BCAA Travel Insurance Review 2024

The British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) was founded in 1906 (then known as the Victoria Automobile Club) when a group of motoring enthusiasts came together to enjoy their hobby and help each other when their vehicles broke down. By 1940, an affiliation of 31 clubs across B.C. officially amalgamated under the name BCAA and opened a head office in Vancouver.

Today, the BCAA is a member of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA), serving members in British Columbia and the Yukon.

The CAA is made up of nine regional clubs across Canada, including CAA South Central Ontario (that includes Manitoba), North East Ontario, Niagara, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Maritimes, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

BCAA insurance offers home, car, travel, small business and life insurance, as well as health and dental insurance.

BCAA travel insurance is underwritten by BCAA Insurance Corporation. Claims are administered by Orion Travel Insurance Company and its subcontractors.

Here are the key types of travel insurance coverage offered in BCAA 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, such as you or your travelling companion becoming ill, weather conditions causing a massive delay or you end up losing your job, trip cancellation insurance can reimburse you for prepaid, non-refundable costs.
• Travel interruption or delay insurance: Trip interruption insurance can pay for a last-minute flight home in an emergency and money that you lose if you have to return home earlier than expected, such as non-refundable activities and hotel stays. If your flight is delayed, your insurance can cover the cost of incidentals, such as meals or accommodations, after a specified period of time, usually six, 10 or 12 hours.
• 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 checked bags are delayed, it can reimburse you for the cost of the necessities you’ll have to buy to tide you over.
• 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. This is also called Accidental Death and Dismemberment benefit.

BCAA allows you to customize the amount of travel insurance coverage you need. For example, you could opt for the most comprehensive travel insurance protection by selecting the Travel Emergency Medical Insurance and the Trip Protection Package (that bundles four coverages) or if you’re mostly concerned about lost, damaged or stolen personal items during your travels, you could just select the Baggage coverage option as an add-on to your emergency medical coverage. Alternatively, if you have medical coverage elsewhere (such as a travel credit card) you could select the Trip Protection Package coverage.

The individual benefits are as follows:

Travel Emergency Medical Insurance: If you’re worried about medical emergencies while travelling, this benefit includes the following coverage:

• Hospital accommodation up to a semi-private room
• Out-patient services provided by a hospital
• One follow-up visit within 14 days of initial treatment
• Physician’s services
• Ambulance services (ground, air or sea)
• Emergency air transportation
• Remote evacuation
• Laboratory diagnostics and X-rays
• Prescription medication, up to 30-day supply
• Replacement of lost or stolen prescription drugs
• Cost to rent or purchase essential medical appliances, including a wheelchair, crutches and canes
• Private duty nursing
• Fracture treatment, including X-rays, exams, casting and re-casting, and cast removal
• Hospital allowance for incidental expenses, such as TV rental and telephone
• Paramedical services, such as emergency treatment by a physiotherapist, chiropractor, chiropodist, osteopath, podiatrist, optometrist, naturopath, holistic doctor or acupuncturist
• Emergency dental due to a blow to the face, plus continuing treatment once you return home
• Emergency dental due to pain or illness
• Unexpected birth of a child during the first 31 weeks of pregnancy
• Repatriation to your home province or territory
• Out-of-pocket expenses for meals, accommodation, etc., due to transfer to another medical facility or delayed return home
• Child care during parent/guardian’s hospitalization
• Replacement of prescription glasses, contact lenses or a hearing aid due to theft, loss or breakage

This coverage also includes a medical follow-up in Canada benefit that provides the following reimbursement for costs incurred within 15 days after you have been returned home for medical reasons:

• Up to $1,000 for a semi-private room in a hospital, rehabilitation centre or convalescent home
• Up to $100 per day for home care nursing
• Up to $300 for ambulance or taxi services to receive medical care
• Up to to $200 to rent or purchase essential medical appliances, such as a walker, canes, trusses, orthopedic corset and/or oxygen

Trip Protection Package: This package bundles four coverage options, including trip cancellation and interruption, baggage, travel delay and COVID-19 quarantine, and travel accident coverage.

