Travel insurance guides
By Damian Tysdal, licensed travel insurance agent since 2006 · Updated 21 September 2026
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- Travel Insurance for Beginners: The Complete Guide
What travel insurance covers, what it costs, the two kinds of plans, the six mistakes that cost beginners money, and a three-step way to pick a plan.
- What Does Travel Insurance Cover? The Complete Guide
What travel insurance covers, benefit by benefit, with the range of limits on the plans we compare, the covered reasons to cancel next to the reasons that are not, and the upgrades that w...
- Types of Travel Insurance: Which One Do You Need?
The six types of travel insurance explained in plain English: package plans, travel medical, evacuation memberships, annual plans, accident and specialty coverage, and which one your trip...
By the kind of trip
- Cruise Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Which cruise travel insurance plans carry enough medical and evacuation coverage, how they compare with the cruise line's own plan, why Medicare stops six hours from port, and when to buy.
- Adventure Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
How travel insurance plans treat scuba, climbing, backcountry skiing, motorbikes and skydiving, the plans built for adventure trips, and the evacuation limit to set for a remote destination.
- Family Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Every plan covers the whole family on one policy; on some, children 17 and under are free.
- Travel Insurance for Seniors and Travelers Over 65: The Complete Guide
No maximum age on the package plans we compare. What changes after 65, the medical and evacuation limits to set, the plans built for older travelers, the pre-existing condition rule, and...
- Student Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Which plan fits a semester abroad, a school trip, spring break or a gap year, the travel medical plan built for months away, what the program may already require, and a checklist for the...
- Group Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Three ways to insure a group (one policy, one per household, or a group policy from an insurer), which fits a family, a wedding or a tour group, what happens when one traveler cancels, an...
- Business Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
What your employer's policy, your health plan and the company card cover on a business trip, where the foreign hospital bill falls between them, the annual plans for frequent travelers, a...
- Countries That Require Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Which countries require travel insurance for entry as of 2026, who each rule applies to (often visa applicants only), what it asks for, how a plan meets it, and why US citizens are not as...
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- Travel Medical Insurance: The Complete Guide
Who pays the hospital if you get sick abroad, how much travel medical insurance you need, the plans with $250,000 to $500,000 of medical coverage, primary vs secondary, and when a standal...
- Medical Evacuation Insurance: The Complete Guide
What medical evacuation insurance pays for, what an air ambulance costs without it ($30,000 to $250,000+), the plans with $1,000,000 of coverage, and how a plan differs from a medevac mem...
- Trip Cancellation Insurance: The Complete Guide
Trip cancellation refunds 100 percent of your prepaid trip cost for a reason the policy lists.
- Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Cancel For Any Reason refunds 75 percent of your trip cost for a reason no policy lists.
- Does Travel Insurance Cover Hurricanes? The Complete Guide
Yes, if you buy before the storm is named. What travel insurance pays for in a hurricane (uninhabitable destination, cancelled flights, evacuation orders, delays), what it does not, and w...
- Annual Travel Insurance: The Complete Guide
Annual travel insurance explained: what a multi-trip plan covers, five plans with verified medical and evacuation limits, why cancellation is the weak spot, who should buy one, and what i...
- Cheap Travel Insurance: How to Pay Less Without Losing Coverage
Six ways to pay less for travel insurance without giving up the coverage that matters, the cheap plans that end up costing more, and the medical and evacuation floor not to go below on a...
- Trip Insurance: The Complete Guide
Trip insurance and travel insurance are the same thing. What the other names mean, what a plan covers, what it costs (4 to 8 percent of the trip), how to buy it in five steps, and why to...
- Travel Insurance Claims: The Complete Guide
How to claim on travel insurance: the call to make first, the documents each kind of claim needs, how to file step by step, how long it takes, the reasons claims are denied, and what to d...
Other guides
- Culture Shock 101: A Guide to Culture Shock
The longer a traveler stays away from home, the more likely they'll experience culture shock. See this guide to navigating culture shock.
Quick answers
Shorter pages that answer one question each. All answers.
- A.M. Best ratings: what they mean for travel insurance, and who underwrites the 12 companies we review
An AM Best rating grades whether an insurer can pay claims. Every insurer behind the 12 companies we review is A- or better. Who underwrites whom.
- Does travel insurance cover prescription drugs?
Yes, for drugs a doctor prescribes on the trip for a covered illness or injury. No for refills or lost medication, though the assistance line helps.
- Does travel insurance cover panic attacks, anxiety and other mental health conditions?
Only with a hospital admission, on most plans. A panic attack treated in an office or ER is excluded; an admission is covered. One plan has no exclusion.
- Travel insurance for an adoption trip
Medical and evacuation for the parents, cancellation for the travel, and on three plan families coverage if the adoption is cancelled. What to insure.
- Missionary travel insurance: what a mission trip needs
Medical coverage that pays abroad, evacuation that can fly you out, and cancellation for the non-refundable cost. What medical-only coverage costs.