How Much Is Travel Insurance (2026 Data)

How much is travel insurance? The average policy sold in 2026 cost $307¹ for a trip of 15 days, about $20¹ a day. That average hides a wide range: a comprehensive international plan for a trip costing under $1,000 averages $81², and one for a trip costing more than $20,000 averages $2,311².

The stakes are growing. Americans spent $5.56 billion³ on travel protection in 2024, and US airlines canceled 2.31%⁴ of scheduled flights from January to July 2026, against 1.72%⁴ in the same months of 2025. This page prices a policy by plan type, age, trip length, destination and named plan, then sets that price against what it protects: flights, hospital bills, evacuations and the claims that end without a payment.

The average price of a travel insurance policy

The $307 average covers every plan type sold on one large US comparison marketplace, for trips that last 15 days on average.¹ Per day, the price was about $20; the marketplace reports $19¹ a day a year earlier.A policy insures the prepaid, non-refundable part of a trip, and the premium rises with that insured amount, with the traveler's age and with the length of the trip.

Age shows up clearly by generation. Over the last 12 months, Millennials paid the least, $173¹ for a 13-day trip, while travelers born in 1945 or earlier paid $681¹ for 16 days, $43¹ a day against $13¹ for Millennials. Baby Boomers paid $438¹ and insured trips worth about $5,629¹ each. Gen Z paid $209¹ and Gen X $249¹, both for trips of 13 to 15 days.

The insured trip cost rises with age, but much more slowly than the premium. The oldest travelers insured trips worth about $5,908¹, roughly half again the Millennial figure, yet paid about four times as much for the policy.

By plan type over the same 12 months, a medical-only policy averaged $86¹ for 18 days, about $5 a day, and a comprehensive policy $426¹ for 14 days, about $30¹ a day. These averages cover domestic and international trips together, so they sit at or below the international figures further down.

Are travel insurance quotes per person?

Usually not: a quote is for the whole policy, and one policy can cover several travelers. On international policies, one traveler paid $283², two travelers $626² together and four travelers $440² together. Per head, that is $283 alone, $313⁵ each for two and $110⁵ each for four or six. Some policies add children under 18 at no charge, and larger groups often include children, so the lower price per head is not a group discount.²

Premium as a share of the trip cost

Trip cancellation cover is priced against the money at risk, so the cleanest benchmark is the premium as a share of the insured trip cost. Comprehensive plans typically cost 4%¹ to 10%¹ of that cost, and the average comprehensive plan in 2026 costs roughly 6%¹. For a $10,000 trip, the typical range is $400¹ to $1,000¹; for a $3,000 trip it is $120¹ to $300¹. On international trips, the same rule gives $200² to $500² for a $5,000 trip.

How much travel insurance should cost

US health guidance puts a comprehensive policy at up to 8%⁶ of the trip cost when it covers cancellation for a list of named reasons, and up to 15%⁶ when it adds cancel-for-any-reason cover. On a $10,000 trip, those published upper benchmarks are $800⁵ and $1,500⁵. A quote near 6% is close to the average.¹ The benchmarks are not a hard ceiling: on international policies the average premium already reaches 9%² of the trip cost at 70 to 79 and 12% at 80 and over, so older travelers often pay more than 8%.²

Across the whole US market, consumers spent 8.17%⁵ of the trip value they protected on travel protection in 2024, up from 7.78%⁵ in 2019. That ratio divides all premiums by all insured trip value, so it is an aggregate for the market, not the price of any one policy.³

The trip cost, more than anything about the traveler, explains the spread in dollars. For comprehensive international plans, the average premium climbs from $81 for trips under $1,000 to $894² for trips of $10,001 to $20,000, and to $2,311 above that, 28.5⁵ times the cheapest bracket.²

Comprehensive, medical-only and cancel-for-any-reason plans

$81 or $2,311: the trip sets the scale, and the plan type moves it again. On international trips, a medical-only policy averages $86², a comprehensive policy $476² and a comprehensive policy with cancel-for-any-reason cover $727². International trips make up about 89%² of the policies sold on the marketplace behind these averages.

