AMA Travel Insurance Review 2024

Founded in 1926, and now with 16 agencies across Alberta, the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) is the largest travel agency in the province with almost one million members. Besides offering roadside assistance, AMA also offers comprehensive travel booking, including flights, hotels, packaged vacations and rental cars, as well as travel insurance. It’s worth noting that you must be an Alberta resident to purchase AMA Travel Insurance.

AMA is part of a federation of clubs that includes the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) in Ontario, the American Automobile Association (AAA) in the U.S. and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile in Quebec.

AMA Travel Insurance is underwritten by Orion Travel Insurance Company.

Here are the key types of travel insurance coverage offered in typical AMA Travel insurance plans:

• Emergency medical insurance: If you get ill or are injured on your trip, travel medical insurance can pay for emergency medical expenses, up to the coverage limits in your plan. These expenses can include doctor and hospital bills, medication and lab work.
• Trip cancellation insurance: If you cancel a trip for a reason listed in your travel policy, trip cancellation insurance can reimburse you for prepaid, non-refundable costs. AMA Travel provides reimbursement for 36 unexpected situations that may cause you to cancel your trip before departure, such as if you or your travelling companion gets sick, your airline goes on strike or you lose your job.
• Travel interruption or delay insurance: Trip interruption insurance can pay for a last-minute flight home in an emergency and money that you lose by cutting a trip short, such as non-refundable activities and hotel stays.
• Baggage insurance: Baggage travel insurance can compensate you up to your policy limits if your luggage is lost or stolen. It will reimburse the depreciated value of your suitcases and what you packed. If your bags are delayed, it can reimburse you for the cost of the necessities you’ll have to buy to tide you over. It also extends to your personal belongings, if lost, damaged or stolen.
• Travel accident insurance. This coverage offers compensation in the event of accidental death or catastrophic injury from an accident during your trip. Flight Accident Insurance covers injury while you’re on a commercial plane, during a connection or in an airport. Travel Accident Insurance covers death or dismemberment, including the loss of limbs or eyesight, while on your trip.

AMA offers four travel insurance plans for trips outside of Canada: The Premium Medical Package, the Medical Plan, the Non-Medical Premium Package and standalone Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Insurance.

Premium Medical Package (medical and travel coverage): This is the most comprehensive plan offered by AMA, which includes coverage for unforeseen medical emergencies, trip cancellation and interruption, travel accident and baggage loss, damage and delay.

Emergency medical treatment includes:

• Hospital accommodation up to a semi-private room
• Physicians’ fees
• Laboratory tests and X-rays
• Private duty nursing
• Ground ambulance service
• Prescription drugs
• Medical appliances including casts, splints, trusses, braces, crutches or the rental of a wheelchair
• Treatment by a chiropodist, chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist or podiatrist
• Emergency dental treatment due to a blow to the face)
• Emergency dental treatment due to illness, excluding roots canals or damage to dentures (maximum $500)
• Hospital allowance for long distance calls, TV rental when hospitalized for at least 48 hours (up to $50 per day to a maximum of $2,000)

Medical Plan: If you’re only worried about medical emergencies while travelling, this plan offers all of the medical coverage options of the Premium Medical Package plan and includes hospital accommodations, physician fees, lab tests, private nurses and ambulance services.

Non-Medical Premium Package: If you have medical coverage elsewhere, the Non-Medical Premium Package plan covers trip cancellation insurance, trip interruption, misconnection & delay insurance, baggage insurance and flight & travel accident insurance. You can also add Cancel for Any Other Reason insurance.

Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption: This coverage provides reimbursement if you need to cancel your trip before departure, as well as expenses such as hotels, meals and taxi fares due to an unexpected trip delay. You can also add Cancel for Any Other Reason insurance.

There’s also an option for Family Coverage that covers you, your spouse and child(ren) if you’re travelling together. AMA Travel takes the age of the oldest person on the plan, calculates their premium and then multiplies it by 2.25. Family coverage usually offers better savings if the oldest person in the family is under age 60 and does not have any medical conditions, such as diabetes.

