Want the occasional useful email?
New calculators, updated cost data, and the occasional money-saving guide. No account needed, and you can leave any time.
By Alex Diaz · How we calculate this
The premium itself is small next to what it's protecting, a percentage of a trip cost that's already been paid to airlines, hotels, and tour operators, most of it non-refundable if plans fall apart. That's a different kind of purchase than most one-time expenses this calculator handles, and it's worth sizing against the trip cost it's covering, not just against your monthly budget.
These key factors affect travel insurance affordability
Coverage type and trip cost
A basic trip-cancellation and interruption plan runs 4% to 8% of the total trip cost, which scales with what there is to protect, a $10,000 honeymoon costs more to insure than a $2,000 long weekend. Comprehensive plans that add cancel-for-any-reason coverage push that to 8% to 12% or more, but they also reimburse a meaningfully higher share of the trip if you cancel for a reason the standard policy wouldn't cover at all.
Age affects pricing
Premiums climb with traveler age, and the increase isn't gradual, it can meaningfully accelerate past 60 to 65, sometimes doubling what the same plan would cost a traveler in their thirties for the identical trip and coverage.
What's actually covered
The line item that matters most for an international trip is usually medical evacuation, often capped at $100,000 or more, since domestic health insurance and Medicare typically stop covering care the moment you leave the country. A policy priced a little higher for a real evacuation limit is often worth more than a cheaper plan that would leave a medical emergency abroad almost entirely out of pocket.
Pre-existing condition waivers
Getting a pre-existing condition covered at all usually means buying the policy within 14 to 21 days of the first trip deposit, a window that's easy to miss since most people don't think about insurance until much closer to departure. Miss it, and that condition is typically excluded from coverage for the rest of the policy, no matter how comprehensive the plan otherwise is.
How to use your results
- Buy your policy within the pre-existing condition waiver window, typically 14 to 21 days of your first trip deposit, if you want that coverage included.
- Prioritize medical evacuation coverage for international trips, since domestic health insurance often doesn't cover care abroad.
- Compare the premium against your total trip cost, since 4% to 8% of trip cost is the typical range for standard cancellation coverage.
- Recheck coverage limits against your most expensive prepaid trip components, like flights or a cruise fare, to make sure they're fully covered.
Ways to increase how much travel insurance you can afford
- Choose a standard cancellation and interruption plan instead of a cancel-for-any-reason upgrade, which typically costs 40% to 50% more.
- Check if your credit card already includes trip protection, which can reduce or eliminate the need for a separate policy.
- Buy an annual multi-trip policy instead of per-trip if you travel more than two or three times a year.
- Skip evacuation coverage for domestic trips where your existing health insurance already applies.
More travel calculators
Peer comparison data
Bureau of Labor Statistics (median income by age), Experian (credit score by age)
Used by the “how you compare” figures in the sidebar, not by the costs on this page.
Every figure on this site, with its source and the date it was last verified
How you compare
Income
Credit score
Nothing added yet - add something to see your risk.