How to Get Travel Insurance

Travel insurance, also called trip cancellation insurance, is a type of insurance coverage that can provide some financial protection if a traveler experiences a covered emergency. Covered emergencies vary by policy, but may include problems such as injuries, illnesses, lost luggage, unexpected trip interruptions, and trip cancellations.

Trip cancellation insurance is provided by many travel insurance organizations, and types of coverage vary from one policy to the next. When choosing a policy, take into consideration which types of events are covered by the policy, the reputation of the travel insurance company, the cost of the policy versus cost of the trip, the allowable upgrades, and more.

Some companies allow travelers to customize their coverage by allowing them to upgrade their base plan to cover additional events. This means travelers can focus their insurance coverage in areas where they feel their trip presents the most risk.

For example, the Atlas Journey plans from WorldTrips® offer a Trip Cancellation for Any Reason benefit upgrade that reimburses 50% or 75% of your trip—whichever you choose upon purchase—if you cancel your trip for any reason not covered by your Trip Cancellation benefit.

Planning to partake in adventurous activities? Add an Adventure Sports upgrade to extend coverage to sports such as safari, bungee jumping, hang gliding, and more. Concerned about your senior pet? Add a Pet Care upgrade that adds cancellation coverage due to the death or critical illness of your dog or cat—or coverage for vet care if your pet is traveling with you.

Travelers who may benefit from travel insurance should shop around and read the full details of their policies to find the right plan for them. To get a quote and purchase a plan, you'll need information such as departure date, return date, state of residence, ages of travelers, total trip cost, and initial trip payment date.

Many travel insurance companies offer different types of travel insurance policies with varying levels of coverage, so you can right-size your trip cancellation insurance to your trip.

How to Get Travel Insurance for COVID-19

COVID-19 can cause disruption to travel plans because it can strike before you leave on your trip, or it can impact you while you're on your trip. The best travel insurance policies for COVID-19 are those which include coverage for medical expenses related to COVID-19, such as hospitalization and physician care, if you are diagnosed and require hospitalization during your trip.

But what about COVID concerns before your trip? You’ll likely find that most travel insurance policies do not automatically include COVID-19 concerns as a covered reason for canceling a trip under the Trip Cancellation benefit.

However, many policies include illness as a covered reason for cancellation, as long as it occurs prior to your trip, requires physician treatment, and your physician certifies that you are sick and should not travel. Therefore, you may be covered for a canceled trip if you contract COVID-19 prior to your departure date and meet these conditions and any other conditions required under your policy.

Trip Cancellation for Any Reason Benefit and COVID-19

If you’re looking for coverage that would allow you to cancel your trip due to concerns about COVID in your destination, look for a travel insurance plan that offers an optional Trip Cancellation for Any Reason (CFAR) benefit upgrade. This is a benefit that you can add to your base plan if you purchase the policy within a certain period after making the first payment toward your trip. It can provide you with some reimbursement—usually not 100%—if you cancel your trip for any reason, such as concerns about COVID in your destination.

If you have questions about the policy coverage for COVID-19, ask the licensed sales representative from your preferred travel insurance agency about the specific protections relating to COVID-19 in the policy you're considering purchasing.

Learn more about the Trip Cancellation for Any Reason benefit below.

Cancel for Any Reason Travel Insurance

The Trip Cancellation for Any Reason (CFAR) benefit is an optional benefit upgrade that will reimburse you for a percentage of the nonrefundable, prepaid payments made toward your trip if you must cancel for any reason not already covered by your Trip Cancellation benefit.

The CFAR benefit is a way to expand your travel insurance protection if you have a specific concern that isn't covered by the insurance plan you're considering purchasing. For example, you may be thinking about taking a trip one year from now. Your best friend is trying to become pregnant, and if she succeeds, you would like to be there to assist in the last stages of her pregnancy. You would like to schedule your trip now, but want a CFAR benefit that would allow you to cancel your trip in the event that you would choose not to travel because of your friend's health status.

How much of your trip will be reimbursed depends on your travel insurance company and the plan you choose. You may even have a choice of percentage. Cancel for any reason travel insurance can often be purchased for 50% or 75% of your total trip cost—look for this when you're making your purchase.

It’s important to know that many travel insurance companies that offer this benefit require you to purchase this benefit upgrade within a certain period of time after making the first deposit for your trip—often 21 days. This benefit upgrade may not be available for all policies and in all circumstances.

