong to CAA did not get as good coverage as you. Cost for us for the 10 days we were traveling in Canada along with luggage loss and trip interruption was closer to $1k.
God bless.
Yes, keep your benefits for as long as possible. I live in Alberta, and as our premier likes to remind us, we have low taxes and no sales tax, but guess what? We have the highest insurance costs (vehicle, health) as well as the highest electricity costs and this year we have to pay for the covid booster. Sigh. My health insurance benefits are expensive ($450 monthly pays for most dental, vision, prescriptions, vaccinations, psychology, physiotherapy, massage, acupuncture, etc etc), but the travel insurance is excellent as is the life insurance. As we age (starting at 60), the monthly cost will decrease.
Sounds like you went with ARTA. People that like to travel seem to pick them the most.
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