The gap shows how much comprehensive travel insurance costs for its extra benefits: about 5.5⁵ times the medical-only price, with the cancel-for-any-reason upgrade adding another 53%². Comprehensive cover adds trip cancellation and interruption benefits to emergency medical and evacuation cover, while a medical-only plan leaves the prepaid trip uninsured. Over the 12 months from September 1, 2025 to September 1, 2026, buyers chose medical-only cover 38%⁷ of the time and comprehensive cover 62%⁷ of the time; in the first quarter of 2026 alone the medical-only share was 34%.⁸

How much travel health insurance costs

A medical-only policy, also sold as travel health or travel medical insurance, averages $87⁷ for a trip of 17⁷ days, about $5⁷ a day. It pays for emergency treatment and evacuation abroad but not for the prepaid trip. Age drives the price: travelers aged 22 to 34 pay $44⁷ and travelers 80 and over $200⁷, about 4.5⁵ times as much.

The coverage limit matters much less than age. Policies with a $50,000 emergency medical limit and those with a $100,000 limit both average $88⁷, and a $250,000 limit averages $117⁷, only $29⁵ more for five times the cover.

For a family, the policy total matters more than the rate per person. A 14-day trip for a family of four runs about $25¹ to $125¹ with medical-only cover, which is how much travel health insurance costs for a family when the trip itself is left uninsured. A basic plan for two 30-year-olds on a 7-day international trip runs $10¹ to $50¹.

How much cancel for any reason travel insurance costs

Cancel for any reason, or CFAR, is an upgrade that refunds part of the trip cost, typically up to 75%², whatever the reason for canceling. Adding it can raise a premium by about 40%¹ to 50%¹ (on international policies the observed gap between the two averages was 53%), and the average policy with the upgrade cost $672¹ in 2026, about 2.2⁵ times the average policy. It usually has to be bought within 10 to 21 days of the first trip deposit.¹

Interest is rising. The upgrade's share of quotes rose from 14%⁸ in December 2025 to 18%⁸ in March 2026, but 53%⁸ of travelers who looked at it did not buy it, and 32%⁸ had missed the purchase window. Among customer questions about the upgrade in the second quarter of 2026, geopolitical and safety worries led, at 32.5%⁹.

Age and trip length

Age moves the price more than anything else about the traveler. International policies cost $91² for travelers up to 21 and $107² at 22 to 34, then climb to $537² at 70 to 79 and $673² at 80 and over, 6.3⁵ times the price at 22 to 34.

Measured against the insured trip, the premium is 4%² of the trip cost for travelers under 50 and 12%² at 80 and over, three times the share.⁵ Older travelers pay more dollars and a bigger slice of what they spend on the trip. The biggest single step comes between 60-69 and 70-79, $160⁵.

Trip length adds cost more slowly than age. A short international trip of 4 to 7 days averages $159², roughly how much travel insurance costs for a week. A medium trip of 8 to 14 days, one to two weeks, averages $308²; that bracket is the closest guide to how much travel insurance costs for 2 weeks: about 1.9⁵ times the one-week price for up to twice the days.

Long trips of 15 to 30 days, from two weeks to a month, average $427² on international policies, the closest guide to how much travel insurance costs for a month. Medical-only plans follow the same pattern at a lower level: $54⁷ for a short trip, $72⁷ for a medium one and $88⁷ for a long one.

So does the destination matter as much as the traveler?

What destination does to the price

Destination is rarely the main driver of the price; trip cost and trip length are.² By region, how much international travel insurance costs runs from $175² for Mexico to $1,204² for Antarctica. International policies overall average $318², about 17%² more than the $271² for policies covering trips within the United States.

Greenland averages $1,042² and Africa $682², while the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East all sit between $220 and $226. Europe sits in the middle of the range. The average policy for a European trip is $342², about 26%⁵ more than a policy for travel within the United States, and that is how much travel insurance to Europe costs before any country detail.

Within Europe, country averages run from $284¹⁰ (Germany) to $530¹¹ (Italy) around the $342 regional average.² Each country page has its own update date and trip mix, so country and region figures do not match: the Mexico region averages $175 in the marketplace's international report (September 2025 to September 2026),² while its Mexico destination page, updated in June 2026, gives $236¹² for trips of 9¹² days. The two come from different reports, windows and trip mixes.

