Travel medical insurance is a low-cost way to fill the crucial gaps left by your existing insurance plan when you travel.
For a few extra bucks a day, you can get a robust policy that can help you find emergency care when you need it, cover up to 100% of the cost, and, in some cases, even fly a relative over to support you.
That’s a staggering amount of peace of mind for the cost of a single airport sandwich!
Why You Need Medical Travel Insurance
If you’re new to travel medical insurance in general, here’s a quick recap of what it provides — and what makes it so essential.
Your existing healthcare plan probably won’t cover you abroad
Even if you already pay for health insurance in the U.S., the vast majority of domestic providers won’t touch medical bills incurred abroad.
“If you need medical care in another country, you will likely need to pay out-of-pocket for any services,” writes the CDC. “Even if a country has nationalized health care, it may not cover people who are not citizens.”
In fact, the only country that covers the cost of healthcare for visitors is Brazil. Everywhere else you’ll pay out-of-pocket — and the cost of a hospital stay isn’t exactly cheap anywhere.
Can improve speed and quality of care
Many travel medical insurance plans include 24/7 emergency assistance, which is a team of experts who can help during an emergency.
They can find a qualified doctor for you, arrange transportation, translate and interpret, pre-authorize claims, and much more — all of which can improve the speed and quality of care you receive.
Increases peace of mind
For an extra $1 to $10 per day, you relax your shoulders and enjoy your trip more, safe in the knowledge that you’ll be taken care of — physically, financially, and logistically — in case of an emergency.
Your loved ones and travel companions may feel more at ease knowing you’re covered, too.
Best Travel Medical Insurance Providers
Erika's Picks:
- Best overall: Allianz Travel Insurance
- Best broker: VisitorsCoverage / SquareMouth (tie)
- Best for pre-existing conditions: Travel Guard
- Best for adventure travel: World Nomads

Best overall: Allianz Travel Insurance
- Key features: Comprehensive travel insurance plans, CFAR with up to 80% reimbursement
- Ideal for: Families or solo travelers who want a premium travel insurance package for ultimate peace of mind
Founded back in 1890, Berlin-based Allianz Travel Insurance (pronounced “Olly – Onz”) has collected numerous awards for value, transparency, and customer service.
Allianz includes travel medical insurance in each of its three main travel insurance bundles (OneTrip Premier, OneTrip Prime, and OneTrip Basic), which also include trip cancellation/interruption insurance, lost/delayed baggage insurance, and more.
You can also add CFAR (cancel for any reason) insurance to your plan, and Allianz will reimburse you up to 80% of your trip cost — far more than the industry standard of 50%.
Finally, if all you need is travel medical insurance (and not trip cancellation/interruption), you can opt for Allianz’s OneTrip Emergency Medical plan, which includes the essentials plus 24/7 emergency assistance, concierge assistance, and travel accident coverage.
Best travel insurance broker: VisitorsCoverage / SquareMouth (Tie)
- Key feature: Collect and compare quotes from multiple providers in one place
- Ideal for: Travelers who want to find the best possible deal
VisitorsCoverage and SquareMouth are travel insurance brokers, meaning they act a bit like search engines for finding deals on coverage.
If you’ve ever used KAYAK.com to book a flight, you’ll be familiar with the process: input traveler info, see tons of options, filter as needed.
As of this writing, VisitorsCoverage has 15 provider partners that it pulls deals from and SquareMouth has 32. And since there’s very little overlap between the lists, you can get a ton of quick quotes by using both sites back to back.
Both sites also have filters for pre-existing conditions, travel insurance add-ons like trip cancellation/interruption, $0 deductibles, and more.
You can finalize your purchase directly from each site, and both have teams of insurance specialists available by phone for questions.
Best for pre-existing conditions: Travel Guard by AIG
- Key feature: Most plans include pre-existing condition coverage
- Ideal for: Travelers with pre-existing conditions
When it comes to covering pre-existing conditions (e.g., diabetes, sleep apnea, COPD, etc.), travel insurance providers typically take one of a few approaches to mitigate their own risk:
- Sell it as an optional extra (known as a pre-existing condition waiver)
- Cap the total limit of coverage (e.g., $20,000)
- Decline to cover pre-existing conditions at all
But Travel Guard by AIG doesn’t subscribe to any of these limitations.
