Do I need travel insurance?
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Key things to know when thinking about travel insurance
- Core Cover vs. Exclusions: Travel insurance provides a safety net for medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and lost belongings, but it is typically invalidated by intoxication, undeclared medical conditions, or travelling against government advice.
- The Insurance "Value Gap": While the GHIC/EHIC offers basic state healthcare in Europe, it is not a replacement for insurance, as it fails to cover critical costs like repatriation, or travel disruption.
- Tailored Protection: Policies are not "one size fits all"; you must consider your destination, planned high-risk activities (like skiing), and the total value of non-refundable bookings to ensure your single-item and cancellation limits are sufficient.
- Risk Management: For expensive long-haul trips or cruises, insurance offers essential peace of mind against escalating logistical costs, whereas for short domestic trips with refundable bookings, the financial risk may be low enough to rely on existing cover like the NHS.
Do I need travel insurance? Everything you need to know
While travel insurance is not a legal requirement to visit most countries, it can make your trip a lot less stressful and more affordable. Despite it giving you peace of mind once you’ve got it, finding the right policy for your trip can be difficult; there are a lot of options and factors to consider, such as:
- Your destination
- Your medical history
- Your planned activities You planned activities
- Reciprocal healthcare agreements
- EHIC/GHIC
So it can sometimes be easy to feel overwhelmed by it all.
This page will simplify travel insurance so that you can make the right decision for your trip.
Many travel insurance policies usually cover things in the following areas:
Medical Emergencies | This typically covers the cost of hospital stays, surgery, and emergency dental procedures during your trip. Many policies will also include repatriation, which is the cost of flying you back home if you are too unwell to use your original ticket. |
If you have to cancel your trip before you leave due to unforeseen events—like a family bereavement or a sudden illness—this helps you to get reimbursed for non-refundable costs, like flights and hotels. | |
Travel Delays and Disruption | If your flight is delayed/cancelled or your accommodation becomes unsafe, this gives you a set amount of compensation to cover any additional costs, e.g., alternative accommodation or transport. |
Lost or Stolen Belongings | This helps you avoid paying to replace lost or stolen luggage. However, "single-item limits" often apply here. This means if your most expensive item is £2,000, your single item limit also needs to be £2,000 at least. |
What doesn’t travel insurance cover?
Travel insurance policies aren’t a ‘one size fits all' product; the type of policy you may need all depends on your specific circumstances. Despite it being a great way to help you cover costs if something were to happen, it doesn’t cover everything. Some notable exceptions include the following:
Intoxication | This applies to both drugs and alcohol. If you’re injured or get ill because of using either of them, your claim will very likely be rejected. |
Undeclared pre-existing conditions | No matter how minor you may think it is, not declaring a pre-existing medical condition can cause your policy to be invalidated |
Travelling against government advice | If the UK government advises against travelling to Spain, for example, and you ignore this advice, you won’t be covered. |
When travel insurance is usually worth considering
- Travelling abroad – Outside of the UK, the standard and cost of healthcare in different countries can vary significantly, particularly in public hospitals. In other countries, the cost of healthcare and medication can be extremely high. Travel insurance can protect you against high healthcare prices.
- Trips booked far in advance – If you book a Christmas trip to Australia in March, that leaves a lot of time for something to happen that can prevent you from going on your trip. Having cancellation cover would mean that if you weren’t able to travel for a certain reason, like illness or a death in the family, your travel insurance provider would likely cover the cost of cancellation.
- Expensive or non-refundable bookings – For high-cost trips where flights, accommodation, or tours cannot be refunded, insurance can help you get your money back.
- Travelling with children – Travelling with kids can sometimes be more unpredictable than travelling with adults. Travel insurance can protect you from kids getting unexpectedly ill or injuring themselves, but it’s important to declare any pre-existing medical conditions for your children on any family or group travel insurance policy.
- Cruises and complex itineraries – Long-haul, multi-leg flights and cruises involve more "moving parts". If one connection is missed or a cruise requires a medical evacuation at sea, the logistical costs can escalate quickly.
- Travelling within the UK – For many non-medical unforeseen events, such as having your luggage stolen or having to cancel your non-refundable booking, travel insurance can still be worth it when travelling in the UK.
