TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

The other day I received a postcard from mom and dad, they have been traveling abroad now for about 2 years. Their lifelong dream was to see the world, and once dad retired three years ago they set out to do just that. Today’s postcard brought a breathtaking picture from the Swiss Alps as well as news that they are off to Belgium in a few weeks!

We all dream of traveling when we retire. We work hard and save so that we can relax and enjoy ourselves in our golden years. Yet, the simple fact of the matter is as we get older our chances of needing medical care increase. We’re not as young we used to be when we swung from the neighbor’s tree! The unfortunate news is that even though we may have insurance that covers us fully here at home, those same policies may be worthless when traveling internationally.

I remember about three years ago dad talking about this before they left. He had come over to visit and brought along a copy of his travel medical insurance policy he just bought. He wanted me to keep it in a safe place as a backup copy. I asked him what this was all about – he already had insurance through his pension and retirement plan.

He told me that he had found out that the health insurance plan he had here provided extremely limited coverage to only a few very countries abroad. In a nutshell, it was pretty much worthless. He said he knew that him and mom were getting to that age in life when sometimes things need attention health-wise and the last thing he wanted to do was be stuck in a foreign land in dire need of vacation travel insurance without the means to afford it.

Sure enough, about a year ago, mom had some pains in her chest and they immediately went to a local hospital. The good news is it wasn’t a heart attack, but it was a condition where they wanted her to have regular checkups every 3 months. Now, no matter where she is, she makes an appointment with a local doctor to get her checkup and doesn’t worry about it.

I guess we can learn a lot from our parents, even though we may not want to admit it. When I join them for a holiday abroad next year you can bet I’ll be making sure I get myself travel insurance online – because you just never know what might go wrong.

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Traveling to Canada for medical care is an option many Americans select each year.

Canadian clinics are among the most advanced worldwide, opening in cities such as Montreal clinics, Toronto and Vancouver.

They choose Canada because it’s a short flight away, English speaking country and because Canada has a growing number of private clinics opening up annually. Private clinics are new to Canadians as they have long relied on the public system.

The number of Americans traveling to Canada has grown tremendously as the costs for healthcare have sky-rocketed in the past years. Americans can save half their surgery bill by traveling to Canada.

Common destination for medical travel are Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cuba, Colombia, Philippines or India and now Canada.

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