Travel insurance rules for visitors to Cuba

Effective 1 May 2010, all visitors to Cuba must be able to show proof that they are covered by medical travel insurance. Proof of coverage consists of your provincial CareCard or proof of private travel insurance coverage. However, as not all out-of-province expenses are covered by MSP, it is strongly recommended that you carry proof of private travel insurance in addition to your provincial coverage.

Members and their dependants who are insured under the extended health benefit of the BCMA Health Benefits Trust Fund (HBTF) (either the Standard or Core-Plus Plan) are cov­ered for $1 million of out-of-province travel insurance through Sun Life and their affiliate, Europ Assistance (out-of-province coverage under the Senior Plan of the HBTF is limited to $100000 lifetime per insured person). 

Insured members who do not have a Travel Card can obtain one at www.sunlife.ca/member. Alternatively, you can call 1 800 361-6212 to obtain a letter confirming coverage for yourself and your dependants. Be sure any insured dependants traveling with you also carry their provincial CareCard with them.

Members who are not insured un­der the HBTF or who wish to have an increased level of coverage can obtain travel medical insurance, including trip cancellation/interruption and baggage loss protection, through the MEDOC Plan administered by Johnson Inc. 

For more information about the MEDOC Plan provided exclusively for BCMA members, visit our web site at www.bcma.org and click on Personal Plans under Insurance in the menu on the left-hand side of the home page.

If you cannot show proof of coverage when traveling to Cuba, you will be required to buy insurance from a Cuban company upon your arrival.
—Sandie Braid, CEBS
BCMA Insurance

Sandie Braid, CEBS. Travel insurance rules for visitors to Cuba. BCMJ, Vol. 50, No. 6, July, August, 2010, Page(s) 295 - News.



Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

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