When you might decide not to take travel insurance
Travel insurance has a lot of value and can provide you with a lot of confidence, which helps you to enjoy your trip. There are a few instances where you may decide against buying a policy, such as:
- Short domestic trips – If you live in London and you’re going for a relaxing holiday in Bath, you wouldn’t need to worry about medical cover as you have the NHS, and the cost of your trip is likely to be low.
- Fully refundable bookings – If all of your bookings for your trip are refundable, the financial risk of cancelling is smaller.
- Alternative/existing cover - It’s possible to cover a lot of the parts of your UK trip with other forms of insurance. Think car or home insurance for personal items.
Is travel insurance worth it?
It depends on what is ‘worth it’ for you. For many people this means being covered for unforeseen illness or injury.
When you’re comparing policies, you can consider these factors to help you make a decision:
- The cost of your trip – If you’ve paid a lot of money for some non-refundable parts of your holiday, your policy can help make sure you don’t miss out on a refund.
- Risk tolerance – Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to cover the cost of a missed flight or stolen luggage. Other people may need the certainty of knowing that they can be reimbursed.
- Specific needs – If you have a pre-existing condition such as high blood pressure or have to carry high-value specialist items, e.g., a high-end bicycle, a cheaper policy may not provide you with all the cover you need.
You can use the above to find the right insurance policy for you at the right price.
While the cost of travel insurance may be, for example, a £50 policy, this can cover you in the event of far bigger financial incidents, such as a £10k repatriation or a £5k holiday cancellation. As a result, it’s worth considering the value of travel insurance before making any decisions.
Doesn’t my EHIC or GHIC already cover me?
Both the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) and GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) can be useful. They give you access to public healthcare at the same price as a local in EU countries. If they pay a little bit, you pay a little bit; if it’s free for locals, it’s free for you too. But neither of these cards is comprehensive; there are many things that they don’t cover; for example, neither of them cover:
- Repatriation – If you need an air ambulance to get back home, this can cost tens of thousands of pounds.
- Travel disruption – If your flight is delayed or cancelled.
- Lost or stolen items – Without alternative cover, you’d have to pay to replace these.
- Private healthcare – For more serious injuries, in an emergency a public hospital may not be close enough, so travel insurance may be able to get you healthcare privately.
Both of these cards are best used with travel insurance and not as a replacement. For example, they can reduce your excess charge in some cases if you have travel insurance.
It’s important to remember that neither an EHIC nor a GHIC will give you worldwide cover. With these cards, you will be covered for all 27 European countries as well as some others, such as Australia. They will not, however, cover you for destinations like Turkey, Egypt, the USA, or countries like Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City.
Key things to consider before getting travel insurance
Before you choose your policy, it may help if you have a think about what you need from it for your trip. You can ask yourself some questions to figure this out, such as:
- Where am I going? For example, it’s generally easier to cover the medical expenses in Mexico or Thailand than it would be in the USA or Dubai.
- What are my plans? If you’re planning to do any high-risk activities, such as skiing, cliff diving or quad biking, you’ll need activity-specific add-ons to make sure you’re covered, which will cost more up front but potentially be great value for money if you have an accident.
- How flexible is my booking? If your flights or accommodation aren't refundable, it could help if you find a policy with a high level of cancellation cover.
- What do I already have? Check if your bank account or credit card provides existing cover to avoid paying for the same protection twice.
- How much did my holiday cost? A higher holiday price requires a policy with matching cancellation limits to fully protect your non-refundable costs, which generally increases your insurance premium.
- Do I have any particular medical conditions I might need treatment for while travelling? It’s important to disclose any pre-existing medical conditions that may be relevant, as this will ensure you get the right cover needed for your policy.
Do I need travel insurance key takeaways
While you can technically travel without travel insurance in most places, it can be very effective at protecting you from negative ‘what ifs’ that your EHIC or GHIC wouldn’t be able to cover.
If you’re still not sure why to buy travel insurance, consider these final points:
- Risk vs. Reward – It balances a small upfront cost against potentially life-changing medical bills.
- Peace of Mind – You can focus on enjoying your holiday rather than stressing about potential lost items, injuries or illness.
- Better budgeting – It makes it much easier to know how much you’ll be spending in total before you depart (as long as you follow the rules of the insurer). As you can make a good estimate of the costs of something unexpected happening.