In addition, the CFAR benefit may have stipulations that require you to cancel your trip a certain number of days or hours prior to your scheduled departure.

Cancel for any reason travel insurance is an excellent way to get reimbursed for lost expenses if you need to cancel your trip. But remember: it may not be available after 21 days of making the first payment toward your trip, so start looking for travel insurance quickly after making your travel reservation.

When Is It Too Late to Buy Travel Insurance?

Wondering how to get travel insurance after booking a trip? It’s probably not too late. Each travel insurance policy has its own stipulations regarding when you must purchase and when it's too late to buy a plan. For WorldTrips’ Atlas Journey travel insurance plans, you must be traveling tomorrow or later. You can purchase days, weeks, or several months in advance.

A common question that travelers ask is when is it too late to buy travel insurance? Travelers who are looking to purchase travel insurance the same day they are leaving can purchase our Atlas On-the-Go^TM plan instead. Atlas On-The-Go does not include a Trip Cancellation benefit. However, this plan does include a Trip Interruption benefit in case the traveler must end their trip early for a covered reason.

See Trip Cancellation Vs. Trip Interruption: What Is the Difference?” to learn more about the Trip Interruption benefit and what it covers.

Best Travel Insurance 2023

When determining the best travel insurance in 2023 for your needs, take into consideration the following factors:

• What qualifies as covered events? Different policies offer different levels of coverage, but many policies will reimburse your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses if you cancel because of unforeseen circumstances such as sickness, injury, death, hospitalization, a traffic accident while en route to your destination, the delay or cancellation of your flight due to a natural disaster or mechanical breakdown, or a terrorist incident. All of these are covered reasons for trip cancellation under Atlas Journey travel insurance plans.
  
  Visit the Atlas Journey Insurance page, click "Policy Documentation” above the benefit chart, select your state of residency, and select a plan to see the policy documents applicable to you. These policy documents will help you understand the specific conditions and exclusions for your policy.

• Level of coverage. The level of coverage may vary from one plan to another. For example, one plan may offer up to 100% of costs for the Trip Interruption benefit, while another plan may offer up to 150% of trip costs for Trip Interruption.
  
  For example, the Atlas Journey Economy plan offers up to 100% of trip costs for Trip Interruption, while Atlas Journey Preferred and Atlas Journey Premier offer up to 150% of trip costs for Trip Interruption. If you're having a hard time deciding which level of coverage is right for you, work with your licensed sales representative to determine the level of coverage you need.

Atlas Journey Premier, Atlas Journey Preferred, and Atlas Journey Economy plans from WorldTrips offer benefits like Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption, Travel Delay, Emergency Accident & Sickness Medical Expense, and more. Each option offers a different level of coverage and comes at a different cost.

What About Travel Health Insurance?

Travel medical insurance, also known as travel health insurance, is an alternative to travel insurance for those who don't need or prioritize a Trip Cancellation benefit. Travel medical insurance may also be an option for travelers who are not eligible for travel insurance plans such as Atlas Journey because they are not U.S. citizens or residents.

The main difference between travel medical insurance and standard travel insurance is that travel medical insurance does not include a Trip Cancellation benefit, so there's no coverage for a canceled trip.

For some people, travel medical insurance is an attractive option because the plans can be more budget-friendly. Travel medical insurance places more of an emphasis on medical benefits, which often have higher maximum limits than travel insurance medical benefits. Note that the best travel medical insurance plans still include some travel-related benefits, such as Trip Interruption and Travel Delay, as well as travel assistance services.

The other main difference is that many travel medical insurance plans can cover individuals from most countries, but only for travel abroad, whereas a U.S.-based travel insurance can only cover U.S. citizens or residents, but they can be traveling domestically and/or abroad.

Information about WorldTrips’ most popular travel medical insurance plan, Atlas Travel®, is found here. Atlas Travel can cover you for single trips of up to 364 days. If travel health insurance for multiple international trips is needed, you can purchase Atlas MultiTrip for a year of coverage.

Been searching for “travel health insurance Europe”? See our Schengen Visa Insurance page. Searching for “travel health insurance USA”? See our Atlas America page.

The travel health insurance cost of Atlas Travel medical insurance varies, depending on age, length of travel, and whether the trip includes U.S. coverage. As an example, for someone younger than 30 years old traveling to a destination outside the U.S., with a $1,000,000 maximum coverage limit and a $100 deductible, the cost is as little as $1.72 per day at the time of publish.