• Trip Cancellation and Interruption coverage: This reimburses you for insured travel expenses (such as hotels or prepaid excursions) if you have to cancel, interrupt, extend or modify your trip due to a covered reason either before your trip or after you have left home. This includes transportation expenses if you have to interrupt, modify or extend your trip, as well as a subsistence allowance for hotels and meals if your return home is delayed. You can select the amount of trip cancellation coverage before departure, between $250 and $100,000.
• Baggage: This provides compensation if your baggage is delayed, lost, stolen or damaged during your trip.
• Travel Delay & COVID-19 Quarantine: This provides reimbursement for COVID-19 quarantine expenses, such as unplanned accommodations, as well as expenses incurred due to a flight delay.
• Travel Accident: This offers coverage for the accidental loss of life or limb while travelling.

Rather than purchase the package, you can buy the following benefits individually:

• Baggage: As above.
• Travel Delay & COVID-19 Quarantine: As above.
• Travel Accident: As above.
• Pet Coverage: This covers pet-related costs for boarding and/or transportation if you are hospitalized, repatriated or if you die while on your trip. It also covers veterinary fees if your pet is injured during the trip. Maximum coverage is $600.

With a BCAA Travel Insurance plan you can purchase family coverage for two or more people, 59 years old and under, and any dependent children or grandchildren.

In addition, when purchasing your coverage you will be asked, “Where are you travelling?” The options are:

• Worldwide (including USA): Covers you anywhere in the world, including the United States. This includes short stopovers, layovers and cross-border shopping trips to the U.S.
• Worldwide (not including USA): Covers international travel to non-U.S. destinations. This also allows you to travel via the U.S. for up to five days, such as if you travel through the U.S. to reach your destination.
• Within Canada: This provides travel insurance for trips within Canada.

We highlighted key benefits of BCAA Travel Insurance to help you identify which plan is the best fit for your travel needs.

Travel Emergency Medical:

Trip Cancellation and Interruption:

Baggage:

Travel Delay and COVID-19 Quarantine:

Travel Accident:

The price of a BCAA Travel Insurance plan depends on factors such as the cost of your trip (for trip cancellation and interruption coverage), your age, your health and the amount of coverage you choose.

Here are some price examples of BCAA Travel Insurance plans for healthy travellers based in B.C. assuming a $0 deductible.

You can also add an optional deductible, or the amount you will pay out of pocket before your coverage kicks in, to your travel medical insurance to lower the cost of your premium. Deductible options include: $500, $750, $1,000 and $2,500.

Here’s a comparison of the emergency medical insurance premium with and without a $500 deductible.

CUMIS Travel Insurance

Emergency medical: $10 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $500

Related: CUMIS Travel Insurance Review

TuGo Travel Insurance

Emergency medical: $10 million
Cancel For Any Reason: Yes, 50%
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500

Related: TuGo Travel Insurance Review

Pacific Blue Cross

Emergency medical: $10 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500

Related: Pacific Blue Cross Travel Insurance Review

BCAA Travel Insurance offers a pre-existing coverage add-on that provides $300,000 in additional medical coverage for an unstable pre-existing medical condition. To be eligible for this coverage, you must not have had any symptoms or received medical consultation in the seven days before your departure.

Here’s how this add-on could affect your emergency medical premium cost:

BCAA members earn 10% off their premium for any travel insurance plan. Travellers who have held an annual multi-trip plan for three years or more earn an additional 10% off.

Yes. You can buy multi-trip insurance if you travel more than once a year for several individual trips. BCAA Travel Insurance offers annual multi-trip insurance for worldwide (including USA) plans for both emergency medical and trip protection coverage for separate trips of three, eight, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 183 and 365 days.

Here’s how the cost compares between single-trip and multi-trip insurance:

If you stay longer than the number of days on your plan, you can purchase a top-up.

