How to compare travel insurance
There is no single best travel insurance, and any page that names one is selling something. There is only the right policy for a particular trip — and the way to find it is to check the same seven things on every quote, in the same order.
The seven things that matter
- The maximum the policy pays for treatment abroad, and the only number an entry rule cares about. Check it against your destination rather than against other policies: healthcare costs vary by an order of magnitude between regions, and a limit that is generous for Portugal is thin for the United States. If a visa applies, this is the number that has to clear the minimum.
- Often a separate limit from the medical one, and often the larger real-world cost. An air ambulance home is the scenario that bankrupts uninsured travellers, and consulates ask about repatriation specifically. Confirm both are included and note their limits separately — a policy can have a strong medical limit and no evacuation cover at all.
- What you pay before the insurer pays anything, per claim and sometimes per section. It is the main lever behind a cheap premium, and a low headline price with a high excess can leave you paying most of a moderate claim yourself. Work out what a realistic claim would actually return before choosing on price.
- The list of things that are never covered, which is where a policy is really defined. Read it for the activities you will actually do — many policies exclude motorcycling, skiing, diving and anything at altitude unless you add cover. An excluded activity is not partially covered; it is not covered.
- Existing medical conditions are excluded by default on most policies unless declared and accepted, and an undeclared condition can void a claim entirely — including one unrelated to it. Declaring costs more and it is not optional if you want the policy to work. This is the term that most often turns a valid-looking policy into a refused claim.
- Where the policy works, defined by region rather than by country list. Every country you will enter has to be inside it, including places you only transit or step ashore at. A Schengen visa additionally requires validity across the whole area, not just your main destination.
- Cover has to span every day you are away, with no gap at either end. Annual policies add a per-trip day cap that overrides the policy year. Where a visa is involved, the certificate has to show dates that match the application — a policy that covers you but states the wrong period is a refusal waiting to happen.
What matters less than it looks
- The headline baggage figure. Per-item sub-limits are what actually apply, and they are usually low enough that valuables are not meaningfully covered either way.
- Brand familiarity. Most policies are underwritten by a small number of insurers regardless of whose name is on the front.
- A long list of covered scenarios. Length is not depth — seven well-chosen limits beat thirty vague inclusions.
- Star ratings and "best of" tables. They rank on price and features in the abstract, not against your trip, and most are paid placements.
Common questions
There isn't one, and that is not evasion. The policy that suits a 25-year-old backpacking in Vietnam is wrong for a family cruise and wrong again for a retiree with a heart condition visiting relatives in Spain. What transfers between trips is the method: check the seven things above, in order, against the trip you are actually taking. Any site that answers this question with a ranked list is usually being paid for the order.
They are useful for seeing the range of prices and useless for judging cover, because they rank on premium and on features that are easy to tabulate. The things that decide whether a policy works for you — the excess structure, the exclusions, how pre-existing conditions are handled — are exactly the things a comparison table flattens. Use one to build a shortlist, then read the actual policy documents.
Cover sold at checkout is convenient and often poor value — it is priced for the moment rather than the market, and the medical limits are frequently low. It is worth at least comparing against one standalone quote before accepting it. The exception is where it covers something specific to that booking, such as an airline's own missed-connection guarantee.
Not reliably. Price responds strongly to your age, your destination and the trip cost you are insuring — none of which say anything about quality. Two policies at the same price can have medical limits an order of magnitude apart. Compare the limits, not the premiums.
Five things separate one type from another. Everything else in a policy document is detail on top of these.
All types of travel insurancepackset.travel is an independent trip-planning tool, not an insurer or broker. This is general information, not insurance advice — always confirm cover levels and entry requirements with the insurer and the relevant consulate before you travel.