Travel insurance is bought either because a destination demands it or because a medical bill abroad can be ruinous. Both are good reasons. What trips people up is assuming one policy does everything.
What a policy typically covers
- Emergency medical treatment and hospitalisation abroad
- Emergency evacuation and repatriation
- Trip cancellation or interruption, reimbursing prepaid costs you cannot recover
- Travel delay, and baggage that is delayed, lost or damaged
- Round-the-clock assistance for emergencies and lost documents
The medical portion is the part you cannot sensibly travel without. Everything else is a judgement about how much prepaid money is at risk.
Where it is compulsory
Some destinations require proof of cover as a visa condition. The Schengen area is the strictest commonly encountered example: a policy must provide at least €30,000 of medical cover, and the application will not proceed without it.
Many insurers will refund a Schengen policy in full if the visa is refused, provided cover has not yet started and you can produce the rejection letter. Ask about that before you buy, not after.
Questions worth asking before you pay
- What is the medical limit, and does it meet the destination's requirement?
- Are pre-existing conditions covered, excluded, or covered only if declared?
- Is trip cancellation included, or an add-on?
- What is excluded — adventure activities, alcohol, undeclared conditions?
- How do you claim, and what do you need to keep? Receipts and reports usually have to be originals.
- Is there a 24-hour assistance number that works from abroad?
If a tour already includes it
Some packages include a basic policy and some list insurance as an exclusion, meaning it is mandatory but you arrange it yourself. Both are common. Check which applies before you assume you are covered — and if it is included, ask for the limits, because an included policy is not automatically enough for the destination you are visiting.