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With spring break approaching fast, Canada's Travel Health Insurance Association (THIA) urges parents to make sure they, their children, and young students in their family travelling on their own, are well insured for unexpected emergency out-of-country medical care.

So long as the full impact of the supposed swine flu pandemic is a matter of conjecture rather than fact, the golden rule for travellers appears to be: when you spend anything on a holiday booking, buy travel insurance straightaway, even if the departure date is months away.

The recent outbreak of Swine Flu in Mexico has seen a surge in travel insurance popularity. It's amazing how bad news can sometimes be good for business. According to Multitrip.com, their bookings have surged by over 300% since the outbreak of swine flu was first reported in Mexico.

More than a million patients worldwide visit hospitals and clinics each year in countries other than their own. Here are 13 questions frequently asked by medical travelers—and the answers you need to know before you decide whether to journey abroad for medical care.

As backpackers hit the trail, they risk invalidating their travel insurance by taking on voluntary or casual work, warns online insurance specialist Essential Travel.

People who chafe at the cost of a passport or worry about carrying one to the beach at Rocky Point will soon have a cheaper, easier option.

It may happen more than you think. People arrive with their luggage at a port of embarkation, ready for the "cruise of a lifetime" vacation they have been planning for a year -- only to be told at the very last minute that their right to board the ship is being denied.

With gas prices and airfare on the rise, you probably want to save money on every aspect of your trip. Cheap hotels are one idea, but vacation rentals, furnished apartments and even youth hostels can be lower cost alternatives.

“With the rising costs of healthcare in the U.S., international hospitals and clinics report a 15-40 percent increase in the number of Americans seeking treatment,” reports Laura Carabello, publisher and managing editor of Your Medical Travel. “Many people simply cannot afford U.S. price tags and are discovering more cost effective options as close by as Mexico and as far away as Singapore, Israel, New Zealand and India. This newsletter serves the interests of those who choose to travel overseas for quality care at a fraction of the cost.”

Overseas treatments sometimes carry extra risks, but can come at fraction of the expense
Lupo's hip surgery and hospital stay cost $8,880 at Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore. Even with the $1,300 airfare, the procedure totaled about a third of what it would have cost Lupo at a local hospital.

Many diseases that once killed children in infancy have been virtually wiped out by modern medicine in the United States, but doctors want to remind parents that many diseases still live in foreign countries.