Cheap Travel Insurance: How to Pay Less Without Losing Coverage
Cheap travel insurance is easy to find and easy to get wrong. The cheapest plan on any list is cheap because its medical limit is small, which is fine for a weekend in Chicago and a bad idea for a week in Portugal. This guide covers the six ways to pay less without losing the coverage that matters, the cheap plans that end up costing more, and the questions people ask about price.
What sets the price
A package plan usually costs 4 to 8 percent of the prepaid trip cost. Three things set it: the trip cost, the ages of the travelers and the length of the trip. Two things move it from there: the medical and evacuation limits (the difference between a basic plan and a top one) and the Cancel For Any Reason upgrade. Your health and your destination change it little. Every way to pay less works on one of those levers.
Six ways to pay less
| Way to pay less | How much it saves | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| Insure only money you cannot get back | Often the biggest saving. Refundable flights and hotels come off the insured trip cost, and the price follows. | Nothing. Refundable money was never at risk. |
| Pick a plan where your children are free | A family of four on Travel Insured Deluxe or Platinum, Travelex Ultimate or Travel Guard is priced as two adults. | Nothing, if the plan’s limits suit you. |
| Skip Cancel For Any Reason | The upgrade can take a plan from 4 to 8 percent of the trip cost to over 10. | The 75 percent refund for a reason no policy lists. Skip it only if every reason you might cancel for is on the policy’s list. |
| Take a mid-range plan instead of the top one | The top plans carry $500,000 of medical and $1,000,000 of evacuation; a mid-range plan with $100,000 and $250,000 costs less. | Headroom on the hospital bill. Fine for a trip near good hospitals; not for a cruise or a remote trip. |
| Buy a travel medical plan when nothing is prepaid | A standalone medical plan is priced by the day and is often a few dollars a day. | Cancellation coverage, which you did not need. |
| Use the free look | Return a plan you bought in a hurry for a full refund, usually within 10 to 15 days. | Nothing. |
The floor: what not to give up
For a trip outside the United States, keep emergency medical at $100,000 or more and evacuation at $250,000 or more. Below that you are saving a few dollars against the one bill that can pass $100,000 on its own. For a cruise, a remote trip or a traveler over 65, $250,000 and $500,000. On a domestic trip your health insurance works and the limits matter less; there, the cheapest plan that covers the trip cost is often the right one.
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| The cheap plan that costs more | Why |
|---|---|
| The cheapest plan on the list for a trip abroad | It usually carries $10,000 to $25,000 of medical. A week in a foreign hospital can pass $100,000, and Medicare and most health plans pay nothing there. |
| The checkout plan from the airline or booking site | Covers the fare only, often for a short list of reasons, at a price close to a full plan’s. |
| The cruise line’s plan | Often pays in future cruise credit rather than cash, with a low medical limit, for about the same money as a real plan. |
| A credit card’s coverage as the whole plan | Covers only what was paid on the card, caps cancellation, and pays $2,500 for medical on the best cards and nothing on most. |
| Under-insuring the trip cost to save a few dollars | The cancellation benefit pays up to the amount you insured, and the pre-existing condition waiver needs the whole non-refundable cost on the policy. |
How to find the cheapest plan that clears the floor
Enter the trip once with only the non-refundable cost. Sort the results by price. Skip down the list to the first plan with $100,000 of medical and $250,000 of evacuation (or the higher floor for your trip), and that is your plan. If children are travelling, look at the total price, not the per-adult price, because the children-free plans show it there. The whole thing takes about a minute.
What the plans say
Across the 54 plans on the comparison, medical limits run from $10,000 to $500,000 and evacuation from $50,000 to $1,000,000, and price rises with both. Children 17 and under are free on Travel Insured Deluxe and Platinum, one per adult on Travelex Ultimate and Travel Guard, and free on Allianz OneTrip Prime and Premier. Every plan has a free look period of 10 to 15 days. Seven Corners Travel Medical, the standalone medical plan we point people to, is priced by the day with deductibles from $0 to $1,000.
Questions people also ask
What is the cheapest travel insurance?
For a trip with nothing prepaid, a standalone travel medical plan, priced by the day and often a few dollars a day. For a trip with prepaid money, a basic package plan at under 4 percent of the trip cost. The cheapest plan on the comparison for your trip is at the top when you sort by price; check its medical limit before you take it.
How can I get cheap travel insurance for a family?
Insure only the non-refundable money, and pick a plan where children 17 and under are free: Travel Insured Deluxe and Platinum, Travelex Ultimate, Travel Guard, Allianz OneTrip Prime and Premier. A family of four is then priced as two adults.
Is cheap travel insurance any good?
A cheap plan does the same two jobs as an expensive one, refunding the trip for a listed reason and paying medical bills abroad, with lower medical and evacuation limits. It is good for a domestic trip or a trip near good hospitals. It is the wrong buy for a cruise, a remote trip or a traveler over 65, where the limits are the point.
Does buying early make travel insurance cheaper?
No, the price is the same whenever you buy. Buying within 14 days of your first trip payment adds two things at no extra cost: the pre-existing condition waiver and the option to add Cancel For Any Reason.
Is an annual plan cheaper than buying per trip?
For the medical side, yes if you take three or more trips a year: Travel Insured’s Annual Multi-Trip Protector is $94 an adult, for example. Annual plans mostly do not cover cancellation, so a big prepaid trip still wants its own plan.
Can I lower the price with a deductible?
On standalone travel medical plans, yes: Seven Corners Travel Medical offers deductibles from $0 to $1,000 and the price falls as the deductible rises. Most package plans on the comparison have no deductible (Trawick Pathway Essential carries a $100 medical deductible); their price moves with the limits and the trip.
Related: How much does travel insurance cost? · Do I need travel insurance? · travel medical insurance guide · annual travel insurance guide
Plan facts on this page (limit ranges, children-free rules, free look periods, annual and travel medical plan terms) were checked against the insurers’ plan pages and the policy documents for the 54 plans on the CoverTrip comparison on 12 and 13 September 2026.
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Damian TysdalDamian Tysdal is the founder of CoverTrip and a licensed travel insurance agent since 2006. He believes travel insurance should be easier to understand, and started the first travel insurance blog in 2006. About CoverTrip.