Snowbirds’ winter planning should start in summer

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While many Canadians are in the middle of planning road trips and weekends at the cottage this summer, it’s hard to believe that some people are actually looking forward to winter. For thousands of snowbirds, winter is their chance to get away and spend some time in the south. However, there is a lot to do before then.

Medipac travel insurance, the official insurer of the Canadian Snowbird Association, says summer is an ideal time to start preparing for snowbird season. Medipac’s Vice President Christopher Bradbury explains what should be on everyone’s To Do list.

Christopher Bradbury: Go to the doctor a good three to four months before you plan on going on a long trip. Most stability clauses for travel medical insurance policies are 90 days. Some of them you can get lower rates with some programs if they have a stability clause of 120 days, which would be four months. If you’re going look at the marketplace for purchasing travel insurance then you want to see what age categories and health categories you’re going to fall into in order to get idea of how much you’re going to have to pay for travel medical insurance, do that. But then also take a look at the stability periods and then go and see the doctor well in advance of your planned departure. By doing that, if there are any changes to your medication, and that could be the number of pills they’re trying to make you take of one certain medication or if they’re going to add and subtract any medication from your ongoing health treatment plan, that can be done well in advance of your trip departure date so you do have coverage for stable and controlled pre-existing medical conditions. If you can eliminate as many variables as possible then you can ensure that you have the right coverage for the lowest price.

Everybody gets the unforeseen every now and then, if you’re faced with a medical emergency a week before you go away and that changes your plans, well that’s fine. But anything that we can do that’s proactive in order to keep those rates low and keep that coverage in full effect should done and a visit with your doctor three or four months before you’re going to take off for the winter is definitely number one on the list.

Getting your passport of course is something before that we can think of as an option before, but we can no longer do that – so that goes without saying.

Making sure you have copies of your documents in a safe place or with a loved one, be it a brother, a sister, a child or just someone you trust is extremely important.

If you’re going to be spending an extended period of time in one place and if you own real estate there, it might be a good idea for you to take a look at some of the estate laws that would pertain to having wills or living wills and issues like that. That’s if you’re going to spend an extended period of time in one particular area.

You’re always going to be going through variable circumstances if you’re travelling through many areas, and there’s not a lot that we can do about that, but you want to make sure that you’ve got your paperwork in order back home and if you’ve got a second home in another country you should make sure you can get as much paperwork done there as well.