Canadian Hospital Costs

We all know that uninsured hospital stays can be expensive, but how much are Canadian hospital costs? What does a stay in a Canadian hospital actually cost?

This information is especially important for visitors who are not covered for unexpected medical expenses while traveling in Canada. Accidents can happen, as do unexpected illnesses and other emergency situations such as heart attacks, etc.

The following table outlines the daily costs of a stay in a hospital’s general ward or intensive care ward. While there are cost variations throughout Canada, this does serve as a good approximation:

Table 1: sourced from TIC (Travel Insurance Coordinators). Doctors’ fees, ambulance charges, and outpatient prescription medication expenses are extra. Amounts are Canadian dollars. This information displays the average cost of a visit as an in-patient or a day’s stay in a Canadian Intensive Care Unit. This data is current to November, 2011.

* Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Looking at the data, a stay in a general ward is roughly the same across Canada. However, there is a wide degree of latitude when it comes to a stay in an intensive care ward, with costs ranging from $3,500/day to $16,000/day (with the highest costs in the western provinces). Regardless, an unexpected accident or illness that results in a stay in an intensive ward can quickly result in a very large bill!

Hospitalization Examples

The following lists several examples of people that had visitors to Canada insurance and had to stay in a Canadian hospital while visiting Canada. Note that their costs were covered by their visitor to Canada insurance:

• A 77 year old person from Spain was visiting in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) where he suffered a subdural hematoma. The total hospitalization cost was $26,808.44 (Canadian dollars). This was covered by his visitor to Canada insurance policy.
   
• A 28 year old from Greece was visiting friends in British Columbia. Soon after his arrival he developed a high fever, and went to the nearby hospital. It turns out he had Sepsis, which is an illness where the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria. Total cost was $48,682.80 CAD.
   
• A 63 year old from Saudi Arabia was on vacation in St. Catharines (Ontario) when he experienced chest pains. His diagnosis was a heart attack, with an incurred hospitalization cost of $27,327.13.

Visitors to Canada Insurance

Visitors to Canada insurance plans are designed to cover unexpected medical expenses of people visiting Canada. This can be immigrants, foreign students and workers, or people that are just visiting on holidays.

It is important to know that Canadian VTC insurance plans have numerous advantages over medical plans that are purchased in the traveler’s home country. One of the biggest advantages is the great relationship that Canadian insurance companies have with hospitals in Canada. For more information see Why Purchase Canadian VTC Insurance?

NOTE: The main source of this blog article is from the Travel Insurance Coordinators (TIC).