Thailand policies average $216¹³ for trips of 28¹³ days, about $8¹³ a day, which is how much Thailand travel insurance costs for a typical four-week stay. The Mexico page's average works out to $26.22¹² a day, so that is how much travel insurance to Mexico costs for a shorter stay.

Italy policies average $530¹¹ for 15¹¹ days, about $35¹¹ a day, which is how much travel insurance to Italy costs on a two-week trip. Turkey policies, counting comprehensive plans only, average $528¹⁴ for 16¹⁴ days, $33¹⁴ a day, and that is how much travel insurance to Turkey costs with trip cancellation included.

In Asia, Japan policies average $504²¹ for 17²¹ days, about $30²¹ a day, which is how much travel insurance to Japan costs for a two-and-a-half-week trip. France, counting comprehensive plans only, averages $519²³ for 15²³ days on an insured trip cost of $8,128²³, so that is how much travel insurance for France costs when the whole trip is insured.

The Philippines has the lowest average of the 14 countries, $191.41¹⁵ for about 27¹⁵ days, roughly $7¹⁵ a day, and that is how much travel insurance for the Philippines costs on a long trip. Australia policies average $512²² across all plan types, while a medical-only plan for 30 days there averages $111²²; the pair sets out how much travel insurance to Australia costs with and without cancellation cover. Last year, comprehensive plans for Australia averaged $426.95²² for a 27-day trip; that is an older period than the $512, so the two are not directly comparable.

Elsewhere in Europe, policies for Germany average $284¹⁰, for the United Kingdom $306¹⁷ over 17¹⁷ days, for Greece $387¹⁸ and for Iceland $403¹⁹ over 12 days, while Spain averages $470²⁰ over 17²⁰ days. Costa Rica averages $230¹⁶ for 12-day trips, under $20 a day. The spread from Germany to Italy, $246⁵, is several times the $71 gap between the Europe and USA regional averages.

How much annual travel insurance costs

An annual multi-trip policy covers several trips over a year and averages $428²⁴, less than $2²⁴ a day, or $1.17⁵ a day over 365 days. Prices ranged from $58²⁴ to $2,892²⁴. Annual cover generally makes sense for travelers who mainly need medical cover and take at least three international trips a year.²⁴ The $428 average equals about 5⁵ single-trip medical-only policies at $87²⁴ each.

For one insurer's annual plans, prices rise with age from $159²⁴ for travelers up to 21 to $393²⁴ at 70 to 79, then dip to $364²⁴ at 80 and over. Some insurers use flat-rate annual pricing that ignores age, so these figures describe one insurer's plans, not the whole market.

The catch is the cancellation limit. An annual plan typically covers $5,000²⁴ to $10,000²⁴ of trip costs a year, while a single-trip comprehensive plan insures 100% of one trip's cost and averages $443²⁴ for an 18-day trip, about $25⁵ a day.

Plan design moves annual prices less than age does. An annual travel medical plan averages $396²⁴, and an annual comprehensive plan with cancellation cover $525²⁴, $129⁵ more. Doubling the limits from $500,000 of secondary medical and $250,000 of evacuation cover to $1,000,000 and $500,000 raises the average from $314²⁴ to $426²⁴, about 36%²⁴. Both design gaps are smaller than the $234⁵ spread across age groups in one insurer's plans.²⁴

Flight cover and how often flights fail

The flight protection in a travel policy is its trip cancellation, interruption and delay cover. Comprehensive plans that include flight coverage average $433²⁵ for a trip of 14²⁵ days, around $30²⁵ a day, and that is how much flight insurance costs in practice. Whether it pays off depends on how often flights fail.

US airlines canceled 1.53%⁴ of scheduled flights in 2025, down from 2.71%⁴ in 2022 and far below the 5.99%⁴ of 2020. From 2004 to 2025 the rate stayed between 1.17%⁴ in 2016 and 2.18%⁴ in 2014 in every year except 2020 and 2022.

The dotted projection fits a straight line to all 22 years from 2004 to 2025, with the 2020 spike inside the fit; it is our calculation, not a forecast.

2026 has started worse. From January to July, 2.31% of flights were canceled, against 1.72% in the same months of 2025, a rise of 0.59⁵ percentage points.⁴ January 2026 alone reached 4.82%⁴, 1.54⁵ times the 3.13%⁴ of January 2025. July ran high in all three years, at 2.89%⁴ in 2024, 2.58%⁴ in 2025 and 2.79%⁴ in 2026, while September stayed below 0.6% in both 2024 and 2025.