We’ve highlighted key benefits of AMA Travel Insurance to help you identify which plan is the best fit for you.

Here’s a comparison of the four plans to see how much maximum coverage you’ll get.

The price of an AMA Travel Insurance plan depends on factors such as the cost of your trip, your age and the amount of coverage you choose.

Here are some examples of the cost for AMA Travel Insurance single trip plans for healthy travellers based in Alberta. AMA members get 10% off of travel medical insurance.

With your emergency medical coverage you can also add an optional deductible, or the amount you will pay out of pocket before your coverage kicks in, to lower the cost of your premium by up to 45%.

World Nomads

Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,000, $3,000

Related: World Nomads Travel Insurance Review

Manulife Financial

Emergency medical: $10 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,000

Related: Manulife Financial CoverMe Travel Insurance Review

Blue Cross

Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500

Related: Blue Cross Travel Insurance Review

AMA Travel offers the following optional riders or add-ons:

• Pre-Existing Conditions Rider is available on any emergency medical plan and can reduce your stability period for pre-existing conditions to seven days. Under this coverage, you’ll be reimbursed for a maximum of $200,000 for eligible hospital and medical expenses for sickness or injury due to a pre-existing medical condition.
• BounceBack Insurance provides up to $2,000 in round-trip transportation to fly home before your return date and then return to your trip destination at a later date. Two circumstances can trigger this coverage: 1) An immediate family member is admitted to hospital or dies, and 2) A disaster causes your home to be uninhabitable after you leave for your trip.
• Rental Vehicle Damage insurance provides up to $80,000 for physical damage or loss for a rental car.

AMA members get 10% off of travel medical insurance and BounceBack insurance. The discount does not apply to premium plans or trip cancellation, interruption or delay insurance, or rental vehicle damage insurance.

Here’s an example for the Medical only plan:

Yes. You can buy multi-trip insurance if you travel more than once a year for multiple individual trips. AMA Travel’s Multi-Trip Annual Plans offer medical only coverage for four, eight, 15, 30 or 60 days and premium medical + travel coverage for nine, 16 or 30 days per trip. If you stay longer than the number of days you purchased, you can purchase a top-up. Multi-trip premium insurance is not available for travellers over age 59.

Here’s how the prices between single trip and multi-trip insurance compare:

AMA Assistance is available 24/7, 365 days of the year and can help you when you’re faced with an emergency. Support includes:

• Directing you to an appropriate physician or hospital at your trip destination.
• Providing multilingual interpreters to communicate with physicians and hospitals.
• Monitoring your care and ensuring only appropriate and medically necessary treatment is given.
• Communicating on your behalf to your family and physician.
• Paying hospitals, physicians and medical providers whenever possible.
• Arranging necessary transportation, such as an air ambulance, whenever necessary.
• Informing you of any expenses not covered by your policy.

When you call AMA Assistance, you’ll need to provide your name, policy number, your location and the nature of your emergency.

If you don’t contact AMA Assistance before receiving medical treatment, you may be limited to reimbursement of 80% of eligible medical expenses, to a maximum of $25,000. AMA Assistance must also approve certain benefits, such as MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasounds or biopsies, in advance. If you receive treatment prior to approval, you may be reimbursed on the basis of “reasonable and customary charges” that may be different from the actual charges.

Your standard trip cancellation insurance with AMA Travel covers 36 unexpected situations that could cause your trip to be cancelled before you leave. These include:

• You or your travel companion gets sick, injured or dies
• A close friend dies within 10 days of leaving for your trip
• You, your spouse or your travelling companion experience pregnancy complications in the first 31 weeks and have been advised not to travel
• You or your travelling companion’s house or business is burglarized within seven days of leaving for your trip
• You, your spouse, your travelling companion or his/her spouse loses a job

AMA Travel also offers Cancel For Any Other Reason insurance that allows you to cancel up to three hours before departure and receive a 50% refund, if you purchase your travel arrangements with AMA Travel, CAA Travel or amatravel.ca and purchase the policy within 72 hours of booking that trip.

