GMS Travel Insurance Review 2024

Founded over 70 years ago in Saskatchewan to provide health insurance to the working class, today GMS Insurance is a Regina-based non-profit offering health insurance, travel insurance and group employee benefits across Canada online and through its broker network.

Group Medical Services is the operating name for GMS Insurance Inc. in provinces outside of Saskatchewan. GMS travel insurance is not available in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nunavut. TravelStar is a registered trademark of Group Medical Services.

Here are the key types of travel insurance coverage offered in GMS TravelStar 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, as well as medical evacuations, repatriation and arranging for a bedside companion if you are hospitalized.
• Trip cancellation insurance: If you cancel a trip for a reason listed in your travel policy, such as you or your travelling companion become ill, weather conditions cause a massive delay or you lose 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 reimburse money that you lose by cutting a trip short due to a covered reason, including 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, such as 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 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 they are lost, damaged or stolen.

GMS Travel Insurance offers three plans for travelling outside of Canada.

TravelStar Emergency Medical with Trip Cancellation: This is the most comprehensive plan offered by GMS Travel Insurance. It includes coverage for unforeseen medical emergencies, trip cancellation and interruption, and baggage loss, damage or delay. There is no flight or accident insurance, or accidental death or dismemberment coverage.

Emergency medical treatment includes:

• Hospital accommodation in a ward or a semi-private room
• Hospital services and supplies, including one follow-up visit within 14 days after discharge
• Treatment by a physician
• Road ambulance
• Air ambulance, up to $20,000
• Private-duty nursing, up to $5,000
• Diagnostic services, including MRI, sonogram, ultrasound and biopsy
• Outpatient medical treatment
• Prescription drugs, up to 30-day supply
• Rental of essential medical appliances, such as a wheelchair, crutches or cane
• Paramedical services, such as care from a chiropractor, osteopath, physiotherapist, chiropodist or podiatrist, maximum $300 per professional
• Emergency dental due to a blow to the face, up to $2,000
• Emergency dental due to pain, up to $250
• Remote evacuation, up to $20,000

Medical benefits also include coverage to bring someone to your bedside, expenses for meals, hotel accommodations and associated expenses if you are hospitalized and/or if a medical delay prevents you from returning home, repatriation expenses and return of your remains if you die.

TravelStar Emergency Medical Only: If you’re only worried about medical emergencies while travelling, this benefit offers all of the medical coverage listed above.

TravelStar Trip Cancellation Only: This coverage option reimburses you for insured non-refundable travel expenses (such as hotels or prepaid excursions) if you have to cancel, interrupt, or delay your trip due to a covered reason. This benefit also includes baggage loss, damage and delay coverage.

We’ve highlighted the key benefits of GMS TravelStar Travel Insurance for the single trip plans to help you identify which coverage is the best fit for you.

The price of a GMS TravelStar Travel Insurance plan depends on factors such as the cost of your trip, your age, your answers to a medical questionnaire, if required, and the coverage you choose. There is no charge for dependent children under age 16 when travelling with a paying adult under the Emergency Medical single-trip plan.

Here are some examples of the cost for GMS TravelStar Travel Insurance single-trip plans for healthy travellers based in Ontario assuming a $0 deductible:

You can reduce your emergency medical premium cost by choosing a $250, $1,000 or $5,000 deductible, or the amount you pay out before coverage kicks in.

Using the sample quote (above) of the single traveller visiting the UK, here’s how each deductible option impacts your emergency medical premium:

Blue Cross Travel Insurance

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

Related: Blue Cross Travel Insurance Review

Johnson MEDOC Travel Insurance Review

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

Related: Johnson MEDOC Travel Insurance Review

Medipac Travel Insurance Review

Emergency medical: $5 million USD
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): None

Related: Medipac Travel Insurance Review

GMS offers a Trip Delay Upgrade for $25 per insured. In the event you are delayed 12 hours or more, you’ll receive enhanced coverage that includes:

• Up to $500 per day to a maximum of $1,500 for out-of-pocket expenses, such as accommodation and meals, taxi or ride sharing and WiFi
• $200 for entertainment expenses to attend a ticketed event, such as a movie, concert, sporting event or opera
• The extra cost of the same class of transportation to region a tour, group or trip if you have not returned home as a result of a covered risk

Yes. GMS offers an automatic 10% discount on your trip cancellation coverage when you bundle it with emergency medical coverage. There is also a 5% Companion Discount applied to all single-trip emergency medical plan premiums when you’re travelling with at least one family member (spouse and/or dependents) over age 16.

Yes. You can buy multi-trip annual insurance if you travel more than once a year for multiple individual trips. GMS offers multi-trip plans for both the emergency medical and trip cancellation/interruption coverage for 15 or 30 days.

Worldwide emergency travel assistance is available 24/7 by calling GMS Travel Assistance. Depending on your coverage, the services offered by GMS may include:

• Offering telephone interpretation services in many languages
• Monitoring your progress during your medical consultation and treatment
• Coordinating all medical treatment, transport and repatriation
• Confirming coverage
• Providing pre-approval of medical treatment

You must contact the Assistance Centre before receiving medical treatment. If you do not, GMS may pay up to 70% of eligible expenses to a maximum of $50,000. If it’s not possible to call before receiving treatment, GMS requests you call within 24 hours, or have someone call on your behalf.

World Travel Protection (WTP) became the GMS Travel Assistance provider as of June 28, 2023.

No.

No.