Punctuality slipped a little too. In the first seven months of 2026, 75.12%⁴ of flights arrived on time, against 75.52%⁴ a year earlier, while diversions stayed near 0.3%⁴.

Most disruption is delay, not cancellation. In 2025, 76.42%⁴ of scheduled flights arrived on time; aircraft arriving late caused delays on 7.96%⁴, airline-caused delays hit 6.59%⁴ and National Aviation System delays 6.32%⁴. Extreme weather was the recorded cause for 0.88%⁴; ordinary weather delays assigned by the FAA sit inside the National Aviation System share. Delay causes are split in proportion to delay minutes.

BTS counts a flight as on time when it arrives less than 15 minutes late, far below the trip-delay triggers in travel policies, which often start at six hours, so a late arrival in these figures is rarely a claimable delay.⁴²⁶

By airline, the gap is wide. Among reporting carriers in 2025, PSA Airlines canceled 4.55%⁴ of its flights and Allegiant Air 0.47%⁴, a ratio of about 9.7⁵ to one. Regional carriers that fly for mainline brands, such as PSA, Republic and Endeavor, had the highest rates.⁴

Fewer cancellations do not always mean better punctuality. Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time record in 2025, 81.95%⁴, and PSA Airlines the weakest, 68.98%⁴. Allegiant Air, with the fewest cancellations, arrived on time on 74.46%⁴ of its flights. Among mainline carriers, Delta Air Lines arrived on time on 79.12%⁴ of flights and American Airlines on 72.70%⁴.

Over the long run, on-time performance has moved within a band of about 11⁵ points. It reached 84.50%⁴ in 2020 and fell to 73.42%⁴ in 2007, and the 76.42% of 2025 was the lowest since the 76.25%⁴ of 2014.

The projection on that chart is a straight line fitted to 2004-2025 and is our calculation, not a forecast.

Disney, Allianz, cruise and other named plans

Plans sold alongside a trip carry their own prices. Disney's Travel Protection Plan for Walt Disney World packages costs $99²⁷ per person for packages from October 1, 2025, up from $95²⁷, and that is how much Disney travel insurance costs for each guest. The plan covers trip cancellation and interruption up to 100% of the trip cost, emergency medical care up to $25,000²⁶ and evacuation and repatriation up to $100,000²⁶. It also pays up to $600²⁶ for trip delays of six hours or more, at $200 a day, and up to $2,000²⁶ for baggage.

Allianz plans start at $27²⁸, a starting price for an unstated trip and traveler, so it marks a floor rather than an average of how much Allianz travel insurance costs. Its OneTrip Basic plan covers trip cancellation up to $10,000²⁹, emergency medical care up to $10,000 and emergency medical transportation up to $50,000²⁹ per traveler. Baggage loss is covered up to $500²⁹ and travel delay up to $300²⁹, at $150 a day.

Cruise policies cost more than the average trip policy. A comprehensive cruise plan averages $540³⁰ and a medical-based cruise plan $102³⁰. By age, average comprehensive cruise premiums run from $188³⁰ for travelers up to 21 to $1,089³⁰ at 80 and over.

How much medical cover a trip needs

The price of a policy is only half the decision; the other half is how much travel insurance you need, measured by its medical and evacuation limits. A common recommendation for international trips is at least $50,000² of emergency medical cover and $100,000² of medical evacuation cover. For cruises the recommended limits are higher, $100,000 and $250,000⁸, and 35%⁸ of cruisers bought less.

How much travel medical insurance you need

Government rules give useful benchmarks. J-1 exchange visitors to the US must carry at least $100,000³¹ of medical benefits per accident or illness, $50,000³¹ for medical evacuation and $25,000³¹ for repatriation of remains, with a deductible of no more than $500³¹.

Medicare usually does not pay for care outside the United States. Most Medigap plans (C, D, F, G, M, N and older plans no longer sold) pay 80%³² of billed charges for certain emergency care abroad after a $250³² yearly deductible, up to $50,000³² in a lifetime, and only if the care begins in the first 60³² days of the trip.

