Who It Is For

Insurance for parents and grandparents visiting Canada

Most of our work is this: someone in Brampton, Surrey or Calgary arranging cover for parents flying in for a long stay. Provincial health plans do not cover visitors at all, so from the moment they land the bill for anything medical is yours. Here is what to sort out, and in what order.

Start Here

Four decisions, in this order

Which visa

A Super Visa needs a year of insurance. A visitor visa does not, but they still need cover.

Health history

Conditions and medication dates decide which plans genuinely work.

How much cover

$100,000 is the Super Visa minimum, and a sensible floor either way.

The start date

Set it to the day they land, and buy before they fly.

The Detail

What to sort out, and when

You are usually doing this on someone else’s behalf, often in a hurry, often while also booking flights. The good news is that it is a short list, and none of it is complicated once you know which questions matter.

Nothing here is covered by the province

This is the thing to be clear about first. OHIP, MSP and every other provincial plan cover residents. A visiting parent is not a resident, and there is no reciprocal arrangement that helps. A walk-in appointment is billed. An emergency room visit is billed. A cardiac admission runs into tens of thousands, and the hospital bills the patient.

If it is a Super Visa, insurance is part of the application

The application will not succeed without it. The policy has to be at least $100,000, valid a full 365 days from the start date, from an insurer Canada accepts, and paid for rather than quoted. Our requirements page goes through each of those, including what the confirmation letter has to say.

If the annual premium for two parents is the sticking point, most of these plans can be paid monthly without shortening the policy.

Sort the health history before you compare prices

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that decides whether a claim gets paid. Almost every parent in their sixties or seventies has something on record — blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, a stent fitted years ago. Most plans will cover it if it has been stable for their stability period, typically 90 or 180 days with no change of medication or dose.

Two plans at the same premium can apply different periods, so the cheaper one is not automatically the right one. Get the medication dates from your parents before you start comparing — particularly the date of the last dose change. Read how pre-existing conditions work before you choose.

Buy before they fly

Coverage starts on the date you pick, not the date you pay, so buying early costs nothing. Buying late does cost something: policies bought after arrival usually impose a waiting period, and anything that has happened since landing counts as pre-existing. Set the start date to the landing date, and if the flight moves, call the insurer and move the start date before the old one passes.

Run a quote with their ages and arrival date and you will see every plan that fits, priced side by side.

Before You Buy

What to have in hand

Passport spellings, exactly as printed — the certificate has to match
Dates of birth, and their age on the day coverage starts
Every medical condition, however well controlled
The date each medication or dose last changed
The planned landing date, and how long they intend to stay
Whether this is a Super Visa application or a regular visitor visa

Send them the documents before they board. The policy certificate and the assistance phone number should be in their email and printed in their hand luggage. A border officer may ask, and if something happens in the first week nobody wants to be hunting for a policy number across a nine-hour time difference.

While they are here

Keep the assistance number somewhere both of you can find it — on their phone and on yours. In an emergency that number gets called first, before or alongside the hospital, because most insurers want to authorise treatment and will often pay the hospital directly rather than making you claim it back.

If the visit is extended, arrange the extension before the current policy runs out. An extension continues the existing cover; a brand new policy restarts every pre-existing clock from scratch, which is a much worse position.

And if they go home early, most insurers refund the unused days pro-rata as long as no claim has been made. Send us the departure stamp and we will deal with the insurer.

Doing this for your parents

Give us the details. We will do the comparing.

Tell a licensed agent their ages, the arrival date and any medical history, and you will get back the plans that genuinely work for their situation — not just the cheapest row in a table. Most families sort this out in one phone call.

Talk to an agent

Questions families ask us

A Super Visa allows stays of up to five years at a time and requires a year of medical insurance as part of the application. A regular visitor visa is normally six months per entry and carries no insurance requirement, though travelling without cover is a serious gamble at this age. If the plan is a long stay, the Super Visa is the one.

For a Super Visa, $100,000 is the minimum IRCC will accept. Many families go to $150,000, and the extra is usually a modest addition to the premium. For a shorter visit on a regular visa there is no legal minimum, but $100,000 is a sensible floor given what a Canadian hospital stay costs.

Almost certainly, yes. What matters is whether the condition has been stable — no change of medication or dose, no new symptoms — for the insurer’s stability period before coverage starts. See pre-existing conditions for what stable means in practice.

Often, yes, but check the limit. Each person needs their own $100,000 for a Super Visa, and a few family plans share a single limit across everyone named. A shared limit does not satisfy the requirement.

Usually, as long as you arrange it before the current policy expires and no claim has been made. Extending is far easier than buying a fresh policy mid-visit, because a new policy treats anything that has happened since arrival as pre-existing.

Most insurers refund the unused days pro-rata, less a small fee, provided no claim has been made. Send us the departure stamp and we will process it.

Nothing legally requires it on a regular visitor visa. But provincial health plans do not cover visitors at all, and one ambulance ride and a night in hospital can cost more than a year of premiums. For a parent in their seventies, two weeks uninsured is not a saving.