By The Canadian Press
Trip cancellation and interruptions coverage, meanwhile, can save the high costs of trip disruptions due to personal emergencies.
For example, Canadians often go down to Mexico on packaged trips and take chartered flights, McAleer said. If they need to get home mid-trip for an emergency and don鈥檛 have coverage, the new flight could cost more.
Canadians often forgo insurance coverage when travelling domestically鈥攑artly because they enjoy universal health care benefits across provinces. But that may not be enough in some situations, McAleer said.
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Almost half of Ontarians travel without insurance
Four in 10 Ontarians travelled outside of their home province without travel insurance during their last trip, a CAA South Central Survey, published last week, showed. Almost half of them believed it was unnecessary, while 24% were worried about costs.
鈥淟et鈥檚 say you鈥檙e hiking in the Rockies and something goes wrong, you have an accident,鈥 McAleer said. 鈥淢aybe you need to be taken to the nearest hospital by ambulance, or worse, it could be an emergency evacuation helicopter off the mountain to get you to that medical treatment.鈥
鈥淭hose types of costs can be significant and are not covered under provincial medical,鈥 he said.
Workplace benefits may cover travel insurance
Harris suggested looking into your workplace benefits first and seeing if they鈥檙e sufficient.
鈥淪ome people will make an assumption that, 鈥極h, I have a work plan鈥 or 鈥業 have travel insurance for my credit card,鈥欌 he said. 鈥淏ut you really need to understand those policies and what鈥檚 included.鈥