International Travel Insurance Cost: 2025 Data Report

How Much Does International Travel Insurance Cost?

According to internal sales data from the past 12 months, the average premium for comprehensive international travel insurance is roughly $414.

With an average trip length of 16 days, purchasing travel protection for an overseas trip costs about $25 per day.

While comprehensive coverage can be expensive for trips abroad, travel medical insurance plans without Trip Cancellation coverage are much less expensive. Basic international health insurance costs just $5 per day on average.

Factors That Affect the Cost of International Travel Insurance

International travel insurance premiums are based on several factors. Travel insurance companies will consider traveler information and trip details when determining premiums:

• Type of Coverage: Comprehensive plans include cancellation and interruption benefits that are not included in basic travel medical plans, making them, on average, four times more expensive.
• Trip Costs: Plans that include cancellation and interruption coverage cost more because they protect all of your prepaid and non-refundable trip expenses.
• Traveler Age: Older travelers face a higher risk of experiencing medical issues while traveling, and, therefore, will typically pay more for travel coverage.
• Trip Length: Longer trips offer more chances for disruption, resulting in higher premiums.

Cost by Type of Coverage

International travel insurance premiums are largely dictated by the type of policy you purchase. This is the single biggest factor that can increase your premium.

When buying protection for overseas travel, there are two main types of coverage you can purchase:

1. International travel health insurance
2. Comprehensive travel insurance

International travel health insurance is designed to provide affordable medical coverage while you’re abroad, along with limited benefits for travel delays and baggage loss. Comprehensive travel insurance offers similar medical coverage and benefits, but also includes protection for cancellations and interruptions, which is why these plans typically cost more.

For maximum cancellation flexibility, travelers can add a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) upgrade to select comprehensive plans. This optional benefit allows you to cancel for reasons not covered by standard travel insurance policies and still receive partial reimbursement up to 75% of your insured trip cost.

Travel Insurance Cost Breakdown by Policy Type

Comprehensive plans include benefits that travel medical plans do not, and are therefore more expensive. Adding Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption to your plan, which is a standard comprehensive travel insurance policy, will increase the premium by roughly 376%, on average. Upgrading a comprehensive plan to include Cancel For Any Reason coverage will increase the premium even more, by an average of 76%.

Cost by Trip Price

As a general rule, comprehensive travel insurance typically costs 4% to 10% of a traveler’s prepaid, non-refundable trip costs. For example, if a traveler is taking a $5,000 trip, they can expect comprehensive coverage to cost between $200 and $500.

Examples of trip costs that travelers can insure include prepaid airfare, hotel reservations, cruise bookings, and other excursions.

The chart below shows how international travel insurance premiums increase alongside trip costs.

The table above shows the strong relationship between trip cost and travel insurance premiums. For example, increasing your trip cost from $1,000 to $5,000+ will nearly quintuple your premium as well. Using a $1,000 trip as a baseline, that trend continues as trips get more expensive. Increasing your trip by 7x to $7,000+ will increase your premium by roughly 6x.

Cost by Age Group

Older travelers can expect higher premiums due to increased health risks and the potential for high medical expenses.

Using sales data from the past 12 months, the following chart shows how international travel insurance premiums can vary by age group.

The chart shows that travelers spend more on trip protection as they age, with those over 70 years old paying five times more for travel insurance than travelers under 35. This increase is largely due to the higher likelihood of medical issues among older travelers while traveling. Seniors also tend to take longer and more expensive trips, which further contribute to higher insurance costs.

Cost by Trip Duration

The longer you travel outside of the country, the higher the chance of an unexpected event impacting your trip. Therefore, premiums are generally higher for longer trips.

Reference the chart below to see how the cost of international travel insurance correlates to popular trip lengths.

Based on the table above, we can see the correlation between trip lengths and travel insurance premiums. The price of a policy for short 4-7 day trips, at $158, is about half the price of trips that are double in length, which average $298.

Geographic Cost Insights

International Travel Insurance Cost by Region

Trips to remote destinations are more expensive to insure, due to higher associated trip costs and longer stays.

For example, trips to Antarctica rank among the priciest in the world, with insurance costs almost five times higher than trips within North America.

In the table below, we reveal the difference in travel insurance costs across the seven continents. Keep in mind that travel insurance companies typically do not factor in your travel destination when determining travel insurance premiums. However, some destinations are more expensive or more accommodating to longer trips, which can result in significantly higher premiums.

While the data above shows varying travel insurance costs for trips to different countries, the destination itself is rarely the primary driver of price differences. Rather, destinations that are more expensive to visit and lend themselves to longer trips will inherently cost more to insure.

Cost of Domestic vs International Travel Insurance

According to Squaremouth data, international travel insurance is generally more expensive than coverage for a domestic trip. However, this is mainly due to the coverage needs of travelers going abroad, as most primary health insurance plans don’t extend overseas. This means international plans are riskier for the insurance providers, as they cover you for your trip expenses and travel disruptions, plus they are solely responsible for covering medical emergencies.

According to the data above, international travel insurance is roughly 29% more expensive than coverage for a domestic trip. As mentioned, this is largely due to higher trip costs and longer trip stays.

Tips for Finding Low-Cost International Travel Insurance

Overseas travel protection doesn't have to be expensive. If you're on a strict budget or simply want plans offering the best value for your money, there are a few things you can do to keep travel insurance premiums to a minimum.

Compare Providers

When it comes to travel insurance, international costs can vary widely from one provider to the next. Using a comparison site, such as Squaremouth, allows you to easily see how different travel insurance companies compete on cost and coverage.

