Are You Covered? Travel Insurance Tips
Figuring out what insurance to buy for International travel and competition can be a little confusing, especially if you don’t make your living as a professional rider. Since launching my fundraiser earlier this month I have raised just over $4000, and still have over $35,000 to go before my medical bills are paid off. It’s scary to know how many people could end up in this exact same situation, so I would like to use this article as an opportunity to help keep you informed and possibly save you from ending up in medical debt.
![Mark blasting a table over the Thompson River.]()
Spend more time riding and less time worrying about medical debt.
When purchasing my travel insurance before Red Bull Rampage I went to TIC (Travel Insurance Canada). I explained why I was going down to Utah to ride, but what I failed to do was mention that Rampage is a professional competition with prize money involved. As soon as prize money is involved, you are technically a professional athlete and are void from coverage in many insurance policies. My policy also stated that I would have to inform them before I went into surgery or they would only be able to cover up to 20% of the costs. This was something I was unable to do given my situation, but was also unaware of it until after being injured. This was in the fine print but the broker didn’t bring it up once.
Although I got injured in practice, I was still engaging in an event with prize money and TIC wasn’t informed of my injury until after surgery. Because of these two factors my claim was 100% denied. Insurance for 10 days in Utah ended up costing me over $300. Since then I have done more research and purchased professional athlete insurance through BCAA. My cost for 1 year is less than $200. On top of that, my policy makes it clear that I am fully covered in professional competition. I am now spending less money on insurance and I won’t be in this situation again.
I had to learn this lesson the hard way but there is no reason anyone else should. A little bit of extra research goes a long way.
Pinkbike did some research into available insurance for mountain bikers travelling for competition. As Mark has already found TIC Travel Insurance will not provide travel medical insurance for sports events that provide a cash prize. We were lucky enough to speak to a representative who was familiar with mountain biking and once we mentioned Red Bull Rampage she quickly said “oh no, we wouldn’t touch that.” A quick internet search for travel medical insurance and many phone calls yielded no further companies that would provide coverage, with the exception of BCAA (for Canadians) and ihi BUPA (for international competitors).
BCAA confirmed that they do provide travel medical insurance for participants of events like Red Bull Rampage. They have a ‘Professional Sports’ rider that they can add to their existing travel medical policy, it covers athletes who receive any income from their sport. Additionally they will add specific notes to the file to aid agents who are processing your coverage should you need to use it. The agent whom we spoke with at Travel Underwriters (they provide the insurance policies that BCAA sells) recommended that anyone - even if they are not a professional athlete - participating in an out-of-country competition with prize money, purchase the additional 'Professional Sports' rider to ensure they are fully covered.
For mountain bikers outside of Canada, ihi BUPA will provide travel coverage for mountain bikers participating in competitions. They provide 100% unlimited medical coverage for any emergency treatments during your travel including hospitalisation, outpatient treatment, repatriation, evacuation, prescribed medicines, and ambulance transportation.
Ensuring that the agent you are dealing with fully understands the purpose and risk involved in your travel, unfortunately, falls on each individual. Not all agents are created equally and only a small percentage will ride bikes themselves.
Read more on the subject in this article by Malcolm Mclaws - Risk vs Reward in Contests
![Fundraiser Prizes markmatthews.ca]()
Want to help me pay off my debt and have a chance to win some sweet prizes? The fundraiser is up and running with tons of awesome prizes to be won! Winners will be announced sometime in the New Year when I get close to reaching my goal of $40,000.
Rules:
1. Make a donation by purchasing an entry under "Buy Now" at the bottom of this page or my website ($5 minimum).
2. Scroll to the bottom of the fundraiser page and drop me a message. You can also message me from my Pinkbike Account.
Enter your name, email address, and put "Markymath Fundraiser" as the subject. In the message, briefly describe why you want to win something. The best and/or funniest answers will be chosen!
This is open to anyone worldwide and the prizes will be shipped out to the winners. The winners will be announced May 1st and contacted before hand.
I would like to give an extra special thanks to my sponsors for the gear, and to Jer Buck for building the website.
Thanks for your generosity and support so far everyone!
When purchasing my travel insurance before Red Bull Rampage I went to TIC (Travel Insurance Canada). I explained why I was going down to Utah to ride, but what I failed to do was mention that Rampage is a professional competition with prize money involved. As soon as prize money is involved, you are technically a professional athlete and are void from coverage in many insurance policies. My policy also stated that I would have to inform them before I went into surgery or they would only be able to cover up to 20% of the costs. This was something I was unable to do given my situation, but was also unaware of it until after being injured. This was in the fine print but the broker didn’t bring it up once.
