Travel insurance
The medical limit and the evacuation clause are the policy. Nearly everything else is decoration.
Written by Sienna for Roaminger · Updated September 2026
Buy a policy with a high emergency medical limit and explicit repatriation and evacuation cover, declare every pre-existing condition honestly, and buy it the day you book — cancellation cover only runs from the day the policy starts, not the day you fly.
What you are actually buying
Every travel policy is four products in one wrapper:
| Section | What it does | How much it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency medical & repatriation | Treatment abroad, hospital transfer, flying you home | The only section that can save you from a life-changing bill |
| Cancellation & curtailment | Refunds unrecoverable costs if you cannot go, or must come home early | Matters in proportion to what you prepaid |
| Baggage & delay | Fixed payouts for lost, stolen or delayed possessions | Low limits, high excess, frequently overlaps your home contents cover |
| Personal liability | Covers you if you injure someone or damage property | Rarely used, costs almost nothing to include |
Marketing pages sell you sections three and four because they are cheap and easy to picture. Section one is the reason the policy exists.
How high should the medical limit be?
It depends entirely on where you are going. Treatment in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean costs several times what the same treatment costs in Europe, and an air ambulance home from a remote region runs into six figures. Policies that look identical in Europe diverge sharply once a US destination is involved — which is why the same insurer sells a separate, pricier worldwide-including-USA tier.
The declaration trap
This is where most refused claims begin. Insurers ask about pre-existing conditions, you decide something is minor or historic and leave it out, and the claim is later declined — sometimes for an unrelated event, because non-disclosure can void the whole policy.
Declare everything, including conditions currently controlled by medication and anything you have seen a doctor about in the look-back window the insurer specifies. A higher premium is a far better outcome than a worthless policy.
Cancellation cover starts when the policy starts
People buy travel insurance the week before departure. By then, the cancellation section has spent months covering nothing. If you break a leg in month two of a trip booked eight months out, a policy purchased in month seven will not help you. Buy it the day you commit money.
Check the excess before you check the price
The excess is what you pay before the insurer pays anything. Two policies with identical headline limits can differ by hundreds in excess — and on some policies the excess applies per person, per section, so a family claim across two sections pays it four times over. Zero-excess versions exist and are sometimes worth the upgrade.
What your credit card probably does not cover
Card travel cover is real, and it is usually narrower than people assume. The common gaps:
Payment conditions
Cover often requires the trip to be paid for on that specific card — sometimes all of it, sometimes a stated proportion.
Age and health caps
Benefits commonly reduce or stop above a certain age, and pre-existing conditions are frequently excluded outright rather than loaded.
Trip-length limits
Many cards cover trips of up to 30 or 60 days. Day 61 of a long trip is often uninsured entirely.
Thin medical limits
Card medical limits are typically a fraction of a standalone policy, and repatriation may be absent.
The exclusions that catch people out
Scooter and motorbike hire is the classic one: cover usually depends on holding the correct licence for that engine size at home and wearing a helmet, regardless of local practice. Winter sports, diving below a stated depth, and anything involving alcohol are the other three. Read the activities list if your trip involves one.
Reading a policy properly in ten minutes
Ignore the sales page and open the policy wording PDF. Search it for six terms: maximum benefit, excess, pre-existing, exclusions, repatriation, and trip duration. Those six searches tell you more than any comparison table, including ours.
Common questions
Is travel insurance worth it for a short trip to Europe?
Yes, for the medical and repatriation sections. A single ambulance transfer or an emergency flight home costs more than a lifetime of annual premiums, and state-healthcare cards do not pay for repatriation.
Does an EHIC or GHIC replace travel insurance?
No. It gives access to state healthcare in participating countries on local terms. It does not cover private treatment, repatriation, cancellation or belongings.
Can I buy a policy after I have already left?
A few insurers sell cover to travellers already abroad, usually with a waiting period before claims are valid and with cancellation cover excluded. It is a fallback, not a plan.
Does travel insurance cover a cancelled flight?
Sometimes, and it is usually the wrong route. Under UK and EU air passenger rules the airline owes you rerouting or a refund, plus fixed compensation in some cases. Claim from the airline first; insurance covers what the airline will not.
Am I covered if I hire a scooter?
Only if you hold the correct licence for that vehicle in your home country and wear a helmet. Local rental shops handing keys to anyone with a card does not change what your policy says.
Go deeper
- Best travel insurance in 2026 — policies compared on wording, not marketing copy
- Flight delay compensation — when the airline owes you money, separately from insurance
- Cruise port days — why cruises need their own cover
Roaminger earns a commission when you book through some of the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which option we recommend — and where the honest answer is a service we earn nothing from, we say so.