We recommend reviewing policies from at least two to three different providers. Doing so will expose you to a variety of coverage options and will help you find the best international coverage at an affordable price point.

Check for Existing Coverage

Many travelers already have built-in travel protection without realizing it. Many travel credit cards now include insurance benefits like Trip Cancellation, Travel Delay, and Baggage Loss coverage to help prevent financial loss abroad.

Being aware of this coverage can help you avoid paying for duplicate benefits when shopping for a travel insurance policy. It's important to note that very few credit cards offer international health insurance, so credit card travel protection should not be viewed as a direct replacement for travel insurance. See our guide on Travel Insurance vs. Credit Card Insurance for more information.

Adjust Coverage Levels

Before searching for travel insurance, take a moment to determine how much coverage you need for your trip. Doing so will keep you from overpaying for coverage you don't need.

For most international trips, for example, we recommend plans with at least $50,000 in Emergency Medical coverage and $100,000 in Medical Evacuation coverage. With that in mind, spending more for a plan that offers over $1,000,000 in medical protection may be overkill.

Consider Medical-Only Policies

If the goal is to find low-cost travel insurance, international travelers should strongly consider travel medical insurance plans. This is the most affordable type of travel insurance available and is designed to financially protect travelers from unexpected medical emergencies that occur overseas.

The cost of international travel health insurance is five times lower than comprehensive travel insurance. Many international health insurance policies also include basic protection against travel delays, missed connections, and baggage loss.

Is International Travel Coverage Worth the Cost?

Yes, purchasing international travel insurance is one of the wisest investments you can make before a trip abroad.

The relatively small per-day cost of international travel insurance can provide much-needed peace of mind when you consider the potential risks involved when traveling overseas.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of travelers across the United States use Squaremouth to purchase travel insurance for their international getaways. Approximately 89% of policies sold through our comparison platform are for trip protection abroad.

For context, here is a look at how much common travel disruptions could cost you if you were uninsured:

• Cancelled Trips: If you need to cancel your trip, you will lose out on all of your prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses. Squaremouth data indicates that international travelers spend, on average, over $7,000 on their trips. A comprehensive policy with Trip Cancellation coverage can protect 100% of these expenses in the event your plans change at the last minute.
• Medical Emergency: Receiving medical attention in a foreign country can be an expensive ordeal. The average Emergency Medical claim exceeds $1,600, according to a Squaremouth report, with the potential to cost tens of thousands. Since U.S. health insurance is rarely accepted abroad, purchasing international travel health insurance coverage is the best way to avoid costly out-of-pocket expenses.
• Medical Evacuation: According to the U.S. Department of State, the cost of medical evacuations while overseas can sometimes reach $200,000. Without proper coverage, you will be responsible for paying these costs out of pocket. Even the most affordable international travel health insurance plans include high coverage for emergency medical evacuations.

When planning an international vacation, insurance might feel like an optional extra, but in many cases, it's the smartest money you'll spend on the entire trip. For a relatively small upfront cost, comprehensive travel insurance can protect you from losses that would otherwise cost thousands.

Methodology: Data from Actual Traveler Purchases

As America's largest travel insurance marketplace, Squaremouth hosts travel insurance policies from over 20 major providers in the industry. This allows us to analyze anonymized, aggregated pricing information in real-time from thousands of policies sold on our site to reveal the most common trends and data points among travelers. To arrive at the average cost of international travel insurance for this article, we analyzed internal data from international insurance policies sold from November 1, 2024 to November 1, 2025.

Unlike other websites and media publishers who estimate the cost of travel insurance using a mix of hypothetical example quotes, our data is from actual travel insurance purchases made by Squaremouth visitors. The average premiums, costs, and prices we show in our content come from actual purchases, not hypothetical quotes. For international travel insurance, these figures account for a wide variety of traveler demographics, trip parameters, and coverage options.

Why Trust Our Numbers?

Large media publishers often base their insurance cost figures on hypothetical traveler profiles, limited sample sizes, static point-in-time data, and quotes, not actual sales. While these can offer useful directional snapshots, they don’t reflect real consumer behavior or shifts in pricing over time.

In contrast, Squaremouth’s insights are based on real purchases made by real travelers. We provide anonymized sales data to give a much clearer picture of what travelers are actually paying for insurance today.

Because our data is tied directly to our travel insurance marketplace, we’re better equipped to provide cost insights across niche segments, making our averages more accurate, timely, and actionable for travelers seeking reliable pricing expectations.

Advantages of Squaremouth’s Data Approach:

• Real Sales Data, Not Sample Quotes:
  Because our data is based on verified insurance purchases, we offer far greater accuracy than those based on hypothetical quotes or limited sample sizes.
• Regularly Updated to Reflect Market Shifts:
  We track and update cost trends regularly to capture the fluctuations in policy prices brought on by seasonality, changes in demand, geopolitical events, and insurer policy changes.
• Highly Segmented Insights:
  Our data reflects the real purchase behavior of a diverse range of traveler demographics, destinations, and trip types, both domestic and international. Because our cost data is sourced directly from sales on our travel insurance marketplace, we can accurately break down cost metrics by specific subsets such as destination, traveler age, trip cost, state of residence, coverage type, filters used, and more.
• Holistic View of Travel Insurance Prices:
  Unless otherwise stated, our analyses encompass all levels of coverage, from basic medical-only policies to comprehensive coverage with add-ons, which gives a more complete picture of pricing.

For Media & Data Licensing Inquiries

Our cost data is freely available for journalistic and educational uses with proper attribution to Squaremouth. Please reference the data source at Squaremouth.com for any information used. For custom data access or licensing opportunities, please contact media@squaremouth.com.