Snowbird medical insurance

[stuphel]

We have started coming down each winter to stay at Lake Chapala, from Ontario. We do not stay outside the province beyond the 212 days we are allowed to be away without temporarily forfeiting our health insurance privileges.

All over the OHIP webpage the government advises Ontarians to purchase private insurance while away, as OHIP will not cover expenses beyond the amount it would pay in Ontario, and some situatiions, such as pre-existing conditions, are not covered at all. Visitors needing hospital care in the U.S., for example, might incur costs much beyond what Ontario insurance would pay. However, looking at the costs for medical care in Mexico, it would appear that OHIP coverage would quite handily cover medical care in emergencies in Mexico.

I wonder how other snowbirding Ontarians (or other Canadians) choose to handle the health-care issue?

[El Saltos]

Medical care here is so much less costly than US or Canada I urge you to not worry about it.

[joco69]

If you have not too many pre-existing health issues, do yourself a favour and buy travel insurance. You might consider SkyMed to get repatriated in case of a bad event.