Travel Insurance Estimator

What actually sets a travel insurance premium?

The expected cost of the claims you might make, estimated from a small set of rating factors. An insurer is not pricing your trip, it is pricing a probability multiplied by a severity, and medical treatment abroad is what supplies the severity.

The Association of British Insurers reports that in 2024 its members paid GBP 472 million across more than 500,000 travel claims, that medical expenses were the most common reason for a claim at 34 per cent of all claims, up from 29 per cent the year before, and that medical claims totalled GBP 262 million with an average payout of GBP 1,528. Those figures come from the ABI news release of August 2025. The same release records a single member paying out more than GBP 1 million for a customer admitted to hospital for emergency treatment in the USA who then needed repatriation to the UK. That is the shape of the risk the premium is bought to cover: frequent moderate medical claims of around GBP 1,500, with a long tail running into seven figures.

The factors that move the number, and what each one is a proxy for:

• Age band. Insurers rate in bands rather than by exact age, so a birthday can move you into a new band and change the price for an identical trip. The band is a proxy for the likelihood and cost of a medical claim.
• Trip length. Exposure scales with days, and long trips often cross a maximum trip length written into the policy.
• Destination region. This is a healthcare cost factor, not a danger factor, which is why the United States is almost always rated separately from the rest of the world.
• Declared pre-existing medical conditions. These change both the chance of a claim and the chance that a claim is a large one.
• Activities. Anything beyond ordinary leisure travel is usually a separate schedule of covered activities or a paid add-on.
• The excess. The amount you agree to pay on each claim. Raising it lowers the premium and moves small claims onto you.
• The declared trip cost. Cancellation and curtailment cover pays up to a limit, and that limit is what you declare, so under-declaring saves premium and caps the payout.

None of these is a guess a generic estimator can make for you. An estimate is a starting orientation. The quotation is the number, and it only exists once a specific insurer has your declared conditions and activities in front of it.

Single trip or annual multi-trip: which one fits your year?

An annual multi-trip policy covers an unlimited number of trips inside twelve months, but each trip is capped in length, and that cap is what decides whether the policy fits. A single-trip policy is bought for one journey and priced on its actual length.

The FCDO's own travel insurance guidance puts the trap plainly, telling travellers to check the policy covers "the full length of your trip" and noting that "many policies have a maximum trip length and/or an annual limit on how much time in total you can spend outside the UK". Two separate limits, and the second one surprises people who take a lot of short trips.

How to choose without guessing:

• Find your longest single trip of the year first. If it exceeds the maximum trip length on the annual policy, the annual policy does not cover that trip at all, and the saving is irrelevant.
• Count the trips, then compare like for like. Compare an annual quotation against the sum of the single-trip quotations you would otherwise buy, at the same medical limit, the same excess and the same declared activities.
• Check the geographic tier. Annual policies are sold in tiers, commonly Europe, worldwide excluding the United States and Canada, and full worldwide. One trip to the excluded region forces the higher tier for the whole year.
• Check when cancellation cover starts. Cancellation cover generally runs from the date the policy is bought, which is the argument for buying at the time of booking rather than before departure.
• Check winter sports and other add-ons. These are frequently sold as a bolt-on with their own day limit, sometimes lower than the trip length limit.

Long stays and working trips are a different product again. A policy written for holidays may exclude paid work, and a long-stay or expatriate policy is the right instrument rather than a stretched leisure policy.

Why does the destination region change the price so much?

Because the same broken ankle costs wildly different amounts to treat and, more importantly, to fly home. Region is a proxy for the price of care and for the cost of getting you out.

The United States is the clearest case, and it cuts both ways. US public health programmes do not follow travellers out: the CDC Yellow Book states that "except in limited circumstances, the Social Security Medicare program does not provide coverage for medical costs incurred outside the United States, nor does it cover medical evacuation". The supplement is narrow. The Yellow Book notes that Medigap plans C, D, F, G, M and N may cover some emergency care abroad if it begins in the first 60 days of the trip, paying 80 per cent of billed charges after a USD 250 yearly deductible, up to a lifetime maximum of USD 50,000. Set that against an evacuation bill and the gap is obvious.

Travellers going the other way have no equivalent safety net inside the United States either. Insurers price a US trip against a private healthcare market with no cap, which is why the same ABI release records a single claim above GBP 1 million for treatment in the USA plus repatriation.

