All registered international students at Centennial College are covered by a comprehensive health insurance plan offered through guard.me. This insurance is mandatory for all international students and is included in your fees. The health insurance policy provides coverage for emergency medical services that are valid all over the world, except your country of origin.
Watch our guard.me information session to learn more about your insurance.
How do I get my card?
You will receive a welcome email from guard.me in your myCentennial email 2 weeks after the beginning of your first semester. Sometimes, the email from guard.me goes to your Spam or Junk folder, so be sure to check there.
Even though you receive your policy 2 weeks after the start of your first semester, you are covered from the first day of your first month. If you need to seek medical help before you receive your policy, make sure you are familiar with what is covered. Keep all your receipts so that you may submit your claim online once you access your guard.me account.
Registering with GUARD.ME
Once you have logged into your guard.me account, you can submit claims online, get more details of what is covered, find clinics near you and access more resources to stay healthy. Guard.me has already created an account for you, but you will need to follow these steps:
- Go to guard.me/centennial
- Click on My Account and login with your myCentennial email address
- A link to set-up your password was emailed to you from guard.me. If you cannot find the email, you can reset your account by clicking on "Forget your password".
- Enter your myCentennial email and a link will be sent to that email address. You must use your myCentennial email for your guard.me account.
- Click on the link in the email and follow the prompts.
- The email will direct you to set-up your guard.me account. If you are still unable to find your policy information, please submit a request through Centennial Access to Student Services (CASS).
Registering for MobileDoctor
MobileDOCTOR by guard.me allows you to connect with Canadian doctors on Maple, a telemedicine company, as a part of your health benefits. Maple provides access to doctors, Canada wide, on your phone, tablet or computer anytime, anywhere.
Seeing a doctor on Maple is safe and reliable, and can help prevent the need to go to a walk-in clinic or Emergency Room.
Go to guard.me/centennial/mobileDOCTOR to learn how it works and how to register.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your coverage begins on the first day of the month in which you are starting classes and ends on August 31. Keep in mind that you will not receive a policy every semester.
If your program ends after August 31, you will receive a new policy in September if you register for the following Fall semester.
For example, if you are beginning your program in the Fall 2023 semester, your coverage:
- Begins September 1, 2023
- Coverage ends August 31, 2024
- A new policy will be issued 2 weeks after classes start in September 2024 if you register for classes in the Fall 2024 semester.
*English Language Learning (ELL) students are covered only for the duration of their ELL program. Please refer to your admissions officer for further questions.
No worries! To obtain copies of your card or, simply log on to guard.me/centennial/myaccount and download a copy of your healthcare access card.
To learn more out about your guard.me health insurance plan, log in to your account at guard.me/centennial and download the policy wording. The policy wording will have details of the benefits and exclusions. View a summary of what is covered.
Important note: Your guard.me policy does not cover pre-existing conditions. If you have such conditions, please make arrangements before leaving your home country. This may include bringing a sufficient supply of medications for an initial period, making arrangements to ship medications, and other such precautions.
Tip: Prior to receiving expensive treatment (e.g. being admitted to the hospital) or diagnostic testing (e.g. MRI or CT scans), it is advisable to contact guard.me to ensure that it will be covered.
Guard.me does not provide physical cards. When you travel or if you go to a clinic or hospital, present your healthcare access card (the PDF containing your personal information) which serves as proof of coverage.
If you are receiving treatment or service that is covered by your guard.me policy, you can go to any healthcare provider. Some providers do "direct billing" - which will not require you to pay them and they will charge guard.me directly. Some providers who do not do direct billing will require you to pay them; in this case, you must keep the original receipts and submit a claim to guard.me to get reimbursed for the eligible charges (refer to the policy wording to see what is eligible for reimbursement under your health plan).
At every doctor visit, make sure to bring your:
- Guard.me healthcare access card
- Photo identification
- Money to pay for the visit (if the clinic does not have “Direct Billing”)
To know which clinics do direct billing with guard.me, follow the steps below:
- Go to guard.me/centennial and click on “Find a Canadian clinic”.
- Enter your address or postal code.
