Editorial Note: Forbes Advisor may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn't affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Our VerdictManulife Financial’s CoverMe Travel Insurance offers a generous $10 million in emergency medical coverage, and mature travellers will benefit from the emergency medical coverage for pre-existing conditions. But if you’re looking for high levels of trip insurance, you might want to consider other options.
Manulife Financial Corporation is a multinational financial services company offering financial advice, insurance and wealth management services.
Headquartered in Toronto with offices in Canada, Asia and Europe, as well as in the U.S. under the name John Hancock, Manulife started selling insurance in 1887. Today the company offers a bevy of insurance products, including health, life, mortgage protection and travel insurance.
Manulife Travel Insurance is underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife) and First North American Insurance Company (FNAIC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manulife.
Here are the key types of travel insurance coverage offered in Manulife travel insurance plans:
Manulife Financial Travel Insurance offers four plans:
All Inclusive: This is the most comprehensive plan offered by Manulife Financial that includes coverage for unforeseen medical emergencies, trip cancellation and interruption, travel accident, and baggage loss, damage and delay.
According to Manulife Financial, emergency medical treatment includes:
Medical benefits also include coverage to bring someone to your bedside, expenses for meals, hotel accommodations and associated expenses if a medical delay prevents you from returning home, repatriation expenses, return of your remains if you die and a hospital allowance, for expenses such as parking and TV rental.
Manulife Insurance is secondary insurance, which means that coverage kicks in once any other benefit plan is exhausted.
Emergency Medical: If you’re only worried about medical emergencies while travelling, this plan offers all of the emergency medical coverage options of the all inclusive plan and includes hospital accommodations, physician fees, lab tests, private nurses and ambulance services.
Trip Cancellation/Interruption: If you have medical coverage elsewhere, such as a travel credit card, this will cover trip cancellation and trip interruption. It does not offer any baggage coverage or flight and travel accident coverage.
COVID-19 Pandemic Travel Plan: This plan provides emergency medical insurance for COVID-19 and related complications, as well as trip interruption insurance benefits if you need to quarantine. The maximum payable amount is $5 million for a medical emergency related COVID-19 if you are vaccinated and $1 million if you are not vaccinated. The $5 million in coverage can also be used in the event of a non-COVID related medical emergency.
Family coverage for up to four adults (parents and grandparents) and their unmarried dependent children or grandchildren may also be available for any of these plans. (If purchasing the COVID-19 Pandemic Plan, family coverage is available for up to two adults.)
In order to be eligible for coverage, the following must be true:
We’ve highlighted key benefits of Manulife CoverMe Travel Insurance for the single trip plan to help you identify which coverage is the best fit for you.
The price of a Manulife Financial CoverMe travel insurance plan depends on factors such as the cost of your trip, your age and the amount of coverage you choose.
Here are some examples of the cost for Manulife Financial CoverMe Travel Insurance single trip plans for healthy travellers based in Ontario. Each traveller is quoted individually.
With your emergency medical coverage, you can also add an optional deductible, or the amount you will pay out of pocket before your coverage kicks in, of $500, $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000.
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: Yes, 50% to 75%
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,000
Emergency medical: $5 million
Cancel For Any Reason: No
Baggage insurance (maximum): $1,500
Manulife Financial does not offer any insurance riders or add-ons.
Costco Executive members can save up to 5% on most Manulife insurance plan premiums.
Yes. You can buy multi-trip annual insurance if you travel more than once a year for multiple individual trips. Manulife Financial offers medical only coverage for four, 10, 18, 30 and 60 days and all inclusive coverage for four, 10, 18 or 30 days per trip. If you stay longer than the number of days you purchased, you can purchase a top-up. It’s important to note that the Multi-Trip All Inclusive plan is only available for purchase within 60 days of departure.
Here’s how the prices between single trip and multi-trip insurance for 18 days compare:
The Manulife Assistance Centre is available 24/7 and 365 days of the year and can help you when you’re faced with an emergency. Depending on the coverage provided by your insurance policy, support includes:
For policyholders with emergency medical coverage, Manulife Financial Travel Insurance also offers StandbyMD, a medical concierge service. StandbyMD offers the following services 24/7:
If you (or someone calling on your behalf) do not contact the Manulife Assistance Centre before receiving medical treatment, you may be limited to reimbursement of 80% of eligible medical expenses. It’s important to remember that certain services, such as MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasounds, biopsies and cardiovascular surgeries must be approved in advance of receiving treatment.
Manulife Financial will not pay any medical expenses related to a medical condition that is not stable for a set period of time before your coverage takes effect, either three months or six months depending on the rate category you qualify for when purchasing your policy based on your health status.
A medical condition is considered stable when all of the following are true:
In addition, Manulife will not cover any heart condition for which you’ve had to take nitroglycerin for angina pain in the three or six months before your effective date (the date your coverage starts), or any lung condition that required treatment with oxygen in the three or six months before your effective date.
However, Manulife Financial offers TravelEase insurance coverage for fully disclosed pre-existing medical conditions with up to $5 million in emergency benefits. Travellers interested in this coverage can call Manulife Financial for a quote.