While trip cancellation covers any issues that happen before you leave, trip interruption covers issues once you’ve already left home.

Trip interruption insurance covers issues, such as:

• A missed connection due to bad weather, road delays or a road accident
• A medical emergency back home

AMA Travel also offers Interruption For Any Other Reason insurance up to $2,500, that covers you for any reason outside of your policy to the following limits:

• 50% reimbursement of your unused nonrefundable arrangements if your travel is booked through AMA Travel, CAA Travel or amatravel.ca
• Up to $1,000 for the extra cost of a one-way economy airfare to return home or any fees incurred to change the date of your original return ticket.

These benefits kick in only if your trip is interrupted 48 hours or more after your arrival.

For travellers under age 59, AMA Travel will not pay any claims due to any sickness, injury or medical condition that is not stable in the three months before your departure date (and for travellers age 70 to 84, your condition must be stable for six months), unless you purchase the Pre-Existing Medical Condition rider that reduces the waiting period to seven days and covers to a maximum of $200,000.

For travellers under age 59 and under, AMA Travel will also not cover any lung condition if in the three months prior to your departure date you received treatment with prednisone. For travellers aged 69 and under, the time period is three months before your effective date and for travellers aged 70 to 84, the time period is six months before your effective date.

If you’re concerned about a pre-existing condition, you can purchase the Pre-Existing Conditions Rider on any emergency medical plan and reduce your stability period to seven days. Under this coverage, you’ll be reimbursed for a maximum of $200,000 for eligible hospital and medical expenses for sickness or injury due to a pre-existing medical condition.

There are a number of scenarios not covered by travel insurance and it’s critical to know what not to do before you make a claim only to be told you’re on the hook for all associated costs. The following are some of the most common issues not covered by travel insurance:

• A claim against an unstable pre-existing medical condition. AMA defines a condition as unstable if you have sought medical treatment for that condition, if new or existing symptoms appear or there has been a change in medication or the dose you take.
• For insured children under two years old, any sickness or medical condition related to a birth defect
• Injury or illness as a result of alcohol or drug abuse
• Travelling to get medical treatment, included diagnosis, surgery, investigation, palliative care or alternative therapy
• Complications from pregnancy nine weeks before or after the expected date of delivery
• Claims related to a child born on the trip
• Death or injury due to activities related to being in the air, including planes, balloons, kite balloons, airship, glider, hang glider, paraglider, parasail, parachute, kite and wingsuits
• Death or injury while participating in a professional sport or any motorized speed contests
• Non-emergency, experimental or elective treatment, including cosmetic surgery, chronic care or rehabilitation
• The replacement cost of an existing prescription, contact lenses or prosthetic teeth or limbs
• Cataract surgery or services provided by a naturopath
• Travelling against medical advice or not following medical advice in regards to treatment.
• Any loss resulting from an act of terrorism
• A travel visa not issued in time due to a late application

If any of the following conditions or situations applies, you will be considered ineligible for any coverage under a policy with AMA Travel, except for rental vehicle damage insurance:

• You have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and given six months to live.
• You have been advised by a physician not to travel.
• You require kidney dialysis.
• You have ever had an organ transplant, except for a cornea transplant.
• You have been diagnosed with or received treatment for metastatic cancer within the last five years.
• You have been prescribed home oxygen for a lung condition in the last 12 months.

You can file a claim online 24/7 by visiting the AMA Travel website and accessing the appropriate claim form(s). Depending on the kind of claim, you will also need to provide supporting documentation.

For example, for accidental dental expenses you will need to provide an accident report from the physician or dentist. For a Trip Cancellation claim due to medical reasons, you’ll need to provide a medical certificate by your doctor stating why travel was not possible as well as your entire medical file.

Other documentation may include:

• Itemized bills from your licensed medical provider
• Original prescription drug receipts
• A report from the airline, cruise or tour operator if your delay claim is due to misconnection
• Original invoices and receipts for out-of-pocket expenses
• Original tickets
• Police reports