- The map will display the list if clinics near that address and some are marked as “guard.me Preferred Clinic”. These clinics are familiar with guard.me policies and they are able to bill the insurance provider directly.
If you end up going to a healthcare provider that does not do direct billing, you will need to pay them yourself. Be sure to keep all receipts. You will now need to submit a claim to guard.me in order to be reimbursed for the eligible charges.
You can submit a claim quickly and easily by logging into your account at guard.me/centennial/myaccount. You can refer to this guide or watch this video for detailed steps.
You will need:
- Your policy or certificate number as it appears on your guard.ME healthcare access card
- Your date of birth
- Scanned receipts
- Scanned medical records
You can find their contact information on the website (guard.me/centennial). For any case-specific inquiries, you will need contact guard.me directly to confirm your coverage.
If you are a current Centennial student and would like to purchase insurance for your spouse and/or children, you can do so through the guard.me website
- Go to: https://www.guard.me/centennial
- Click on "Add Dependents" and follow the on-screen instructions
- The cost is $1.65 per day per person
Be sure to familiarize yourself with what is covered under the policy before purchasing. Please note that guard.me requires students to purchase the same coverage period that matches theirs as the principal policy holder.
If you are arriving before the first day of the month in which you are starting classes, guard.me offers Early Arrival insurance that can cover you from when you arrive. It is available for students to purchase on the website (guard.me/centennial).
Click on Inbound, select Early Arrivals, and follow the on-screen instructions. The cost for early arrival insurance is $1.65 per day.
If you have a break in the Winter or Summer semester and you already have an active policy, you can keep using that policy until the expiry date. If you are taking a break in the Fall semester, you can purchase Gap Insurance on the website (guard.me/centennial) while you are taking a semester off from school.
Click on Inbound, select Gap Students, and follow the prompts. The cost for Gap Insurance is $2 per day.
This type of insurance is specific to students whose policies are expiring and are taking 1 semester off but will be returning to school after their break. Please note that the coverage for this will only be for a maximum of 4 months and it can only be purchased once every 12 months. Purchasing it in the next year will be assessed by guard.ME to determine eligibility. The cost is $2 per day and payment is made by credit card. Be sure to purchase this within 30 days of the expiry of your current policy.
If you are graduating and you wish to be covered after your current policy expires, guard.me offers insurance for recent graduates. It can be purchased through the website (guard.me/centennial) at the cost of $2 per day.
The coverage is different from what you received while you are a student so it is recommended that you read the policy wording. Guard.me requires recent graduates to purchase a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 1 year for coverage. You must apply for the graduate insurance within 30 days of the expiry date of your current active guard.me policy or you will no longer be eligible.
Healthcare costs in Canada can be quite high and it is crucial that you are covered under a comprehensive insurance plan during your time here.
Examples of medical cost in Canada without insurance:
- Visit to a doctor or a specialist = $60 - $300
- Ambulance service = $250 - $900
- Emergency room visit = $500 - $1,500
- Overnight stay in hospital per night = $2,000 - $4,000
- Broken arm = $3,000+
- Appendix surgery = $16,000+
Health insurance is mandatory for all international students.
What if I am covered by provincial health insurance (OHIP)?
Guard.me’s policy is specific to international students so there are certain benefits that provincial health insurance does not provide such as prescription medication, repatriation, worldwide coverage (except for home country) and evacuation back to your country. If you have OHIP, you will still need an additional policy because unfortunately, OHIP is not enough to compensate for the benefits under guard.me that is not covered by OHIP. If you have OHIP and another insurance policy, you may be eligible to opt out.
What if I am still covered by guard.me under my previous school/college?
If you have an active guard.me policy under your previous institution, you may be eligible to opt out if your policy is comparable to the college’s guard.me coverage.
If any of the above scenarios apply to you, submit a CASS request under Student Community and Engagement then International Student Services.
You cannot opt out if:
- A claim was made to your current guard.me policy under Centennial College; or
- It has been more than 20 days since the start date of your current guard.me policy under Centennial College; or
- Your alternative coverage does not cover you until the end of your program at Centennial College.