As long as you purchase a plan within 15 days of making your first deposit on your trip, pre-existing conditions are usually covered under most plans — even the most affordable option, the Essential Plan.
On the opposite side of the price spectrum, the Deluxe Plan offers up to $150,000 in medical expenses coverage, which is significantly more than most providers are willing to include with a plan that covers pre-existing conditions.
Best for adventure travel: World Nomads
- Key features: Plans that cover 250+ adventure activities, robust 24/7 emergency support
- Ideal for: Adventure travelers who plan to engage in elevated-risk activities like skiing, ziplining, scuba diving, etc.
By default, the vast majority of travel medical insurance plans do not cover “adventure activities” like organized/professional sports, zip lining, parasailing, outdoor endurance events, martial arts, or ATV riding.
They often make exceptions for skiing and snowboarding (if you wear a helmet), but that’s about it.
Luckily, World Nomads understands that “adventure” is an essential part of many travel itineraries. They offer three main plans, each of which encompasses a wider set of adventure sports:
- Standard covers ~50 relatively safe activities like jet skiing and skateboarding.
- Explorer adds a few dozen more like martial arts and Tough Mudder.
- Epic covers hardcore shenanigans like scuba, spelunking, motor racing, and more.
All plans also include trip cancellation/interruption insurance and robust 24/7 emergency assistance in case things go wrong.
Key Features of Travel Medical Insurance
Whether you choose one of the providers above or continue exploring on your own, here are some of the key features to look for when comparing travel medical insurance policies.
Comprehensive medical expense coverage
In general, most travel medical insurance plans should cover the following:
- Urgent care and ER visits
- Hospitalizations
- Doctor and physician appointments
- Prescriptions
- Dental care
- Emergency evacuation
READ MORE: What To Look for in a Comprehensive Travel Protection Plan
Coverage limits and deductibles
Not all plans have the same coverage limits and deductibles.
A plan with a $0 deductible and $250,000 coverage limit will be far more valuable than one with a $250 deductible and $10,000 limit since the former can cover more bills — and doesn’t ask you to front a co-pay.
Emergency medical evacuation and transportation
Most plans should cover emergency medical evacuation. However, the nature and scope of coverage may vary from plan to plan.
For example, some plans may only cover emergency repatriation out of the country — not airlift and ambulance rides within.
Some may also require you to pre-authorize any emergency medical transportation with them, which may be a burden if they don’t also have a 24/7 emergency assistance line.
Finally, some plans even cover the cost of flying a relative over to visit you in the hospital. So if you have a spouse or dependent back home, you may want to look for “bedside visit” coverage.
Pre-existing condition coverage
Coverage for pre-existing conditions can vary wildly between providers.
Some don’t cover them at all, others only cover them if you pay extra, and some like Allianz Travel Insurance and Travel Guard cover them as long as you purchase a plan within 14ish days of making a deposit on your trip.
24/7 emergency assistance
Last but not least, we’d strongly recommend a plan that includes complimentary 24/7 emergency assistance, which grants unlimited access to a team of experts who can help you navigate travel challenges.
These teams can help you rebook flights, find emergency medical care, arrange transportation, forward medical records from your doctor back home, notify your family, pre-authorize claims, and much more.
How To Choose the Best Policy for Your Trip
Now that you know what to look for, here’s a step-by-step method to finding the right coverage at the lowest price:
1. Determine how much travel medical insurance you already have
It’s rare, but in some cases, you might already have travel medical insurance without realizing it.
If you travel a lot for work, for example, your employer-sponsored medical insurance plan might provide coverage abroad, even if your trip isn’t work-related.
There’s also a top-tier travel rewards card (the Chase Sapphire Reserve®) that provides a decent amount of travel medical insurance to cardholders.
So it’s worth spending 10 minutes checking your existing healthcare plan and card benefits just to see if there are any provisions for overseas coverage.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Rewards Rate
- 10x points on hotel stays and car rentals through Chase Travel℠
- 5x points on dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards and on Lyft purchases (through March 2025)
- 5x points on flights booked through Chase Travel℠ (after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually)
- 3x points on restaurants and travel
- 1x points on everything else
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$550
. . .
