Travel Insurance Missteps Can Be Costly Reports NBER

San Francisco, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/24/2013 -- If you buy insurance, you know what you are getting is the peace of mind that if you have a mishap outside of Canada, it will not turn into a financial burden and/or nightmare.

However, it seems almost as if one need a law degree before one attempts to fill out the application for the insurance. Judging by the cautionary tales that CBC News Go Public reported, it may not even be a bad idea to have a lawyer nearby when you do end up signing an insurance agreement.

According to the reports for the CBC, two Canadian seniors have been sandbagged with United States medical bills that are now well over $100,000 after their insurers had what are described as 'minor and innocent' mistakes when completing their form. Those mistakes are now the reason the policy is void and the two are beholden to the fees.

“I would have sworn on my life that I filled everything out correctly," said 67-year-old Joanne Parr of North Bay, Ont., who now owes about $128,000 after suffering kidney failure in Florida in 2011.

"With my sight (legally-blind Parr used a magnifying glass to fill out her form), I check everything I do three or four times. It makes no sense to answer something incorrectly. Why even pay the premium? You are just throwing money out the window."

The mistake was apparently the way in which she had answered a question regarding how she'd been treated for her heart problems 12 months earlier. She had answered 'no' despite having visiting a hospital based on chest pains in October of 2011.

Par stated that she assumed the questions applied to the 12 months prior to the travel date, and not to the period in which the policy was signed.

“My mind was thinking departure date, because that is when I was paying my premium from,” Parr told CBC News.

“There’s one question right after the one they got me on — another question about your heart — and I answered yes to it. So, it just kind of proves that I didn’t try to get away with anything.”

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