There are a number of scenarios not covered by travel insurance and it’s critical to know what not to do before you make a claim only to be told you’re on the hook for all associated costs. The following are some of the most common issues not covered by travel insurance:
To be eligible for emergency medical insurance coverage, the following must apply:
There are additional eligibility criteria for travellers aged 60 and older based on their answers to a health questionnaire.
You can file a claim online 24/7 by visiting the Manulife online claims portal where you can start a new claim, submit your required documentation and follow the progress of your claim.
If you are making an emergency medical claim, documentation may include:
For a trip cancellation and trip interruption claim, you may be asked to provide:
If you are making a baggage loss, damage and delay insurance claim, you will need to provide:
To make submitting a claim easier, Manulife Financial also offers a TravelAid mobile app that gives policyholders immediate digital access to the Assistance Centre.
You must report a claim within 30 days of the occurrence, and you must submit proof of your claim within 90 days that a claim occurred or a service was provided. Money will be paid out within 60 days after all required documentation has been received and the claim is approved.
According to the company, its Assistance Centre has existing relationships with medical providers in many vacation destinations to ensure emergency situations are handled “as smoothly as possible.” There is the caveat that some medical providers will require a deposit or assurance that they will be paid. However, the insurer adds that, “once the Assistance Centre is contacted and actively managing the case, the providers will directly bill Manulife and, in almost all cases, you will not see a bill.” Should you have to pay direct, Manulife will reimburse expenses once the claim documentation has been received and verified.
However, if you pay out of pocket for medical expenses without prior approval by Manulife’s Assistance Centre, eligible expenses will be reimbursed to you based on “reasonable and customary charges,” which may be less than what you paid.
Yes. If you have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at least 14 days before the start of your trip and your policy includes emergency medical benefits, Manulife will provide coverage for any unforeseen medical emergency related to COVID-19. If you’re required to quarantine, your emergency medical coverage will reimburse you for extra expense for meals, accommodation, telephone calls and taxi fares and/or the expense to bring you home. For policyholders with Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption, COVID-19 is considered a “known event” and therefore will not be covered except for as part of one of the three scenarios below:
1) You become ill with COVID-19 and you’re unable to travel
2) You test positive for COVID-19 within 72 hours before you leave home
3) You lose your job as a result of the pandemic
Yes. Your coverage is automatically extended for 72 hours starting on the final day of your trip due to a transportation delay. If you or your travelling companion are hospitalized, your coverage is extended for the period of hospitalization (to a maximum of 365 days), plus up to five days after discharge. If you or your travelling companion is unfit to travel due to a medical emergency that does not require hospitalization, your coverage is automatically extended for up to five days.
You can also request an extension if you want to stay longer on your trip, provided you apply before the expiry date of your policy and you haven’t made any claims or you’re not currently seeking treatment.
Yes. Travellers age 60 and over must complete a comprehensive medical questionnaire that asks questions about your eligibility for insurance. For example, if in the last 12 months you’ve had a new heart condition or an existing heart condition that required a change in medication or hospitalization, or if in the last four months you’ve been prescribed or taken six or more prescription medications (with some exclusions), you are not eligible for insurance. You may, however, be eligible for the TraveEase plan for pre-existing conditions. Additional questions are used to assign you to a certain rate category, which affects your premiums as well as your stability period. For example, if in the last five years you’ve been diagnosed with or treated for diabetes, a stroke or a lung condition, you’ll be assigned rate category C. Meanwhile, if in the last two years, you’ve been diagnosed with or treated for chronic bowel disease or kidney disorders, or been to the ER more than twice in six months, you’ll be assigned rate category B.
Also, if it’s discovered that you did not answer the questions truthfully or there are any errors in your claim, this may void your plan and/or your claim may be denied.
Yes. Travellers must be at least 30 days old. There is no maximum age limit, though family coverage is only available up to age 59.
If you purchase cancellation coverage, it begins the day you buy your policy and ends the day when you make a claim or leave on your trip. Your interruption coverage, if purchased, begins when you leave home. Your delay coverage begins once an insured risk prevents you from returning home as scheduled.
You can cancel an emergency medical plan, both single trip and multi-trip, before the effective date of coverage. Refunds and cancellations are not available for any all inclusive plan.
Yes. Manulife Financial offers a 10-day “Free Look” period where you can review and cancel your policy within 10 days of purchase if you have not already left for your trip and there is no claim in progress.
Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
Fiona Campbell Forbes StaffFiona Campbell is a Staff Writer for Forbes Advisor Canada. She started her career on Bay Street, but followed her love for research, writing and a good story into journalism. She is the former editor of Bankrate Canada, and has over 20 years of experience writing for various publications, including the Globe and Mail, Financial Post Business, Advisor’s Edge, Mydoh.ca and more.
Aaron Broverman is the lead editor of Forbes Advisor Canada. He has over a decade of experience writing in the personal finance space for outlets such as Creditcards.com, creditcardGenius.ca, Yahoo Finance Canada, Nerd Wallet Canada and Greedyrates.ca. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario with his wife and son.