The larger figure is evacuation rather than treatment. The CDC's Yellow Book, the US public health service's own travel medicine reference, puts medical evacuation expenses in a range "from USD 25,000 for transport within North America to over USD 250,000 for more distant and remote locations". An air ambulance is a chartered aircraft with a medical crew, and remoteness rather than country income level is what drives the price, which is why a trek in a region with limited hospitals can be rated harder than a city break in an expensive one.

This is why the medical and repatriation limit is the number to read first on any policy, ahead of the baggage limit and the cancellation limit. The CDC also advises travellers to confirm the practical machinery behind that limit: whether the insurer has in-network providers, whether treatment needs pre-authorisation, and whether there is a 24 hour physician-backed assistance line. A large limit with no assistance line is a reimbursement promise, not a rescue.

Is a GHIC or EHIC the same as travel insurance?

No, and the NHS says so directly: a UK GHIC or UK EHIC "does not replace travel and medical insurance". The NHS advises holding both for the duration of the trip, because the two instruments cover different things.

Check the geography first, because this is where the card is most often over-read. A UK GHIC covers necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area and some other countries, not worldwide. Inside that footprint it gives access on the same basis as a resident of the country you are in, meaning care that cannot reasonably wait until you return, including emergency treatment and routine care for pre-existing conditions. It does not make care free: where residents pay a statutory charge, such as a prescription cost or a treatment co-payment, so do you.

What it does not do is the expensive half. The FCDO states that the EHIC and GHIC "are not alternatives to travel insurance as they do not cover any private medical healthcare costs, repatriation or additional costs". The NHS puts it as a list: the card does not cover "being flown back to the UK (medical repatriation), treatment in a private medical facility, or ski or mountain rescue".

Read that list against what actually goes wrong. A serious injury abroad produces a private clinic bill, a mountain or sea rescue bill, a medically escorted flight home, and the cost of the rest of the trip collapsing. A state healthcare card touches none of those. The card reduces the treatment bill in participating countries; the policy is what pays to get you home.

Which exclusions catch travellers out, and what should you declare?

The ones that turn a valid-looking claim into a refused one are almost all failures to declare something, and the largest is medical history. The FCDO's guidance is explicit: declare existing conditions or pending treatment or tests so that you are covered if there are related complications during your trip, because "failing to declare something may invalidate your travel insurance".

Declaration is not optional prudence, it is the basis on which the contract was priced. If a condition is undeclared and a claim is connected to it, the insurer can decline the whole claim, not merely the part attributable to that condition.

The other recurring categories:

• Activities outside the covered schedule. FCDO advises checking that the policy covers all activities you may undertake, "such as sports or adventure tourism", and warns that some need specialist insurance or an add-on. The CDC's Yellow Book lists high-risk activities including skydiving, scuba diving and mountain climbing among the exclusions to verify, along with mental health and psychiatric emergencies, injuries arising from civil unrest, terrorism, war or natural disasters, and age-based coverage limitations. Altitude ceilings and roped-versus-unroped distinctions are written into the activity schedule, so read the schedule rather than the marketing page.
• Travelling against your government's advice. The FCDO states that if you travel to a destination where it advises against all but essential travel, or against all travel, "your insurance may be invalidated". Advisories change during a trip, so check before you go and check again if the situation moves.
• Riding a motorcycle, moped or quad. Cover here typically depends on holding the correct licence for the machine and on wearing a helmet, and hire-shop practice abroad is not the test. Read the specific wording before you ride.
• Alcohol and drugs. Policies commonly carry a general exclusion for loss or injury arising from the influence of alcohol or drugs. The wording, and how strictly it is drawn, varies between policies and sits in the general exclusions section rather than the summary.
• Unattended and unproved possessions. Baggage sections carry single-article limits, valuables sub-limits and requirements to report a theft to police within a set period and obtain a written report.

If a condition means you are refused, excluded or loaded, UK rules give you a route out. The FCA's signposting duty sits at ICOBS 6A.4.5R, in force since 26 April 2021, and it bites in five situations listed at ICOBS 6A.4.6R: the firm declines or does not otherwise offer a quotation wholly or partly because of a medical condition; it cancels a policy wholly or partly because of one; it offers a policy carrying a medical condition exclusion that cannot be removed; it offers a policy with a medical condition premium at or above the set amount; or it offers a policy where the medical condition premium is not known. In any of those, the firm must tell you the contact details of the medical cover firm directory, including a telephone number and a website, what the directory is for and how it might help you. The threshold is GBP 200, but it is no longer a fixed figure. ICOBS 6A.4.6AR, in force from 1 January 2026, indexes that amount to the Consumer Price Index on a five-year cycle, with the first recalculation due in January 2030, so confirm the current amount in the Handbook rather than assuming GBP 200 indefinitely. The FCDO separately points travellers to the British Insurance Brokers' Association Travel Medical Directory as a source of specialist providers who cover serious medical conditions. Being turned down by a mainstream insurer is a signal to use that directory, not a signal to travel uninsured.

