Manulife to provide travel insurance with COVID coverage

TORONTO Manulife Financial Corp. is preparing to launch a travel insurance product that covers emergency medical costs and trip interruption expenses resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic.

Business and leisure travel remains sluggish more than six months into the pandemic as COVID-19 continues to spread around the world in places including Canada, where cases are once again on the rise.

In March, when the pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), several insurers told clients they would no longer pay claims on trips cancelled or interrupted due to the spread of the virus unless they had a premium add-on that allowed them to cancel for any reason. Manulife, Canada's largest travel insurance provider, made this determination about a week before the pandemic was declared on March 11, telling clients the contagious and fast-spreading virus was already a “known event.”

The new pandemic policies to be sold through Manulife and its distribution network beginning in October will be available to Canadians travelling both within the country and to international destinations — including those subject to government-issued level 3 travel advisories to avoid all non-essential travel.

Manulife's move follows an Aug. 31 announcement by Air Canada Vacations that it would be providing COVID-19 emergency medical and quarantine coverage to travellers to a list of sun destinations including Jamaica, Mexico, Cuba and Barbados in partnership with insurer Allianz Global Assistance. The cost of that insurance is covered by Air Canada Vacations, with no additional fee to travellers. WestJet will be offering a similar no-charge package to Canadians travelling to and from Europe, the United Kingdom, Mexico and the Caribbean beginning this Friday.

A spokesperson for Manulife said the Toronto-based company's new pandemic policies will be priced individually based on the age of the client, what plan they qualify for and the duration of their trip. She declined to elaborate on pricing, such as whether travel to areas with higher infection rates will cost more.

In a statement, the company said the policies will provide broad coverage, including emergency medical coverage with additional coverage specific to COVID -19 and conditions related to the respiratory illness.