We are ready to go South, today. Unfortunately, we have to wait for the birth of another grandson(daughter?) in early October and we must attend our office Christmas party in early December. Theword “unfortunately” is probably incorrect, as we are very excited to have a new addition to our family.Our Christmas party is also a […]

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is our new nemesis. Trouble breathing, coughing up nasty stuff, highfever, headaches and very sore muscles. It is really a kiddie’s disease, but it is now attacking seniors, too.My wife and I have both had it. The symptoms were so severe that they were frightening, and theylasted for weeks. My fever […]

The Canadian travel insurance industry is in turmoil. Three of the largest travel insurance companies, Manulife, Allianz and Blue Cross, have all had devastating articles in the news, as well as negative posts on social media. All have admitted to severe difficulties in the payment and timing of travel insurance claims. One company has actually […]

My advice in the summer issue to purchase our Early Bird insurance created an onslaught of applications and internet sales. We exceeded even our own optimistic projections. We experienced consistently high-volume internet traffic, and our quite-sophisticated systems worked very well, indeed. Being short-staffed due to both COVID and people’s total lack of interest in wanting […]

Timing is Everything One of my sons is required to be tested with an MRI on his brain, approximately every six months. In early June, it was again time for his testing and he attempted to book an appointment at the local laboratory. Unbelievably, the first appointment that was available was October 29, four-and-a-half months […]

There is not much new to report on the insurance front. The sales this year were greater than any other
in Medipac`s 39 years of underwriting travel medical insurance business. Part of that can be attributed to Medipac being the first, and still one of the few, companies which properly covers Covid and its many
strains.

Imagination is what it takes to survive and prosper in our COVID winter, and summer, and fall and spring. We have all been pretty well locked down for well over a year….

It’s Time to start thinking about travelling again. Last year was a mess for most people, with many snowbirds not travelling and most countries simply shut down. This year, it is very different.

The Unexpected This past snowbird season, Medipac lost about 70% of our business because our snowbirds decided not to travel due to the COVID-19 crisis. With a little help from the government and a lot of help from our staff, we have managed to retain 100% of our staff on full pay and full benefits. […]

As of this writing, the Canada/U.S. border is still closed to vehicle traffic, except for “essential travel.” The current expiry date of the ban is December 21, but I do expect it to be extended, again. Just to clarify a few things from your many Bird Talk letters..

The “D” Factor Our readers were very excited when we announced that Medipac would insure medical expenses arising from COVID-19 when travelling both inside and outside of Canada. We are very aware of the federal government’s travel warning that you should only travel if it is “essential” travel but we felt that, being a snowbird, […]

A recent, very-large study has shown that many heart procedures such as stent insertion, angioplasty and heart bypass surgery are unnecessary and can actually cause harm. The study was government-funded and cost approximately $100 million dollars – WOW. The most interesting part was that “medication only” results were the same as surgery results after several […]

The new Farmers’ Almanac says that this is going to be a bitter winter across the Prairies and around the Great Lakes. I imagine that it will be even worse farther north, where many of our snowbirds happily reside in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. That’s the bad news! I know, I forgot Saskatchewan […]

I just finished a book called “Turbulence,” which was not very good, but it reminded me of the goings-on in the travel insurance market. The fewer and fewer insurance companies in our marketplace are having great difficulty in predicting their loss ratios and, as expected, their rates are all over the place− but mostly higher. […]

…what our Canadian Snowbird Association directors do in their spare time. Ron Steeves is CSA’s First Vice-President and is the chair of the Government Lobby Committee. On top of their normal duties, each director is required to reach out to the snowbird community to “spread the word” and help attract new members through meetings and […]

My mother used to leave pincushions all over the place when I was young. She was always mending something to make sure that we kids were well turned-out for school. Occasionally, I would sit on one by mistake – ouch. I have that feeling again today, but in a good way. Pat and I just […]

“Pre-existing conditionmeans a medical condition that existed before your effective date whether or not diagnosed by a physician, and/or whether or not you required or received treatment.” A harmless little clause in a flashy old insurance product, recently revised. Needless to say, this is not a Medipac policy clause. My father, age 89, woke up […]

These are very difficult times during which to properly assess risk and to predict costs. This year, we added a modest increase to our Medipac travel insurance rates ‒ partially in anticipation of a better dollar value ‒ but we are finding that medical prices, especially in the U.S., are still running far above the […]

It is not normal for a magazine to recommend reading a different magazine but, in this case, I believe that it is worth it. Most of our readers are taking some form of drug and, statistics say, the average person older than 65 takes more than five drugs every day. On the other side of […]

George had not been feeling well for quite some time but he was not worried, as he had excellent travel medical coverage from work and he had topped up with the best private insurance plan there is – Medipac. His internal pains got progressively worse, so he went to a Florida hospital, was seen as […]

North and South; there is trouble and suffering everywhere. Let us all take a few minutes to remember those people ravaged and displaced by the enormous and out-of-control wildfires in British Columbia. Kelowna is the most threatened area as we go to pressand the surrounding areas, in which many, many snowbirds live, are being hit […]

“Canadians made 4.8 million leisure trips to the U.S. between January and April, an increase of 6.3 per cent. Overnight travel (for all purposes) to the U.S. has now increased for eight consecutive months, and April was the first month since 2013 that growth in auto trips was registered from all regions. On a monthly […]

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Gerry Brissenden, a Past President of the Canadian Snowbird Association. Gerry served the CSA for 17 years and held most executive posts during his long tenure. He was the ultimate volunteer and gave more of himself to others than you would even think possible. […]

That was the headline on the very first CSANews magazine published in December 1992. The Canadian Snowbird Association had just won their first victory by implementing the Medipac Travel Insurance plan for members. Compared to prices available at the time, members saved more than $25 million in premium costs. That equated to more than $650 […]

In mid-January, the peak snowbird season, the cost of one U.S. dollar was one dollar and 45 cents Canadian. Two and three years ago, we were getting rather used to a par dollar, but times change quickly in these uncertain days of volatility. We expected quite a change in our snowbird lifestyle this year, with […]

Peter, Paul and Mary’s wonderful song about “flowers” was the first thing that came to mind. Snowbirds are the most resilient of people; they have had to be, to deal with the ups and downs of cross-border living for many years. But this year appears to be different! No longer could snowbirds cut out a […]

After a long day at work, our enrolment staff still has one more responsibility. They have to share the questions and comments from our clients that they received during the day (and night). They usually gather in our boardroom and discuss any challenges and how we must deal with them. There are always new issues […]

First let me say “Thank you” to all who will complete our survey in this issue. The answers help us track trends and patterns of our snowbird community so that we can be more responsive to your needs. This has been an expensive year for snowbirds due to the nasty drop in the Canadian dollar. […]