Insurance
Complete List Of The Best Travel Insurance Companies
There is no one-size-fits-all best travel insurance policy because they are tailored to your specific requirements. However, your travel insurance policy should provide adequate coverage and cover the essentials, such as medical emergencies and trip interruption and cancellation.
You should also do your homework to ensure that you are obtaining travel insurance from a trustworthy company. Although we cannot select a travel insurance coverage for you, we can advise you on where to look and what to look for in a policy.
Best Travel Insurance Companies
- HTH Worldwide – Great For Medical Coverage
- Nationwide – Best For Upgrades
- Seven Corners – Best Value For Robust Coverage
- Travel Insured – Best For Non-Medical Evacuation
- TravelSafe – Best For Missed Connection Coverage
- WorldTrips – Great For Add-On Coverages
- AXA Assistance USA – Best For Baggage And Personal Effects Coverage
- Cat 70 – Great For Parents
- Generali Global Assistance – Great For Pre-Existing Medical Condition Coverage
- IMG – Great For Dog Owners
- John Hancock Insurance Agency – Best For Ad&D Coverage
- Tin Leg – Great For Price
- Travelex Insurance Services – Best For Families
- Trawick International – Great For Rental Car Coverage
- USI Affinity Travel Insurance Services – Great For Superior Coverage
- Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection – Great For Hurricane And Weather
- GoReady Insurance – Best For Price
- World Nomads Travel Insurance
- Allianz Travel Insurance
- Europ Assistance
- Generali Global Assistance
Seven Corners Travel Insurance
- This is yet another US-based insurance firm, but they provide a variety of insurance policies for both non-Americans traveling to the US and American residents traveling outside the US. Their insurance covers cover medical emergency, trip disruption, and property loss.
HTH Travel Insurance
- HTH Travel Insurance is a company established in the United States that provides travel health insurance that covers hospitalization, surgery, doctor’s office visits, prescription medication, and medical evacuation. These plans, however, are only available to citizens of the United States.
Generali Global Assistance
- Generali Global help is the American division of Europ Assistance, providing travel insurance and help to US citizens. GGA also provides travel support, travel risk management, and identity theft protection in addition to travel insurance.
Europ Assistance
- Europ Assistance is a travel insurance provider that primarily serves European travelers as well as those visiting the Schengen Area. Aside from standard travel health insurance, EA promises to help you plan for your trip, support you while you’re gone, and return home safely.
IMG Travel Insurance
- IMG, another well-known insurance company, offers benefits such as emergency medical evacuation, repatriation, reunion, and emergency assistance services, as well as travel insurance. Depending on your nationality and travel destination(s), you can select from a variety of plans.
- Pricing will vary depending on whether you require coverage in the United States or not, and you can use their website’s comparison option to compare different available plans.
World Nomads Travel Insurance
- World Nomads is a popular book among regular travelers, backpackers, adventurers, and digital nomads. Their plans include medical crises, evacuation, emergency help, and even a variety of adventure activities (for an additional charge, of course). You can learn how to buy backpacker travel insurance here, and how to get health insurance for digital nomads here.
Allianz Travel Insurance
- Allianz is another insurance company that operates in numerous nations throughout the world. You have the option of purchasing Single Trip or Annual travel insurance, as well as Rental Car insurance. Furthermore, if you are traveling during Covid periods, you can obtain supplementary epidemic coverage, which will cover trip disruptions and medical issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
AXA
- AXA is a renowned travel insurance company that covers travelers worldwide. Medical and trip insurance from AXA covers single or numerous trips abroad and annual coverage. Choose a plan for families, couples, lone travelers, or backpackers. For a month-long journey to Europe, you can pay as little as $2/day. Prices vary by destination, duration, and origin. Plan purchases can be made online or at their US or European stores.
What Should a Travel Insurance Policy Include?
A travel insurance policy should offer you enough coverage for your basic needs during a trip:
- Medical emergencies coverage
- Trip disruption (cancellation, delay) coverage
- Coverage for loss of personal belongings
- Coverage for emergency evacuation or repatriation.
You can then add to the policy through what are known as “add-ons”. This means that on top of the “basics” package, you can choose to pay more so you have coverage for things not normally included in a regular travel insurance policy, such as winter sports, insurance of expensive gadgets, or liability insurance.
How Much Travel Insurance Coverage Should I Get?
There is really no specific amount of coverage you should get, as it depends on:
- Your destination – Certain countries, such as Europe’s Schengen Zone, require at least €30,000 in travel health insurance, but you can opt for more. In nations where healthcare costs are quite expensive, such as the United States, a $30,000 insurance maximum may not be much help if you require extended medical care. You could spend the entire $30,000 and still end up with tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.
- The duration of your trip – If you are only spending a few days abroad, you don’t really need a million-dollar/euro policy maximum, but it could be necessary for months-long trips.
- What you will be doing on your trip – If you intend to do a lot of increased-risk activities, such as camping, skiing, scuba diving, surfing, etc, a higher policy maximum makes sense due to the increased probability of getting into an accident.
There are health insurance policies with different amounts of coverage, ranging from $20,000 or less to millions of dollars.
The policy maximum is the most the travel insurance coverage will pay for any damages or accidents that occur during your vacation. Naturally, policies with more coverage will cost more, and you decide how much you are willing to pay.