2. Consider your destination’s healthcare costs
To help you determine how much coverage you’ll need, do a quick Google search for the cost of healthcare or a hospital bed in your destination country.
The numbers you find can help you choose the right deductible and coverage limit.
To illustrate, various sources suggest that healthcare in Argentina is relatively affordable, with doctor visits under $25 and average hospital nights under $100. That means you’d probably want a low deductible ($0), but you don’t need crazy-high coverage limits ($50k would probably do it).
On the flip side, the cost of a hospital night in Monaco can be $3,000+, so you’d probably want a comfortably high limit ($500,000) and maybe a higher deductible to keep your premiums down ($100).
3. Assess your risks
Consider how risky your itinerary will be:
- Will you be traveling somewhere remote like the Grand Canyon or the Amazon, where you might need an expensive medical evac?
- Will you be participating in any risky activities like mountain biking, scuba diving, or contact sports?
- Will you be bringing lots of prescriptions or medical equipment that you might need replaced while overseas?
These types of questions can help you determine what types of coverage and add-ons you may want included in your plan.
4. Consider which add-ons you may need
Some of the most common add-ons to a travel medical insurance policy are:
- Pre-existing condition coverage
- Adventure sports coverage
- CFAR (cancel for any reason)
- Trip cancellation/interruption/delay insurance
While the first two are self-explanatory, CFAR insurance might be handy if you think you might need to cancel your trip at the last minute for a non-covered reason (e.g., your travel partner bails, you get a new job, etc.).
In a similar vein, trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay coverage are all useful to have on any trip, since they can reimburse you if something prevents you from going, like sickness or jury duty, or forces you to come home early.
The good news is that you might already have all three through your travel rewards card benefits, so keep that in mind before you buy them separately as part of your travel medical insurance policy.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Purchasing Travel Medical Insurance
Before you head off to buy a policy, what mistakes should you try to avoid?
Waiting too long to buy
The best time to buy travel insurance is right after you book your trip. The longer you wait, the less coverage/benefits you might receive and the higher premiums you might pay.
For example, Allianz Travel Insurance only includes complimentary pre-existing condition coverage if you purchase a policy within 14 days of booking your trip.
Going with the cheapest option by default
As you collect quotes and use broker sites like VisitorsCoverage and SquareMouth, you might be tempted to go with the cheapest quote you find.
We’re not saying it’s the wrong choice — just be sure it meets your needs, including coverage types, deductibles, limits, and add-ons.
Ignoring the list of exclusions
At some point in the online quote process, you should be able to find sample policy documents that show you precisely what’s covered (and not covered).
Before you buy, open it up, give it a read, and pay close attention to the exclusions. If a major part of your itinerary isn’t covered, you may need an add-on or a totally separate policy.
READ MORE: Full vs. Partial Travel Coverage: Which Plan Is Right for You?
FAQs About Travel Medical Insurance
What is the ideal medical coverage limit for international travel?
It heavily depends on the cost of healthcare in your destination country. In Argentina, where hospital beds are ~$100/night, you might be safe with $50,000 in coverage. But in Monaco, where the costs are more than 10x as high, you might want $500,000+.
Does travel insurance cover COVID-19-related medical expenses?
Yes, most travel medical insurance plans today cover medical bills arising from COVID-19 treatment.
But if you get COVID-19 before your trip and need to cancel, travel medical insurance wouldn’t cover the cost of medical care — but trip cancellation insurance might cover the cost of the missed trip itself.
Are adventure sports automatically included in medical coverage?
No, most travel medical insurance policies do not cover adventure sports or elevated-risk activities. Some providers specialize in adventure sports coverage for travelers, and some might sell it as an add-on.
Can I combine medical coverage with other features like trip cancellation?
Yes. Trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay coverage are common add-ons for travel medical insurance (and in many cases, are already included).
But before you pay extra for them, check if your credit card already offers these as a complimentary benefit.
Bottom Line
Whether you need a plan to cover pre-existing conditions, your next ultramarathon, or simply any negative or expensive scenario you can think of, these picks for travel medical insurance should have you covered.

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Chris Butsch is an Atlanta-based author and TEDx speaker helping young people prosper mentally and financially. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, ConsumerAffairs, and more. He also delivers college keynotes through CAMPUSPEAK and trains incoming cohorts at the CDC.
Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.