Coverage Detail

Insurance that covers pre-existing conditions

Most visitors to Canada arrive with something on their medical record — blood pressure, diabetes, a heart procedure years ago. Plenty of plans will cover it, provided the condition has been stable for a set period. That word "stable" is doing a lot of work, and this page explains exactly what it means.

The Basics

Four things that decide the answer

What counts

Anything diagnosed, treated or medicated before the policy starts — however well controlled.

The stability period

Usually 90 or 180 days of no change, immediately before coverage begins.

Medication changes

A new drug or a changed dose normally restarts the clock. A brand swap usually does not.

Age bands

Several insurers lengthen the period, or narrow the cover, past 70 or 75.

In Plain Terms

How stability actually works

This is the question we get asked more than any other, and the honest answer is that it depends on a definition buried in the policy wording rather than on the condition itself. Whether you are looking at Super Visa cover or ordinary visitor insurance, the mechanism is the same.

Stable does not mean healthy

It means unchanged. An insurer is not asking whether someone is well; it is asking whether anything about the condition has moved recently. Someone with well-managed type 2 diabetes on the same metformin dose for three years is stable. Someone whose doctor adjusted that dose six weeks ago is not — even though the second person may be in better health than the first.

For the whole stability period, and counting backwards from the day coverage starts, there must have been no new symptoms, no worsening of existing ones, no new medication or change of dose, no new treatment or referral, no test results still outstanding, and no hospital admission for it.

The period is a number, and it varies

Ninety days and one hundred and eighty days are the common ones. On a 90-day plan, a medication change four months ago is history. On a 180-day plan, the same change is inside the window and the condition is excluded. Same person, same history, two different outcomes — which is precisely why comparing on premium alone is a bad idea when there is a condition in play.

A worked example

A father arrives on 1 March. His blood pressure tablet was increased on 20 December, a little over two months earlier.

On a plan with a 90-day stability period, 20 December falls inside the window, so his blood pressure — and anything an insurer can tie to it, which can include a stroke or a cardiac event — is excluded. On a plan with a 180-day period it is excluded too. Had the change been in July, both plans would treat him as stable. And if his coverage started in April instead of March, the 90-day plan would clear him while the 180-day plan still would not.

Nothing about his health changed in any of those versions. Only the dates did.

Declare it anyway

Some people leave a condition off, reasoning that it is minor or well controlled. It is the worst move available. Insurers request medical records on any claim of size, and a non-disclosure can void the entire policy rather than just the part relating to that condition — so a declared heart condition and an undeclared one produce very different results when somebody breaks a hip.

Declaring is free. Tell us everything, and we will tell you which plans work.

Before You Buy

What to have in front of you

Every condition on record, including ones considered minor or fully controlled
The date of the most recent medication change — the dose, not just the drug
Any test, referral or specialist appointment still outstanding
The traveller’s age on the date coverage starts, not today
The stability period each shortlisted plan applies, in days
Whether the plan excludes the condition outright or covers it when stable

Moving the start date can be the whole answer. If a medication change was recent, a policy that begins a few weeks later may clear the stability window when one starting on the arrival date does not. That is not a trick — it is the rule working as written. Tell us the date of the change and we will work out which plans clear it.

If the condition is not stable

You still have options, and none of them is “no cover”. Some insurers will write the policy with that one condition excluded, which leaves full emergency cover for everything else — the broken bones, the appendicitis, the pneumonia that are the likelier reasons anyone ends up in a Canadian hospital. Others will cover an unstable condition at a higher premium.

What you should not do is buy the cheapest plan and hope. An excluded condition you know about is manageable. A declined claim on a condition you assumed was covered is not.

Bringing parents over on a Super Visa? The $100,000 and 365-day rules do not change because of a health condition — only the choice of plan does. And if the annual premium is the obstacle, most of these plans can be paid monthly.

Tell us the history

Describe the condition. We will name the plans.

Give a licensed agent the conditions, the medication dates and the traveller’s age, and you will get back a straight answer: which plans treat it as stable, which exclude it, and what the difference costs. No medical exam, and nothing goes on record by asking.

Talk to an agent

Questions about pre-existing conditions

Anything diagnosed, treated or medicated before the policy starts — including conditions being managed perfectly well. High blood pressure controlled by a daily tablet is a pre-existing condition. So is diabetes, a past heart attack, asthma, or a knee that was operated on years ago.

No new symptoms, no worsening of existing ones, no change of medication (including dosage), no new treatment, no new tests pending, and no hospital admission for it — for the whole stability period before coverage starts. The exact list varies slightly between insurers, which is why the wording matters more than the headline.

On most policies, yes — even a reduction, and even if the doctor considers it an improvement. A change of brand for the identical drug and dose usually does not. This is the single most common reason a claim gets declined, so it is worth being precise about dates.

Yes. There is no advantage to leaving something off. Insurers pull medical records when a claim is significant, and a non-disclosure can void the whole policy — not just the claim relating to that condition. Declaring costs you nothing and it is what makes the cover reliable.

Sometimes. A few plans will cover unstable conditions at a higher premium, and some will cover everything except that one condition. Neither is a bad outcome — the emergency cover for everything else still applies, which is most of what the policy is for.

It often does. Several insurers apply a longer period, or narrow what is covered, once the traveller is past 70 or 75. Compare on the person’s actual age rather than assuming the rule you read about a younger relative.