Many travellers, and particularly snowbirds, choose to extend their trips when they are already in their travel destination for variety of reasons.

In these situations, it is vital to obtain travel medical insurance coverage for the additional days you plan on being away to avoid gaps in coverage that could leave you personally on the hook for large medical bills if you become sick or are injured while travelling after the date you originally intended to return home.

However, topping-up or extending your travel medical insurance coverage once you are already travelling can be tricky. 

While many travel insurance providers will allow you to top-up or extend after you have already departed on your trip, some will not, and those that do will have certain criteria you will need to meet in order to be eligible to top-up or extend your coverage. So, make sure you know your coverage provider’s terms and conditions with respect to topping-up and extending your coverage after you have already departed for your trip.

To help you avoid potential pitfalls, we’ve provided the following tips, information and considerations to be aware of for topping-up or extending your coverage while traveling:

Top-ups vs. Extensions

First and foremost, let’s distinguish between top-ups and extensions. 

Typically, extensions are used to extend your coverage period under a Single-Trip Travel Insurance policy, while top-ups are used to extend your coverage period under a Multi-Trip Annual Travel Insurance policy.

This distinction is important, as top-ups and extensions can have different terms, conditions and eligibility requirements, so you’ll want to know whether you are extending a Single Trip policy or topping-up a Multi-Trip Annual policy.

Do you qualify for a top-up or extension?

It’s also important to know that there are certain criteria you will need to meet in order to qualify for a top-up or extension when you are already travelling, specifically:

1. Your original coverage must not be expired: 
   
   You must top-up or extend your travel medical coverage before the original coverage period you are topping up/extending expires. Otherwise, your provider will not allow you to top-up or extend your coverage. 
   
   For example, if your original coverage period expires on January 30^th, you will need to finalize your top-up/extension prior to the end of the day on January 30^th.
   
   Keep in mind that while most policies allow you to top-up or extend your coverage any time before your policy expires, some providers may have an earlier cutoff date – i.e. 1 or 2 days before your original coverage period expires - so make sure you read your policy to and understand your provider’s requirements.
2. No claim or “cause for claim” has arisen prior to topping-up/extending: 
   
   You will need to confirm that you have not made a claim under your original coverage or experienced a “cause for claim” prior to applying for your top-up/extension.
   
   A “cause for claim” is any health or medical issue you experienced while travelling that you have not yet started a claim for, but may claim in the future. For example, if you had a chest infection and saw a doctor for treatment while traveling, but have not yet initiated a claim with your insurance provider, that would be considered a cause for claim.
   
   If you have made a claim or have experienced a cause for claim prior to topping-up or extending your coverage, you may not be eligible to top-up or extend your coverage. Eligibility can depend on a number of factors, including the nature of the claim and your insurance provider’s terms and conditions.

3. Confirm the status of your health/medical conditions: 
   
   You must verify with your provider that you have not experienced any changes to your health/medical conditions since you originally obtained your coverage, and if you have experienced any changes to your health/medical conditions, you must report these to your provider, as any changes to your health/medical condition may affect your eligibility to top-up or extend your coverage. 
   
   If you have not had any changes to your health/medical conditions and you meet the other eligibility criteria, you should be able to top-up/extend your coverage. However, if there have been changes to your health/medical conditions, there are a few possible outcomes depending on those changes, which can include higher premiums for the top-up/extension, certain conditions being excluded from coverage, and in some cases, being ineligible to obtain a top-up/extension. 
   
   Failure to report any changes to your health/medical conditions when obtaining a top-up or extension may result in any claims made during the top-up/extension period being denied.

How to Top-up or Extend your coverage

If you need to top-up or extend your travel medical insurance coverage while travelling, most providers will require you to do so by phone, either through a cell phone plan or a landline - which means you won’t be able to top-up or extend online or by email. You also won’t be able to extend through a calling app like WhatsApp or Skype, as these apps won’t allow your payment to be processed in a secure manner.

Accordingly, you’ll need to plan for this ahead of time by ensuring you can make and receive calls via your cell phone plan or a landline from wherever you are travelling. This isn’t normally an issue if you are travelling in Canada or the U.S., but it may be an issue if you travelling elsewhere where you don’t have access to a cell phone plan or a landline, or phone service is limited or spotty.

Call the correct number

To top-up or extend your coverage, you’ll need to call your insurance provider’s Sales and General Inquiries phone number, as they will handle all policy sales and questions related to your coverage, including top-ups and extensions.

Your insurance provider will likely have two Sales and General Inquiries phone numbers – a toll-free number that works if you’re calling from within Canada and a collect number if you’re calling from outside Canada - so make sure you’re calling the right number depending on where you are calling from.

Do NOT call the 24/7 Emergency Assistance number, as they only deal with claims and individuals seeking emergency medical assistance and won’t be able to help you with your top-up/extension.

Timing Considerations

It’s never a good idea to wait until the last minute to top-up or extend your coverage, as unexpected delays and issues may pop up that jeopardize your ability to top-up or extend before your original coverage expires.

Potential delays and timing issues that can arise include:

• Operating Hours: Your insurance provider’s sales department won’t be open 24/7, and will generally be closed in the evenings and Sundays (and sometimes Saturdays), which means you could be out of luck if you wait until the last minute to top-up or extend only to find your provider’s office is closed at that time.

• Holidays: Similarly, sales departments are often closed or have reduced hours on or around statutory holidays.

• Time Zone Differences: If you’re calling from another time zone, you’ll need to account for that and make sure you’re calling at a time your provider’s offices are open.

• Limited Phone Service and Callback Delays: If you have limited phone service where you are travelling and/or require your insurance provider to call you back, you could experience delays in finalizing your top-up/extension coverage.

Accordingly, whenever possible, you should contact your insurance provider at least a few days - and preferably a week - before your original coverage expires to top-up or extend.