What Does Travel Insurance Cover?
Comprehensive travel insurance coverage bundle a variety of beneficial advantages. You can also purchase policies that simply cover trip cancellation or medical expenditures. You can choose coverage levels that meet your budget and vacation needs among the many travel insurance options available. In a comprehensive travel insurance package, look for these top coverage options.
Trip Cancellation Insurance
You don’t plan to cancel a trip, but illness, injury, family illness, jury duty, and more can derail it. Trip cancellation insurance pays 100% of planned, non-refundable deposits if you cancel for a covered cause.
Travel insurance may cover trip cancellation if you contract Covid before the trip.
Purchase trip cancellation insurance for the complete sum of non-refundable and prepaid deposits. You can’t claim insurance on refundable items like aircraft tickets.
Unexpected incidents can delay your journey, causing stress and money. If you’re delayed due to a covered event, travel delay insurance pays for your expenses. Travel delay insurance might cover food and toiletries if severe weather keeps you in an airport all day. Travel delay benefits might cover Uber, hotel, and meal costs for significant delays. Travel delay insurance has a six- or 12-hour waiting period, a daily maximum, and a total maximum per person.
How Much Does a Travel Insurance Policy Cost?
The cost of your travel insurance plan is usually between 4% to 12% of the overall cost of your trip. It depends on:
- The overall cost of your trip: If you have a more expensive trip, then the insurance plan will be more expensive simply because if you do need to make a claim, it will cost the insurance company more to reimburse you.
- The coverage you need/choose: If your plan has just basic health coverage, it will cost less than if you were to include other factors as well, such as trip cancellation, baggage insurance, terrorism, or different sports activities.
- How long you will be away for: Travel insurance policies are usually priced by day, so a 30-day trip will cost more than if you were only travelling for one week or a few days.
- Your destination: Since some countries or activities involve a higher risk, then the price of travel insurance will change depending on your destination.
- Is it a single or group policy? If it is a group policy, how many people are included in your plan?
- Your age: The prices of travel insurance plans increase along with the age of the client. So, people over the age of 65 will have to pay more for the same plan (since they are more likely to make a claim), while very young children can sometimes be added to the parent’s plan with no extra costs.
How to Get Travel Insurance
Buying travel insurance is relatively easy. You can typically buy a travel insurance policy online within a few minutes by entering your:
- Age
- Destination
- Trip cost
- Travel dates
- State of residence
You’ll usually be offered many policies, with the more expensive ones offering more protection. Select a policy and buy it online.
If you don’t know your travel cost, you can estimate it and amend it before leaving. Your trip doesn’t have to be fully insured to obtain travel insurance. However, “cancel for any reason” add-on benefits need you to insure 100% of your travel costs to file a claim.
Two weeks are typical for policy reviews. Within the review time, you can receive a refund if you change your mind. Your state is requested since travel insurance laws differ by state, but it doesn’t effect your pricing. Travel agents and suppliers like airlines and cruise lines sell travel insurance.
Buy travel insurance when you book your vacation. So you get the longest travel cancellation coverage. Buying a policy soon after your first deposit lets you upgrade to “cancel for any reason” coverage and gain other time-sensitive perks like a pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver.
When Is the Best Time to Buy Travel Insurance?
You should acquire travel insurance when you arrange a vacation or two weeks before. Coverage will begin on your intended travel date, but you will have coverage in case your trip is canceled, delayed, or otherwise affected.
As your departure date approaches, you may make more deposits to keep them on your coverage. If you get insurance last minute, you may not have complete coverage.
Understanding Different Types of Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance for Medical Emergencies. This type of insurance will cover your medical treatment costs during your trip, for things like:
- Emergency services, such as the ambulance and ER
- Surgical procedures
- Doctor’s visit
- Hospitalization
- The cost of prescription drugs and medicine
- Travel Insurance for Trip Disruption: You should get trip disruption insurance so that in case you have to cancel your trip, or your trip is cut short or delayed, you do not lose all your trip deposits. A good trip disruption travel insurance policy can include:
- Trip cancellation coverage.
- Trip interruption coverage.
- Missed departure coverage.
- Trip delay coverage.
- Travel Insurance for Evacuation or Repatriation: With this type of insurance, in case you become severely ill or get into a major accident, the cost of evacuating you back home or to a more competent facility for treatment are covered.
- Travel Insurance for Loss or Theft of Personal Belongings: If your belongings are lost, stolen, or damaged during your trip, then this type of insurance will reimburse you for their loss. However, you must have the receipts of the items that have been lost and proof you had them with you on the trip.
- Travel Insurance for “Adventurous” Activities: Some insurance companies will offer coverage for medical treatment as a result of injuries obtained due to taking part in dangerous activities or sports, such as skiing, scuba diving, climbing, white-water rafting, etc.
- Travel Insurance for Expensive Items or Technology: If you are travelling with very expensive equipment, which would cause you a financial burden to lose, you can insure them. Not all companies offer coverage for expensive technological equipment, and even if they do, they usually will not cover the entire cost of the item.
- Travel Insurance for Personal Liability: If, during your trip abroad, your actions cause bodily injury to someone or damage to a property, then personal or legal liability insurance will cover for the resulting costs.