When is an insurance estimate the wrong number to act on?

Any time your circumstances contain something an estimator has no field for, which is most of the situations where getting it wrong is expensive.

• You have a declarable medical condition. Medical screening, not the age band, will dominate the price, and the outcome may be an exclusion rather than a loading.
• You are travelling for longer than a standard policy allows. A maximum trip length or an annual days-abroad limit is a hard stop, not a price adjustment.
• You are working, volunteering or studying abroad. Leisure policies frequently exclude paid work, and manual work almost always sits outside them.
• The activity list is the point of the trip. Diving beyond a stated depth, climbing above a stated altitude, motorised sport and anything competitive are rated individually.
• You are pregnant, or travelling with a very recent diagnosis. Cover for pregnancy and for recent changes in treatment is written with specific limits and dates.
• Someone else is providing part of the cover. A packaged bank account, a credit card, a tour operator's own protection or an existing employer scheme may already cover part of the risk, sometimes with a residency or payment condition attached.

The authoritative thing a premium estimator cannot tell you is whether you are actually covered. That is decided by one document, the policy wording and its schedule, read together with the answers you gave at application. In the United Kingdom the conduct of the sale is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and a dispute you cannot settle with the insurer can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FCDO publishes the travel advice that can invalidate cover, and the NHS publishes what a GHIC does and does not do. Use an estimator to set expectations, then buy on the wording.

Two habits are worth more than any estimate. Buy the policy when you book the trip rather than before you fly, so cancellation cover exists for the months when most cancellations happen; the FCDO puts it as "you should buy your travel insurance as soon as possible after booking your trip". And carry the insurer's 24 hour emergency assistance number separately from your phone, because the number is useless in the one scenario where you need it most.

At a glance

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to declare a medical condition if I feel fine?

Yes. The FCDO's guidance is to declare existing conditions or pending treatment or tests, and warns that failing to declare something may invalidate your travel insurance. Declaration is the basis on which the policy was priced, so an undeclared condition can allow the insurer to decline a related claim in full rather than reduce it. Declare pending referrals, investigations and awaited results as well as diagnoses, and re-declare if anything changes before departure.

Is a GHIC enough for a trip to Europe?

No. The NHS states that a UK GHIC or UK EHIC does not replace travel and medical insurance, and advises holding both. It covers necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area and some other countries, not worldwide, and gives it on the same basis as a resident, including any statutory charge a resident would pay. It does not cover being flown back to the UK, treatment in a private medical facility, or ski or mountain rescue. The FCDO makes the same point, that the EHIC and GHIC do not cover private medical costs, repatriation or additional costs. Carry both.

What happens if I am refused cover because of a medical condition?

UK rules require the firm to point you somewhere else. The FCA's signposting duty at ICOBS 6A.4.5R applies where a firm declines or does not offer a quotation wholly or partly because of a medical condition, cancels a policy for that reason, offers cover with a medical condition exclusion that cannot be removed, quotes a medical condition premium at or above the set amount, or offers a policy where that premium is not known. The firm must then give you the medical cover firm directory's telephone number and website. The amount is GBP 200 but is indexed to the Consumer Price Index from 1 January 2026, first recalculated in January 2030, so check the Handbook for the current figure. The FCDO separately points travellers to the British Insurance Brokers' Association Travel Medical Directory.

Is an annual multi-trip policy cheaper than buying single-trip cover each time?

It depends on your longest trip before it depends on the number of trips. Annual policies cap the length of each individual trip and often cap total days abroad across the year, so start by checking whether your longest planned trip fits. If it does, compare the annual quotation against the sum of the single-trip quotations at the same medical limit, excess, activity schedule and geographic tier. If it does not, the annual policy simply does not cover that trip.

Can travelling somewhere my government advises against void my insurance?

It can. The FCDO states that travelling to a destination where it advises against all but essential travel, or against all travel, may invalidate your insurance. Advice is issued per country and often per region within a country, and it can change while you are already there. Check the advice for your specific destination before booking, again before departure, and keep checking during a long trip, because the position you bought cover under is the position that has to hold.