Although I got injured in practice, I was still engaging in an event with prize money and TIC wasn’t informed of my injury until after surgery. Because of these two factors my claim was 100% denied. Insurance for 10 days in Utah ended up costing me over $300. Since then I have done more research and purchased professional athlete insurance through BCAA. My cost for 1 year is less than $200. On top of that, my policy makes it clear that I am fully covered in professional competition. I am now spending less money on insurance and I won’t be in this situation again.
I had to learn this lesson the hard way but there is no reason anyone else should. A little bit of extra research goes a long way.
Pinkbike did some research into available insurance for mountain bikers travelling for competition. As Mark has already found TIC Travel Insurance will not provide travel medical insurance for sports events that provide a cash prize. We were lucky enough to speak to a representative who was familiar with mountain biking and once we mentioned Red Bull Rampage she quickly said “oh no, we wouldn’t touch that.” A quick internet search for travel medical insurance and many phone calls yielded no further companies that would provide coverage, with the exception of BCAA (for Canadians) and ihi BUPA (for international competitors).
BCAA confirmed that they do provide travel medical insurance for participants of events like Red Bull Rampage. They have a ‘Professional Sports’ rider that they can add to their existing travel medical policy, it covers athletes who receive any income from their sport. Additionally they will add specific notes to the file to aid agents who are processing your coverage should you need to use it. The agent whom we spoke with at Travel Underwriters (they provide the insurance policies that BCAA sells) recommended that anyone - even if they are not a professional athlete - participating in an out-of-country competition with prize money, purchase the additional 'Professional Sports' rider to ensure they are fully covered.
For mountain bikers outside of Canada, ihi BUPA will provide travel coverage for mountain bikers participating in competitions. They provide 100% unlimited medical coverage for any emergency treatments during your travel including hospitalisation, outpatient treatment, repatriation, evacuation, prescribed medicines, and ambulance transportation.
Ensuring that the agent you are dealing with fully understands the purpose and risk involved in your travel, unfortunately, falls on each individual. Not all agents are created equally and only a small percentage will ride bikes themselves.
Read more on the subject in this article by Malcolm Mclaws - Risk vs Reward in Contests
Rules:
1. Make a donation by purchasing an entry under "Buy Now" at the bottom of this page or my website ($5 minimum).
2. Scroll to the bottom of the fundraiser page and drop me a message. You can also message me from my Pinkbike Account.
Enter your name, email address, and put "Markymath Fundraiser" as the subject. In the message, briefly describe why you want to win something. The best and/or funniest answers will be chosen!
This is open to anyone worldwide and the prizes will be shipped out to the winners. The winners will be announced May 1st and contacted before hand.
I would like to give an extra special thanks to my sponsors for the gear, and to Jer Buck for building the website.
Thanks for your generosity and support so far everyone!
Author Info:
Member since Jan 15, 2000
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However I'd still strongly recommend purchacing a policy that covers medical transportation back to your home country. I used globalunderwriters.com/international.aspx with hazardous activity coverage for my last holiday.
Veloinsurance.com is who I use (they have other companies out there, but I like the owner) - I have ridiculously good health insurance thru work, so haven't used them for that, however they have purchased me a new DH bike (1 week after making the claim, i had the money) right before a Whistler trip.
My Velo Insurance policy appears to cover me and my bike in a competition situation (cash prize or otherwise). However, i'm too fat and out of shape to be finding out how strong the policy actually is.
At least, that's argument I'd make, morally.
The reason your $0.50 pain killer is charged at $10.00 is the hospital is averaging a 5% reimbursement.
Of course, sometimes it's one & the same, as the people brought on board to handle a suddenly much larger NPO are often coming from other NPOs, & including the morally bankrupt individuals(& be sure that those people try not to stick around anywhere too long, as that way they aren't there when & if the walls finally do come crashing down.)
So either they charge a premium in places with a higher living standard, & less other places, or the price is the same everywhere, & the third world gets effectively priced out of lifesaving drugs.
I will agree, however, that many pharmaceutical companies have moved past that balancing point, & are gaming the system in ways the public did not intend under the current regulatory environment. That's why regulation has to be an constantly evolving system in an adversarial economic environment, like capitalism.
Its one of the most unethical industries out there.
There are many companies that offer international insurance for professionals, amateurs and for us MTBr's high-risk/special risk sports.
My first recommendation, if you're racing. Go to your local sanctioning body; cycling BC offers up comprehensive travel/race insurance for the year for under $200. Alternatively, there are many special risk insurers who are around $40 per/week for a non-professional race, professional races increases the rate.
What I really take from this pinkbike post is that, as athletes, we need to protect ourselves, the onus is on us. Manufacturers and sponsors in Mountain Biking are not all equal, there contracts rarely, if ever, include medical of any sort. Professional riders need to become well versed in contracts. Emergency medical would be one of the first things to add into any contract, especially if you are travelling/riding.
