MEDICAL and related
In all cases shown in the post below we would continue to pay our BCMSP premiums and PSHCP premiums (about $250.00 / month total for both of us) until such time we sort out where our more permanent residency will be. While we are traveling on our adventure we will need to purchase traveler's insurance. There are many companies from which to choose with many plans and this what we looked at....costs shown are for both of us.
As part of our retirement we were able to join the National Association of Federal Retirees (NAFR) - we did this. This association gives us access to several retirement related benefits including reduced travel costs and travellers medical insurance through their Preferred Partners Program, and reduced rates for hotels, tours, car rental and cruise trips. They also provide reduced rates for items purchased at Shopper's Drug Mart and reduced home related costs such as alarms systems, moving costs, home insurance, and even discounts on retirement residences. Sounds good so far.
The travellers medical insurance from NAFR is called MEDOC and is a plan offered by Johnson Inc that insures us in addition to our MSP and PSHCP coverage while we are out of the country. We can do this until such time we can settle into our newly adopted country and join their medical plan. Rates are based on current age of the travellers (that will be us...). The base plan insures us for up to 40 days at CAN$135 per month. We can then pay for additional coverage up to a maximum of 182 days per trip at CAN$785 per month.... this turned out to be way too expensive and so we are not going pursue it.
After reviewing what we wanted for options and deductables a few more insurance providers were compared that would provide coverage for both of us:
Cigna Global International - US$500 per month
Ingle International - US$350 per month
Manulife Financial - US$350 per month
Expat Financial - US$300 per month
Seeing as we are already (still) enrolled in the Sunlife Financial Medical Insurance program through our former workplace it makes sense to check them out too. They have a partner called Royal and Sun Alliance that provides travel insurance. We found it is a fairly good option and provides basically the same medical coverage and with a lower deductable than other providers. For both of us to continue through Sunlife we can enroll in their travelers plan and will need to pay about CAN$270.00 per month for a maximum of 6 months per trip. We could only buy this 6 months at a time and would have to make sure we renew for the second half of our first year away.
We still need to check out BCAA and see what they have - more later.