Empower Your Employees: How to Communicate Employee Travel Insurance Coverage – Updated July 30th, 2026

Canadians keep travelling more, and travel itself keeps getting more complicated. From flight disruptions to rising costs to global uncertainty, it’s reshaping how trips get planned. As an employer, you’re likely the administrator of your employees’ travel coverage. It’s valuable protection during personal vacations, giving employees peace of mind. Not all plans are equal, as coverage varies by who’s covered, what’s covered, and for how long.

As advisors, we encourage our clients to re-educate employees on their travel coverage regularly, not just once a year. These reminders protect their well-being while our employees and their families are out of the office. The following covers why this education matters, what to focus on, and how to make it stick.

Keep in mind, travel insurance provides coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations or interruptions, lost baggage, and more. Protecting employees when the unexpected happens.

Why include employee travel insurance in your group benefits package?

Let’s start at the beginning. Enhancements like travel insurance go beyond basic health and dental benefit offerings to help employers attract and retain talent while showing employees you care about their safety. Personal trips are common and offering travel insurance signals real commitment to your workforce’s well-being.

Why does education matter more than ever?

Offering coverage is only half the job. Some features and limits affect the structure of the offering. With more travel disruptions happening (i.e. weather events, airline issues, and shifting global conditions), the gap between having travel insurance and understanding what your travel insurance actually covers has gotten more costly. Employees make better decisions and are far less likely to get caught off guard mid-trip.

How to Communicate Coverage Details?

1. Benefit Plan Documentation: Keep travel insurance info easy to find in your benefits package documentation or through your intranet.
2. Clear Language: No more insurance jargon. Use plain language, be straight to the point, use bullet points, and real examples to make it easy to digest.
3. Dedicated Communication: Send an email or newsletter specifically about travel coverage. Explain cover eligibility, limits, and key exclusions.

What coverage elements to focus on?

1. Medical Coverage: Emergency medical expenses, hospitalization, and medical evacuation.
2. Coverage Exclusions: Most plans have a stability clause. If a health condition was treated, changed, or flared up in the weeks before a trip, a related claim abroad may be denied. Encourage employees to check their specific stability period before booking. (This is normally what employees miss most). 
   1. E.g. If you saw your doctor due to a health issue in the past 90 days before you fly, and the health issue comes up again on your trip, then the claim may not be covered.
3. Trip Cancellations / Interruptions: With flight disruptions and weather-related delays more common, remind employees that basic emergency-medical-only plans typically don’t cover a cancelled or interrupted trip. Normally, it’s a separate benefit.
4. Known Event Exclusions: Insurers have begun to declare a topic as a public event if it’s public knowledge. For example, a weather system, fuel shortage or an airline issue. Trips booked after the declaration may not be covered for disruptions tied to the exclusion.
5. Travel Assistance Services: 24/7 support, emergency travel arrangements, translation and legal help are all good elements to add to employee communication.

Encourage Proactive Planning

Encourage employees to check their coverage before they book. As the employer, give them the tools needed to assess their coverage and ensure that they are covered for their needs.

Employee Support Channels

Employees benefit from having an HR contact, Employee Benefits Advisor, Service representative or FAQ portal on standby to ask questions related to their travel insurance.

Key Takeaways

Educating employees about travel insurance is one of the simplest, highest-value reminders you can do as a plan administrator. Keeping communication clear, focusing on exclusions/clauses, and offering easy access support allows employees to travel with confidence.

Do employees travel internationally for work?

If you have employees travelling on behalf of the company, there are options employers can purchase for business travel coverage where there are no pre-existing conditions or stability clause limitations.

If you are looking to understand more about your current travel coverage or you would like to find travel coverage tailored to your organization’s needs, let’s chat.

Original Article by Kirk Davis – Updated by Aaron Harpaz