How it works
Travel insurance is priced as a percentage of the trip cost you insure, loaded heavily for age and modestly for trip length. A comprehensive policy for a traveller in their forties typically lands between 4% and 8% of trip cost; the same policy for a 72-year-old can be two and a half times that, because the medical component dominates the risk. The calculator applies those loads to your numbers and separates the cancel-for-any-reason add-on, which adds roughly 40% and typically reimburses 50% to 75% of trip cost. What actually earns the premium is rarely trip cancellation. It is emergency medical care and medical evacuation abroad, where domestic health plans often provide little or no coverage and an air ambulance home can run past six figures. That is the reason the medical and evacuation limits shown here matter more than the headline price. Two rules govern what to insure. Only prepaid, non-refundable costs need covering — refundable hotel nights and award flights with free cancellation should be left out, which is the single easiest way to cut the premium. And timing is a hard constraint: pre-existing condition waivers and cancel-for-any-reason cover must usually be purchased within 14 to 21 days of your first trip deposit, and cannot be added later at any price.
Formula
Premium = insured trip cost x base rate x age factor x coverage level x length factor (+ 40% for CFAR)
Tips
- Insure only prepaid non-refundable costs; every refundable booking you exclude cuts the premium directly.
- Buy within 14 to 21 days of your first deposit to keep the pre-existing condition waiver and CFAR eligibility.
- Check your credit card first — many premium cards include trip cancellation and rental car coverage you would otherwise duplicate.
- For several trips a year, an annual multi-trip policy usually beats buying single-trip cover each time.
- Medical evacuation, not cancellation, is the coverage that justifies the premium abroad — do not cut that limit to save money.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does travel insurance cost?
- A comprehensive policy typically costs 4% to 10% of the insured trip cost. Age is the largest single factor: travellers under 50 sit near the bottom of that range, while travellers over 70 often pay two to three times as much for identical coverage because of the medical component.
- Is travel insurance worth it?
- For international trips it usually is, because emergency medical care and evacuation abroad are often barely covered by domestic health plans and an air ambulance can cost more than the trip. For a cheap domestic trip with refundable bookings, the case is much weaker.
- What does cancel for any reason cover?
- It reimburses a percentage of your trip cost — commonly 50% to 75% — when you cancel for a reason no standard policy covers, including simply changing your mind. It adds roughly 40% to the premium, requires insuring the full trip cost, and must usually be bought within 14 to 21 days of your first deposit.
- Does my health insurance cover me abroad?
- Often only for emergencies, at out-of-network rates, and almost never for evacuation. Medicare provides essentially no coverage outside the United States. Check your plan's foreign travel provision before deciding you can skip travel medical cover.
- When should I buy travel insurance?
- Within 14 to 21 days of your first trip payment. That window is what preserves the pre-existing condition waiver, cancel-for-any-reason eligibility and financial default coverage. Buying later still gets you basic cancellation and medical cover, but those three benefits are gone permanently.