In general, a pre-existing condition is defined as any sickness, injury or medical condition that existed before the start of your coverage, whether or not diagnosed by a physician, that you showed signs or symptoms of or received medical attention for.

With a GMS Travel Insurance policy, any pre-existing conditions must be stable for 180 days before the start of your policy to be eligible for coverage.

According to GMS, a medical condition is considered stable when all of the following are true:

• There has not been any new treatment prescribed or recommended, or change(s) to the existing treatment, including a stoppage in treatment.
• There has not been any change to any existing prescribed drug (including an increase, decrease or stoppage), with some exceptions.
• The medical condition has not become worse.
• There has not been any new, more frequent or more severe symptoms.
• There has been no hospitalization or referral to a specialist.
• There have not been any tests, investigation or medical treatment recommended, but not yet complete, nor any outstanding test results.

In addition to pre-existing condition exclusions, 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. The following are exclusions to coverages provided by GMS Travel Insurance:

• Recurrence of a medical condition after your medical emergency is over
• Non-emergency, experimental or elective medical treatment, including cosmetic surgery, chronic care or rehabilitation
• Travel for diagnosis or treatment, including surgery, investigation, palliative care or therapy
• Any expenses incurred for treatment that is expected prior to leaving on your trip
• Expenses that can be reasonably delayed until you return home
• Organ, bone marrow or stem cell transplants
• Expenses for medical treatment after you refuse transfer to another facility or home
• Non-compliance with medical treatment, including prescription medication, either during your trip or before departure
• Travelling against your physician’s advice
• Any expense not covered by your provincial or territorial health insurance
• Routine prenatal or postnatal care, pregnancy, delivery or complications of either that happen nine weeks before the expected delivery date or any time after
• A child born during the trip
• Cardiac catheterization, angioplasty or cardiovascular surgery, or insertion of a implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, unless medically necessary and pre-approved by GMS
• Any professional sports
• Speed contests or racing of motorized land, water or air vehicles
• Any extreme sport or activity involving a high level of risk, including scuba diving (unless you are NAUI, PADI, ACUC or SSI certified), bungee jumping, parachuting, mountaineering, skydiving, hangliding, acrobatic or stunt flying, or participating in a rodeo or horse racing as a jockey
• Expenses related to air travel, unless riding as a passenger on a common carrier
• Work-related accidents
• Expenses related to service in the armed forces, wilful exposure to peril, work with a hazardous occupation or mission and/or relief work
• War, terrorism or an act of foreign rebellion
• Travel during an “avoid non-essential travel” or “avoid all travel” travel advisory that was called by the Government of Canada before your departure date
• A criminal or illegal act, attempted or commissioned
• Expenses due to withdrawal or your use of drugs, alcohol or other intoxicants
• Misuse of medication, whether prescribed or not
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Any nuclear reaction, radiation or radioactive contamination

There may be additional exclusions specific to trip cancellation and/or baggage coverage.

The following makes you ineligible for GMS Travel Insurance:

• You are awaiting tests or medical treatment for a heart condition.
• You have a surgically untreated vascular aneurysm.
• You have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
• You have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
• You were diagnosed with, received new medical treatment, or had a change in medical treatment for any of the following heart or vascular conditions in the last 12 months: Heart transplant, atrial flutter, atrial/ventricular fibrillation, peripheral vascular disease, stroke/TIA or blood clots.
• You have diabetes that is treated with insulin and take prescription medication for a heart condition (excluding medication for high cholesterol or high blood pressure).
• You use home oxygen or take an oral steroid to treat a lung condition.
• You are currently being treated for cancer, excluding breast or prostate cancer treated exclusively with hormone therapy.
• You were diagnosed with, received new medical treatment, or had a change in medical treatment for any of the following conditions in the last 12 months: Liver failure, GI bleed, AIDS or terminal illness.
• You have had any of the following procedures in the last 12 months: Valve surgery or replacement, kidney dialysis or organ, stem cell or bone marrow transplant.
• You require assistance from another person with the activities of daily living, such as personal hygiene and grooming, dressing and undressing and self-feeding, if you are 70 years old or more.
• You are not a Canadian resident.
• You did not purchase your policy before leaving on your trip.

To file a claim simply visit the GMS website and download the appropriate claim form for Trip Cancellation & Interruption, Baggage and/or Travel Emergency Medical. You can submit your claim form and required documentation by email or my mail.

If you are making an emergency medical claim, documentation may include (but is not limited to):

• Original itemized receipts, bills and invoices
• Proof of payment, if payment was made, by you or any other benefit plan
• Complete medical records, including final diagnosis by the attending physician
• Proof of travel showing the date you departed from and returned to your home province or territory
• Your historical medical records, as requested
• Any other relevant documentation that may be requested
• An autopsy, if a claim involves your death

For a trip cancellation, trip interruption or baggage claim, you may be asked to provide:

• Medical confirmation from the attending physician as to why the insured was unable to travel, including a complete diagnosis, the date the medical condition became known and the medical necessity of cancelling, delaying or interrupting the trip
• Detailed invoices, original and unused tickets and travel agent statement, a copy of the travel supplier’s refund policy, a statement of benefits from any other insurers and any other required documentation
• A written rental contract that outlines cancellations and penalty policies
• Copies of all payments, including the original deposit
• A police report, proof of travel dates, proof of ownership, value of all items claimed and a copy of your property insurance policy

A completed claim form must be submitted within 90 days of the illness or injury and within 12 months of a cancellation, delay or baggage loss.