We hope that you are nowwhere you belong, at your winter home. Enjoy your newfound freedom, but you must still be careful. There are many unvaccinated people out there and they do pose a risk to us. I would always wear a mask in crowds, and social distancing is still a great idea. This COVID-19 garbage is with us for good now, so we just have to get used to it and cope as best we can. We have made it this far, through plagues, natural disasters and the millions of other things that could have stopped us. We will deal with this COVID-19 inconvenience, too. Just so you know, we have written more travel insurance in the first three months of this travel season than we have written in any prior year. The pent-up demand for travel is unbelievable and now that the handcuffs are off, I expect it to get even more frantic. Of course, our policy includes coverage for COVID-19, as it always has, and that may account for our substantial increase in business. We insured about 25,000 snowbirds last year, most of whom flew to avoid the land borders, and they all had a very healthy year. There were a fewCOVID-19 claims, mostly minor, but the flu claims in prior years were much worse. I believe that everyone has now built a better and safer lifestyle for themselves and this has assisted us in keeping claims, and thus prices, down. I would also like to reiterate the importance of paying attention to your health. Several years ago, my wife and I went to a transient medical bus to have some tests done, mostly for fun. I think it cost $149. We met them in a drug store parking lot and they took us apart. It was very safe, unobtrusive and actually quite interesting.They, literally, savedmy life.They said that I had to see my doctor right away as I had a huge aneurysm inmy aorta, and I did. There were no symptoms of any kind but, if it had burst, which they eventually do, I would be dead. It was a horrible operation to fix it, but here I am seven years later. The best $149 I ever spent. A simple ultrasound found it. To celebrate our newfound freedom, I bought a painting at Waddington’s Auctions by my childhood friend, Tom Hopkins. Tom went on to be the head of the Fine Arts Department at Concordia University in Montreal for many years. I was asked to verify my credit card charge as it was more than my normal small charges, so I called the bank. After an hour-and-a-half on hold (which, at the beginning of the call, was stated to be three minutes), I finally gave up and hung up. While I was wiling away this wasted time, I decided to click on their travel insurance sales link. Nowhere did they state that they did NOT cover COVID-19. The word COVID-19 did not exist. In their “What is Not Covered” section, the last item basically said that if there is a NonEssential Travel Warning in place, there would be no coverage for the cause of the warning – brilliant, but very devious wording for the policy. Why do they just not tell the unvarnished truth – there is NO coverage for COVID-19. Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of clients will buy their insurance thinking that they will be covered for COVID-19. There really should be a law against this. I expect that the other banks and certainly some of the other travel medical sales groups have the same “problem.” Please be very careful when purchasing travel medical insurance. The devil really is in the details. Have a wonderful holiday and a wonderful winter in the sun. N.B. Canadian travellers should take note that, at the time of writing, a Non-Essential Travel Advisory remains in place only for cruise travel. Please carefully review any travel insurance policy which you are considering. Medipac continues to insure its policy holders for COVID-19-related illness regardless of their method of travel, including cruises. J. Ross Quigley CEO Medipac International Inc. Insurance 14 | www.snowbirds.org
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