Evacuation is where the numbers get large. A medical evacuation can cost from $25,000⁶ within North America to more than $250,000⁶ from a distant or remote place, more than ten times as much.⁵

Inside the US, the median price charged for a helicopter air ambulance rose from $22,100³⁵ in 2012 to $36,400³⁵ in 2017, and for a fixed-wing air ambulance from $24,900³⁵ to $40,600³⁵. In 2017, 69%³⁵ of those transports were out of network for the patient's health plan.

How much travel insurance you need for Europe

The EU sets its own benchmark for Schengen visa applicants: travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000³³, valid in every Schengen state for the whole stay and covering repatriation for medical reasons, urgent medical attention and emergency hospital treatment. At the exchange rate of September 24, 2026, that is about $34,101⁵.

US citizens visit the Schengen area without a visa, so the rule does not bind US tourists. It is still a useful floor for a European trip, and it sits below the common $50,000 recommendation for international trips.²

How much travel insurance you need for the USA

For visitors to the US, hospital costs set the stakes. US community hospitals spent an average of $3,297.26³⁶ per adjusted inpatient day in 2024, about three times the $1,101.80³⁶ of 1999, and a week at that rate comes to $23,081⁵. Against that, the J-1 minimum of $100,000 covers about 30⁵ days of average hospital expense, a useful yardstick for a US trip. A policy for a trip within the United States averages $271.²

The series has a break: from 2017 a broader hospital definition added about 400³⁶ hospitals, so years before and after 2017 are not strictly comparable. The dotted projection fits a straight line to 1999-2024 and is our calculation, not a forecast.

Hospital expenses also vary by state. California hospitals spent $4,744.25³⁶ per adjusted inpatient day in 2024 and Mississippi hospitals $1,400.53³⁶, a ratio of about 3.4⁵ to one. The national average passed $2,000 a day in 2012 and $3,000 in 2022.³⁶

Growth since 1999 was uneven. North Dakota hospitals' expense per adjusted inpatient day rose about 5.1⁵ times, from $670.19³⁶ to $3,418.86³⁶, the fastest of any state, while Mississippi's rose about 2.0⁵ times, the slowest.

What happens to claims

A policy only pays if a claim does. Insurers report to state regulators how many travel insurance claims they closed without any payment. In 2024 that share ranged from 28.5%³⁷ in Delaware to 50.3%³⁷ in Connecticut, and the middle of the 50 reporting jurisdictions was 33.2%³⁷.

The measure counts every closed claim that ended without a payment, for whatever reason. It is not a rate of wrongly denied claims and not a loss ratio, and no national figure is published.

Domestic and international trip claims fare differently. In 39³⁷ of the 49³⁷ jurisdictions with both figures, domestic claims were closed without payment more often than international ones. The widest gap was in Connecticut, 57.3%³⁷ against 28.4%³⁷; in Nevada the split was 45.5%³⁷ against 34.7%³⁷. Puerto Rico, not shown on the map, reported 50.2%³⁷ overall, close to Connecticut.

Speed is the other measure. The share of claims paid more than 60 days after they were filed ranged from 9.4%³⁷ in South Dakota to 18.5%³⁷ in the District of Columbia. In a study of international travelers with travel health insurance claims, insurers fully paid only two-thirds of the claims.⁶

Travel insurance in the UK

UK claims show the same weight of medical costs. UK insurers settled more than 500,000³⁸ travel claims worth GBP 472 million³⁸ (about $603 million⁵) in 2024, and medical expenses made up 34%³⁸ of claims by number, up from 29% in 2023. The average medical claim paid was GBP 1,528³⁸, about $1,954⁵. Medical claims paid came to GBP 262 million³⁸, down from GBP 291 million³⁹ in 2023, and the average medical claim fell from GBP 1,724³⁹.

In 2023 an average single-trip premium was GBP 38³⁹ (about $47⁵) for travelers aged 36 to 40 and GBP 190³⁹ (about $236⁵) at 71 to 75, five times as much. That year insurers paid GBP 511 million³⁹ on 574,000³⁹ claims, and the average claim for travelers aged 71 to 75, GBP 1,830³⁹, was more than three times the GBP 518³⁹ for ages 36 to 40.

From one claim to a $5.56 billion market.

