Am I covered? Credit card travel insurance checker

Many Canadian credit cards include insurance underwritten by an insurance company, described in a certificate of insurance. Some coverage, like travel emergency medical, often applies just for being a cardholder, while trip cancellation, flight delay and baggage coverage usually need the trip charged to the card. Each coverage has its own limits, such as a maximum number of days per trip and an age cut-off, and you claim through the insurer, not the bank.

It pays for emergency hospital and doctor costs when you get sick or hurt outside your home province. Provincial health plans may pay only part of your medical bills outside Canada, or none, and may not cover everything in another province, so a hospital stay away from home can be very expensive without it.

On most cards, a trip longer than the day limit isn’t covered at all, not just the extra days. Some insurers let you buy a top-up for the extra days before you leave. Otherwise, a stand-alone travel medical policy for the whole trip is the usual option. The certificate of insurance explains how your card handles it.

For trip cancellation, trip interruption, flight delay, baggage and travel accident coverage, usually yes: the fare or package, or a set share of it, must be charged to the card or paid with its points. Travel emergency medical often doesn’t need the trip charged to the card, but some cards do require it. The certificate of insurance sets out the rule for your card.

Many cards include rental car collision and loss damage coverage. To use it, you usually charge the whole rental to the card and decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver. There’s a limit on the rental length, often 31 or 48 days in our data, and some cards limit the vehicle’s value (MSRP) and exclude certain vehicles. It doesn’t replace liability insurance.

Yes. American Express lists out-of-province emergency medical coverage of up to $5,000,000 for the first 15 days of a trip if you’re under 65, plus travel accident, flight and baggage delay, hotel and motel burglary, car rental theft and damage, and mobile device insurance. It doesn’t list trip cancellation or interruption. Check the certificate of insurance from American Express before you rely on it.

Our data lists travel emergency medical for 15 days, trip cancellation and interruption, flight and baggage delay, and rental car collision and loss damage. Our data doesn’t list the age rules for the medical coverage, so confirm them in RBC’s certificate of insurance.

It depends on the card. In our data, the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite and TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite list 21 days of travel emergency medical, and the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite lists 10 days under age 65. Check TD’s certificate of insurance for the full age rules.

Usually yes. Travel medical insurance can generally be bought any time before you leave. Trip cancellation coverage often has to be bought within a set time after you book, or before any cancellation penalty applies, so check the policy’s deadline.

It depends on your age, health, trip length and destination, so quotes vary a lot. Card coverage costs nothing extra if your trip fits its limits. If it doesn’t, get quotes from a few insurers and compare what each policy covers, not just the price.