Travel Health Insurance Cost: 2025 Data Report

How Much Does Medical Travel Insurance Cost?

According to industry-wide reporting, basic travel medical insurance typically costs anywhere from $10 to $150. However, Squaremouth data from thousands of recent medical-only policy sales reveals that travelers spend an average of $103 on medical coverage for their trips, with an average trip length of 20 days.

At an average cost of just $5 per day, travel medical insurance is one of the most affordable types of protection you can purchase for a trip. Travelers who take the time to compare plans and providers compare plans and providers can often find policies for less than $1 per day.

Premiums can vary depending on your specific age, trip details, and coverage needs. Follow along as we break down how various factors impact the cost of travel medical insurance.

What Factors Influence the Cost of Medical Travel Insurance?

The cost of medical travel insurance depends on several factors, including your age, trip length, and the amount of coverage a policy provides. Since this type of plan does not provide trip cost protection, your travel expenses will not impact the cost of your policy. The lack of cancellation coverage is the main reason why travel medical plans are so much more affordable.

How Age Impacts Travel Medical Insurance Costs

Age plays a significant role in pricing for travel medical insurance policies. Due to the increased health risks involved when traveling later in life, travel medical premiums generally rise as you age, with senior travel insurance costing the most.

The chart below showcases how the average cost of travel medical coverage differs by age group.

As seen above, the cost of travel insurance steadily increases with the traveler's age, peaking when travelers exceed 70 years old. Travel insurance for seniors over 70 costs at least 37% more on average than travel insurance for any other age group.

How Trip Length Impacts Travel Medical Insurance Costs

Longer trips have a statistically higher likelihood of travel mishaps occurring, which is one reason why travel medical policies increase in price with longer trip durations. Also, longer trips require more days of coverage, which also increases the overall price of the policy.

The table below shows how average premiums typically vary depending on the length of your trip.

As shown in the table above, trip length typically has a 1:1 impact on travel insurance premium. As a general rule of thumb, if you double your trip length, you can expect the cost of travel medical insurance to double.

How Coverage Amounts Influence Travel Medical Insurance Costs

Typically, higher coverage limits for medical benefits result in higher premiums. Below is a breakdown of average premiums across popular Emergency Medical coverage limits.

The table below shows how average premiums vary depending on the length of your trip.

While traveler age and trip length strongly influence the cost of travel medical insurance, Emergency Medical coverage does not follow the same pattern. For example, a policy with 5 times as much coverage will only increase the premium by roughly 54%, on average. In many cases, doubling the amount of coverage from $50,000 to $100,000 only increases premiums by a few dollars.

Medical Travel Insurance vs Comprehensive Travel Insurance Cost Comparison

Squaremouth data shows that, on average, medical-only policies are 75% less expensive than comprehensive policies. The average cost of travel medical insurance policies was $103 for Squaremouth users over the last 12 months, whereas the average cost for comprehensive policies was $414.

Both types of coverage are designed to protect you while you’re away from home, but they differ greatly in pricing due to the benefits offered.

• Travel Medical Insurance is a more affordable option that prioritizes medical coverage above other benefits, while still offering protection for travel-related issues, such as delays and luggage.
• Comprehensive Travel Insurance is a more expensive option; however, it is the most popular type of coverage because it includes the same benefits as travel medical insurance, while also protecting your trip costs through the Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption benefits.

For travelers who need cancellation benefits, the extra expense can be worth it. However, travelers who don’t have non-refundable trip expenses, or those who have coverage elsewhere, can save money by only opting for travel medical insurance. A good reason to only secure travel medical coverage would be when you already have coverage through your credit card. According to WalletHub, 29% of credit cards include some level of Trip Cancellation coverage. But very few, if any, provide medical benefits.

See a full comparison of these two types of coverage below:

How to Find Low-Cost Medical Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance premiums can range dramatically. To find plans that offer the best value, it helps to have a strategy in place. The following steps can help you purchase the best medical travel coverage without breaking the bank.

Choose the Right Level of Coverage

To ensure you're getting the necessary coverage without overspending, determine how much medical coverage you need. For most international trips, we recommend at least $50,000 in Emergency Medical coverage and $100,000 in Medical Evacuation coverage. You may require additional medical protection for cruises, trips to remote destinations, or trips that involve high-risk activities.

Compare Policies and Prices From Different Providers

The best way to know you’re getting the best value for your money is to shop around. Prices can vary dramatically between providers, even for almost identical coverage. At a minimum, you should compare plans from 2-3 different travel insurance companies.

Sort Results by Price

To help you identify the most affordable plans, you should take advantage of the search filters and sorting options available to you. It’s important to note that high premiums are not always indicative of better coverage. If you’re choosing between multiple plans that provide similar protection, we almost always recommend the lower-cost plan.

Is Medical Travel Insurance Worth the Money?

As travel medical insurance is one of the most affordable coverage options around, providing thousands of dollars of medical coverage for less than $5 per day, it is absolutely worth the money.

Since most U.S. health insurance policies don’t provide international coverage, you are financially responsible for any medical expenses that occur overseas. However, a travel medical plan can protect you from out-of-pocket expenses in the event you get sick or injured during your trip.

For context, let’s consider the financial impact of a few common medical disruptions if you were uninsured:

• Medical Emergency: Receiving medical care overseas can be extremely expensive. Industry claims data shows that the average Emergency Medical claim is more than $1,600. And depending on the severity of your condition and healthcare costs at your destination, medical expenses overseas can quickly surpass that figure. Some of the best value travel medical plans offer at least $50,000 in Emergency Medical coverage, helping you avoid any out-of-pocket expenses.
• Medical Evacuation: If you are traveling in a remote destination or are far from a medical facility, emergency medical evacuations can cost in excess of $200,000, according to the U.S. Department of State. Many medical travel insurance plans include Medical Evacuation insurance that covers this amount and more.
• Pre-Existing Condition Flare Up: If you are traveling with an existing health issue, there’s a chance you may experience a flare-up during your trip. This can result in expenses related to hospital stays, doctor visits, or high-cost prescription medication. A travel medical plan with a Pre-Existing Condition waiver can cover these costs so you’re not financially burdened. However, it’s important to remember that these waivers are time-sensitive and must be purchased with 14-21 days on average of your first trip deposit.
• Repatriation of Remains: If you or a travel companion passes away during a covered trip, your travel medical plan will cover the cost to return your remains to your home country. Depending on your location, an evacuation back to the U.S. could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Though some may view it as an unnecessary expense, travel health insurance can be a wise investment ahead of your trip abroad. For as little as $1 per day, travel medical coverage offers a safeguard against substantial financial losses and some much-needed peace of mind.

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 medical travel insurance for this article, we analyzed internal data from thousands of travel insurance policies sold from June 8, 2024 to June 8, 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. These medical travel insurance figures account for a wide variety of traveler demographics, trip types, destinations, trip costs, 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.