Comprehensive Travel Insurance

International travel insurance typically covers a range of unexpected events and emergencies that may occur while traveling abroad. Here's a breakdown of common benefits:

1. Medical Emergencies: If you fall ill or get injured during your trip, travel insurance can cover medical treatments, hospital stays, and emergency transportation, including airlifts, to a medical facility if needed.
2. Lost or Delayed Luggage: If your luggage is lost, stolen, or delayed, travel insurance can reimburse you for essential items you must purchase while waiting for your belongings.
3. Emergency Evacuation: If you are in a remote location or experience a natural disaster, political unrest, or a medical emergency that requires evacuation, travel insurance can help cover transportation to a safe location or back home.
4. Personal Liability: Some policies cover liability if you accidentally cause harm to someone or damage their property while traveling.
5. Trip Cancellation/Interruption: If you need to cancel or cut short your trip due to unforeseen circumstances such as illness, natural disasters, or family emergencies, this coverage can help reimburse your non-refundable trip costs. Review our Trip Cancellation Insurance plans here.

Optional add-ons, like adventure sports coverage, may also be available depending on your needs.

International travel insurance provides financial protection and assistance in case of unexpected events or emergencies that occur before or during your trip. Here's how it typically works:

1. Purchase a Policy: Before your trip begins, you buy a travel insurance policy individually or as a group. The cost of the policy (called the premium) is based on factors such as your destination, trip duration, age, coverage options, and any pre-existing medical conditions.
2. Coverage Period: The insurance is active for the specific dates of your trip. Coverage usually begins from the day you depart and lasts until your return. Some policies offer multi-trip or annual coverage for frequent travelers.
3. Filing a Claim: If an unforeseen event happens, such as a medical emergency, trip cancellation, lost luggage, or flight delay, you can file a claim with the travel insurance company. You’ll typically need to provide supporting documentation such as medical records, receipts, or proof of trip bookings.
4. Claims Processing: After filing a claim, the insurance company will review the details to determine whether the event is covered under your policy. The review may involve confirming the event was unexpected and not pre-existing or excluded from the policy.
5. Reimbursement or Direct Payment: If the claim is approved, the insurer will reimburse you for out-of-pocket expenses or pay service providers directly. Some policies offer direct billing to hospitals for medical emergencies, so you don’t have to pay upfront.
6. Assistance Services: Many travel insurance providers also offer 24/7 emergency assistance services. These include helping you find a nearby doctor, arranging medical evacuations, or assisting with emergency travel changes.

Travel insurance is designed to give you peace of mind and financial protection when unexpected problems arise during your trip.

The cost of a quality global travel insurance plan will vary based on several factors. As outlined above, policies that include trip cancellation will be more expensive. A good travel cancellation insurance plan will run you approximately 5% of your overall trip cost — more if you are older, less if you are younger.

Estimated costs of a travel health plan, including trip cancelation coverage for a 40-year-old traveling for 30 days (outside of the USA) with an entire trip worth $5,000:

• Travel Medical plan with Trip Cancellation: $337 ($11 /day)*
• Travel Medical plan with Trip Cancellation and Cancel for Any Reason coverage: $569 ($19 /day)*

The costs above were calculated based on Trawick's Safe Travels Voyager plan (Available to U.S. Citizens Only)

There is also an option to buy coverage on a daily or monthly basis. Costs range from $1-5 per day or more, depending on your age, your trip details, and the overall benefits package you select. Plans with a lower medical limit and high deductible will cost less, and vice-versa.

*Rates were last updated on April 10, 2024.

The short answer is a big resounding yes. A 2018 survey conducted for the US Travel Insurance Association (USTIA) revealed that only 22% of Americans — or roughly one out of five — whose travels were impacted by medical conditions, natural disasters, and other events had a quality plan to cover their needs. Post Covid, that percentage has increased to 38% according to Business Insider. This is a huge gamble on your vacation investment if you go abroad without being prepared for any crisis. But one problem is that most people don’t have a sense of what good travel insurance is, or covers. We will address those questions below.

What are the two basic types of travel insurance?

The two main types of plans are trip cancellation and travel medical insurance.

Trip cancellation protects you if you need to cancel your trip while offering the additional benefits included in a travel medical plan detailed below. These policies usually cover the cost of the trip, with some additional benefits (lost luggage, trip delay, etc.). With trip cancellation, you can recoup most of the money that you spent on the trip, so long as the cancellation happens for “covered reasons,” which differ depending on the policy. These plans are short-term insurance solutions, usually available for a period of between 1 to 90 days.

Related: Cancel for Any Reason Plans

Travel medical insurance is designed to fill the gaps in your existing domestic health care plan that are not covered when you travel abroad. A short-term international medical policy gives you access to a global network of doctors, emergency assistance services, and translators who will help you in a medical emergency. Travel health insurance will cover your expenses for illness and medical emergencies while traveling, along with the additional benefits like trip cancellation mentioned above. This type of coverage is usually available for between 5 days and one year and can be renewable for additional periods up to a maximum of 3 years.

It’s a really great idea to have travel health insurance. Even if your domestic plan provides some coverage while you are abroad, you may have to pay “out of pocket” for your expenses until you get reimbursed by your current provider. Most health insurance for travel abroad pays or reimburses you directly and more efficiently.

One of the biggest hurdles when filing a claim is working with foreign hospitals and translating the documents related to your healthcare. International travel insurance companies have expertise in working with these situations. They make international assistance call centers do the translation so that communication problems are resolved more quickly.

Related: Best Travel Insurance Companies

Here are other situations where it pays to have travel cancellation protection as well.

For instance, say you have saved up for a vacation and are all ready to head off to your destination when disaster strikes. Out of nowhere, a hurricane hits the coast you’re supposed to be sunning yourself on, the island loses power, and the hotel can’t receive guests. What will you do in this situation? How will you recover the money you spent on lodging?

Another situation goes like this. You have invested thousands in your planned overseas travel when someone in your family gets in an accident and can no longer go. How can you get your money back in this situation?

These are just some of the possibilities that can occur unexpectedly. There are a wide variety of calamities that can happen and you can never plan for all possible outcomes. But if you buy a travel policy, you can protect your investments, make changes to your trip, or cancel your plans for whatever valid reason it may be, and still get the insured amount like nothing happened.

Especially in today’s climate, with pandemics, natural disasters and other unexpected obstacles, your plans for international travel can change at any time. And if they don’t change, accidents can happen. It’s harder to get medical care when you’re far from home, and the costs can really add up — for you, and for your family.

With trip cancellation coverage you can recoup most of the money that you spent on the trip. And travel medical plans will cover your expenses for illness and medical emergencies that occur while traveling. Our licensed advisors can also help you find the best medical care available where you’re going, connect you with doctors that speak your language, and arrange for transport home if things get really serious.

While plans can be purchased up to one day prior to departure, with certain travel insurance companies you should plan ahead farther than that! For example, some plans need you to purchase coverage at least two weeks prior to departure to ensure that your plan is active and will cover you for the duration of your travels. When working with one of our brokers and comparing travel insurance plans, make sure to check with them about the best time to buy.