BCAA Claims Assistance is available 24/7 (for medical emergencies), 365 days of the year and can help you when you’re faced with a travel emergency. Support while you’re travelling includes:

• Assistance finding the nearest medical facility
• Payment to hospitals and other medical providers for travel emergency medical expenses, guaranteed where possible
• Medical consultative and advisory services, including review of appropriateness and analysis of your medical care
• Monitoring of progress during your treatment and recovery
• Management, arrangement and authorization of emergency medical evacuation
• Multilingual assistance
• Travel assistance for your family
• Family/employer communications and message centre
• Arranging for a medical assistant to travel with you
• Submitting paperwork to your government health care plan and extended care benefits plan
• Referral to legal assistance
• Travel assistance for lost documents, lost luggage, etc.
• Referral to Canadian consular services worldwide

Support before you leave on your trip includes:

• Tourist visa and/or passport information
• Information regarding inoculation and vaccination requirements
• Weather information
• Currency exchange information

No.

No.

BCAA will not pay any medical expenses related to any medical condition that is not stable for a set period of time, before your coverage takes effect.

A medical condition is considered stable when all of the following are true:

• There has been no deterioration of your condition as determined by your physician.
• There have been no new symptoms or findings or more frequent or severe symptoms or findings.
• There has been no change in medical treatment or no alteration in any medication for the condition.
• There has been no new medical treatment prescribed or recommended by a physician or received.

Specifically, BCAA has the following age-specific exclusions:

For travellers 59 years of age or under (on your policy’s effective date): Benefits are not payable for costs related to any medical condition that was not stable in the 90 days before your departure.

For travellers 60 years of age or over (on your policy’s effective date): Benefits are not payable for costs related to any medical condition that was not stable in the 180 days before your departure.

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. In addition to pre-existing condition exclusions, the following are some of the most common situations not covered by BCAA travel medical insurance:

• A trip taken against medical advice
• A trip taken after the diagnosis of a terminal condition
• A trip taken while you are receiving palliative care or palliative care has been recommended
• Any health condition for which diagnostic tests had been taken or scheduled before departure and for which results were not received (with exceptions)
• Any medical treatment due to complications or recurrence after the emergency ends
• Costs for emergency air transportation when the arrangements were not made by BCAA Claims Assistance
• Illness or injury incurred if you choose to travel to a destination with a level 3 (avoid unnecessary travel) or level 4 (avoid all travel) travel advisories were in effect before departure and the illness or injury is related to the reason for the travel advisory
• Expenses incurred when coverage is purchased after departure
• Any medical expenses in excess of $50,000 if you are not covered by government health insurance
• Loss, theft or breakage of prosthetic devices or dentures

Additional exclusions will apply for trip cancellation and interruption, baggage and travel delay coverage.

Also, there is currently no coverage for any trips taken to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus or any other country subject to a level 3 (avoid non-essential travel) and level 4 (avoid all travel) travel advisory issued by the Canadian government due to the armed conflict with Russia.

There is no coverage for any trip cancellation or trip interruption claims related to COVID-19. There is, however, coverage for travel medical emergencies for fully- and partially-vaccinated travellers.

To be eligible for medical travel insurance with BCAA, the following must apply:

• You are a Canadian resident.
• You have not been advised against travel by your physician.
• You have not been diagnosed with a terminal condition.
• You are not receiving palliative care or palliative care has not been recommended.

In addition, you must be a resident of B.C. or the Yukon to purchase travel insurance.

Due to high call volumes, BCAA recommends you file your claim online at BCAA.com/travelclaims or by email at bcaaclaims@globalexel.com. You can file a medical, dental and trip cancellation/interruption claim online 24/7 by logging into your account via BCAA’s partner Global Excel Management.

Depending on the kind of claim, you will also need to provide supporting documentation within one year from the date of loss.

Depending on your claim, supporting documentation may include:

• Original itemized receipts of out-of-pocket expenses incurred
• Medical certificate(s) from attending physician(s) completed with diagnosis, dates of service and type of treatment
• Original pharmacy prescription receipts
• Completed government health insurance plan forms
• A copy of the death certificate, will or power of attorney and police report, if applicable
• Original unused airline tickets
• Itemized travel agency invoices showing full payment for your trip
• Statement from the travel agency, airline or tour operator documenting refunds provided
• Proof of loss for stolen property, such as a police report
• Written estimate to repair damaged baggage
• Proof of baggage delay and itemized recipes for personal necessities purchased

BCAA notes that the majority of claims are resolved within 30 business days.