1) Are you a pro?
2) Do you have a contract - get them to add emergency medical coverage
3) Hire a lawyer to review the contract and policy if you do not care to read the jargon
4) Create an Emergency Response Plan for travelling/competing (Save on your device + Print it and put away, tell your buddies where it is). This can be a simple template document that you can adopt to each location, it should include at a minimum, the following: Emergency Medical Plan contact #'s and Q's, Policy #'s, Broker #s and Provider#s, what to do in the event of a serious injury/loss of consciousness (i.e. call my insurance company, send me home, life support q's etc). Previous medical history, allergies and the usual medical stuff. Copies of your contracts with your insurance, sponsors or works. A credit card # for those times when you may need to pay up front.
5) Keep all of this in a folder or online document, have it ready and tell a manager or event organizer where this document lives
6) Review and Renew every year before you go....
1) Does this policy exclude mountain biking?
2) Does this policy exclude competition? If it does not exclude: Ask them to define a professional? Define working (i.e. volunteer for an event)
3) Does this policy include emergency evacuation?
4) What are the stipulations regarding making a claim? If unconscious, can contacting the insurance company be delayed? How long? What circumstances?
5) Does this policy include transportation back to my home country?
6) Are there any booking requirements? I.e. Most insurance providers in Canada require that you buy the insurance while in your home province, before your trip. Living in Whistler with an Ontario driver's license, heading for a road trip to Bellingham? You're likely not covered....
7) READ THE POLICY AND THE EXCLUSIONS
If you're looking for more information, thinking about creating an Emergency Response Plan, I'm happy to help others out. I'm by no means an insurance professional, but I have been through the process many times and have a network of insurance savvy people!
Hope this helps!
I used to race in Open, BMX Events at a international level just below A Pro, for cash prizes. It's a good thing I only wrecked in Point Races because insurance came in a few times and they did ask how the injury happened of course. If it was for a cash prize? I had no clue it mattered. X-rays, cat scans, MRI's and physical therapy for 24 months are not cheap at all. Thank you for posting such great info, I will make sure to check this in the future for myself and my boy!
the company will try every way to not pay
My example is always USACycling, which helped me with a $16k knee surgery at a US National Dual Slalom race years ago. I did not have insurance, but as a member of USA Cycling racing in their event, I had secondary health insurance coverage through USA Cycling that kicked in and acted as primary coverage. It was 80/20 after a $2k deductible, but left me only settling on $4k left over, a huge help.
Rampage was part of the FMB series right? If you are a registered rider on the FMB tour, it seems an absolute shame that the FMB tour would not have it's competitors insured at least secondarily for medical.
I strongly recommend the riders meet in unison with the FMB tour and RedBull to determine a way for riders under the FMB flag to have coverage.
USA Cycling is not so amazingly awesome that it is doing something unheard of.
THANK YOU for listing those carriers. I'm an insurance agent and DH racer and will try to get set up to broker the companies that look after fellow riders.
Many insurers will exclude activities that they deem hazardous. Most travel insurance policies will exclude extreme sports.. They have long lists of what is excluded. competitions are almost always EXCLUDED for any sport on a simple travel policy!
Worth noting however is that while one insurer may include mountain biking, they may also have exclusions along with mountain biking such as:
Below 400m elevation
On paved trails only
Not on hazardous terrain
Basically, unless you get written confirmation that your insurance policy covers exactly what you intend to do, you might be SOL.. especially if you are traveling into North America
In all reality though, corporations organizing showcase and high profile events should be insuring their participants as well as their own liability.
Insurers request being advised about conditions and treatment before hand so they can mitigate their 'loss' if they can fly you back home to receive medical attention for free (BC Med/NHS or whatever)
travel.bupa.co.uk/faqs-what-sports-and-activities-are-covered_3737_479501.html
Can someone offer some insight to what goes into purchasing an annual package that would cover an American traveling internationally (Canada, Europe, etc.). I make it to Whistler a few times a season and this article is eye opening.
Can we simply purchase a package from BUPA and be covered if we break an arm, leg, have a serious accident biking/skiing in Whistler?
Thanks!
any idea for a spanish that wants to send it in chatel, which insurance is the best??
They sorted my bills out very quickly when I broke my arm in Les Arcs, France, although they did phone my wife 3 separate times to "make sure" that I hadn't been participating in the Mega (same weekend), despite me being in a hospital 200km from Alpes D'huez.
Paid out for my mate no worries (recreational cover) riding in Pila, including helicopter rescue, hospital treatment etc.
sorry bro you ride you pay there's nothing free