The US travel insurance market

US consumers spent $810 million³ on travel protection in 2002 and $5.56 billion in 2024, almost seven times as much.⁵ Spending fell to $1.72 billion⁴⁰ in 2020, recovered to $4.27 billion⁴¹ in 2022 and rose another 30%⁵ by 2024. The page uses the five years with a retrievable release (2002, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2024), so the line joins uneven points; trade-press reports mention other study years whose releases could not be retrieved.

The projection is a straight line fitted to all five retrievable points from 2002 to 2024, including the 2020 dip. With so few, unevenly spaced points it is crude; it is our calculation, not a forecast, and no official outlook exists.

The 2024 spending covered 86.97 million³ people under 54.87 million³ plans, about $101⁵ per plan, and protected $68.04 billion³ of trips. Spending rose 46%⁵ from 2019, while the trip value protected rose 39%⁵. Per person insured, 2024 spending came to about $64⁵, and each plan covered about 1.6⁵ people and $1,240⁵ of trip value. In 2022 the number of people insured had already risen 17%⁴¹ over 2019 and 10.7%⁴¹ over 2021.

How policies are sold is shifting too. Between 2022 and 2024, sales through internet aggregators grew 49.4%³ and direct sales by insurers 46.6%³, while traditional travel agents grew 22.8%³, to $762.8 million³. Wholesale sales through cruise and tour operators grew 42.9%³. Online channels already took more than half of spending⁴¹ and more than 80%⁴¹ of the people insured in 2022, and trip cancellation and interruption packages made up about 94.7%³ of spending in 2024.

Where travelers leave gaps

Buyers still leave gaps. In the first quarter of 2026, 34%⁸ bought medical-only cover and skipped cancellation cover, 67%⁸ of seniors bought without cover for pre-existing conditions, and 95%⁸ of travelers to the Middle East had no non-medical evacuation cover. Meanwhile the average insured trip cost passed $7,250⁸, a record, and summer 2026 trips averaged $9,032⁹ per person, 17.4%⁹ more than a year earlier.

Luxury travelers stood out. Trips costing $20,000 or more rose 17.9%⁹, and the share of those travelers buying cancel-for-any-reason or interrupt-for-any-reason cover rose from 10%⁹ to 19%⁹.

What the numbers mean for your next trip

Set side by side, the prices and the risks point to five practical rules.

• Insure the medical risk first. Medical-only cover costs about $5 a day, while one US hospital day averaged $3,297 in expenses in 2024.⁷³⁶
• Check the price against the trip. A comprehensive plan near 6% of the trip cost is average, and 8% is the published upper benchmark for named-reason cover, though international travelers over 70 already average 9% to 12%.¹⁶²
• Weigh the flight risk honestly. Only 1.53% of US flights were canceled in 2025, but January 2026 hit 4.82%, so the season matters more than the average.⁴
• Read the claim terms. In the middle state, about a third of closed claims ended without payment, for reasons the data do not record.³⁷
• Count the trips before buying single cover. For travelers who mainly need medical cover, annual plans generally make sense at three or more trips a year, and the average annual plan, $428, costs about as much as five single-trip medical-only policies at $87 each.²⁴

None of these rules sets a price by itself. Together they separate a policy that fits the trip from one that only looks cheap.

Conclusions

1. The trip, not the map, sets the price. Comprehensive policies for trips under $1,000 average $81 and for trips over $20,000 $2,311, while regional averages run from $175 for Mexico to $1,204 for Antarctica.²
2. Medical cover is the cheap part of the policy, with the biggest downside. Medical-only cover runs about $5 a day and raising the limit from $50,000 to $250,000 adds $29, while one US hospital day averaged $3,297 in expenses and a remote evacuation can pass $250,000.⁷³⁶⁶
3. Age changes the share of the trip you pay, not only the dollars. Under 50 the international premium is 4% of the insured trip cost; at 80 and over it is 12%, three times the share.²
4. Most flights fly, so cancellation cover pays for the bad month. 1.53% of US flights were canceled in 2025, but January 2026 hit 4.82% and the first seven months of 2026 ran at 2.31%.⁴
5. Spending grew faster than what it protects. Consumer spending rose 46% from 2019 to 2024 while the trip value protected rose 39%, lifting spending per dollar of trip from 7.78% to 8.17%.³