The good news is Canadians needn’t be fearful of U.S. healthcare. While the American system is more complicated, clients and their advisors can rest assured that there are clear, viable health coverage solutions for snowbirds and for Canadians moving to the U.S.

Snowbirds

Major concerns for snowbirds include retaining Canadian health insurance while spending a significant amount of time in the U.S. each year, and accessing adequate healthcare coverage in the U.S.

With careful planning, however, snowbirds can benefit from having coverage in both countries.

Maintaining Canadian healthcare coverage

To retain their Canadian provincial healthcare, snowbirds must carefully monitor their absences from Canada. In Ontario, for example, maintaining OHIP coverage requires physical presence in the province for at least 153 days in any rolling 12-month period. In Quebec, to maintain RAMQ coverage, at least 183 days of physical presence in the province is required per calendar year (though absences of 21 days or fewer don’t count).

The solution to health insurance in the U.S. for snowbirds is to purchase a robust travel insurance policy that will cover them throughout their stay. This is necessary since Canadian provincial healthcare provides very little coverage outside Canada.

Depending on the traveller’s age, the average cost of a travel insurance policy for a snowbird spending half the year in the U.S. ranges from roughly $1,000 to $2,500 per person. Compare this to the unpredictable and potentially financially devastating cost of a U.S. hospital stay without insurance, which could run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the type of medical emergency. […]