Not like we haven't heard this before, but our options are fairly limited and very controlled. Ever feel like the whole system is designed to keep us from being unique individuals? Anyway, I'll leave that for another rant.

The real problem here is that Nomads will not cover you unless you also have provincial health care in place (more expense & more rules). I never heard anything about a 1 year limit from Nomads, but since I spent 2 years on the road with their coverage I can attest that it's possible.

As a follow-up to my previous post; shortly after writing it I sorted out the problem with my provincial health care provider. It turns out they normally only allow coverage for a year if you are out of the country, BUT, if you request it they will grant you a maximum of 2. And since I had been continually paying them, and they didn't notify me of the cancellation until 5 months AFTER they had cancelled it, they simply reinstated it when I finally managed to speak to a person with a brain.

But here's the juicy part: I finally managed to get all my bills together and submit a few small claims that I had throughout the trip to Nomads. It turned out to be a real big hassle. It was handled by their affiliate, Mondial Insurance out of Eastern Canada who nickle & dimed me to death until after hours and hours of pissing around with them I finally caved and accepted a payout of roughly 1/2 of what I claimed. All for technicalities. I guess this is nothing new when dealing with insurance companies these days, who seem to try and frustrate you until you give up, but it sure wasn't what I expected from Nomads after being sucked in by their 'simple-talk' website and friendly people who gladly accepted my money.

I believe most of the blame for this belongs to Mondial, and even though my claim was now "settled", I sent my feelings to Nomads head office. I received a very friendly and consolitory email back from the GM of Nomads himself saying that they were looking into the problem & hoped to resolve it for future claims. And even though he was very nice, seemed to have a much better respect for the client's position, and he even sent me a flashlight, I never received any further money. I believe that as long as Nomads uses Mondial, we Canucks will continue to suffer from their stinkin' customer service.

Too bad a "real" traveler doesn't start an insurance company for travelers.