Travel can be even more enjoyable when you know you have a solid safety net in case something goes wrong. Whether you’re considering a slow-paced river cruise on the Danube in Europe or walking tours of historical sites in Rome, a good travel insurance plan can give you more confidence in booking a trip.
We evaluated 46 plans in order to find the best senior travel insurance.
How Much Does Senior Travel Insurance Cost?
Your cost for travel insurance will depend on the travelers’ ages, state of residence, length of trip, destination and trip cost.
In our analysis, travel insurance for seniors often cost around 7% to 9% of the trip costs. Remember that you’re insuring only the portions of the trip that are pre-paid and non-refundable.
For example, Trawick International’s Safe Travels First Class plan had the lowest average price among the best plans for seniors at $385.
What to Look for in the Best Senior Travel Insurance
Senior travelers tend to have more medical issues than younger travelers, so superior medical and evacuation coverage is a must. For Forbes Advisor’s ratings of the best senior travel insurance, we included only plans that provide the following.
At least $150,000 in medical coverage per person
Travel medical insurance can pay for everything from an ambulance bill to hospitalization, X-rays, diagnostic tests and prescription medicine. Because expenses like these can add up quickly, seniors should look for a high level of coverage.
At least $250,000 in medical evacuation coverage
If you need a medevac to take you to a better hospital, medical evacuation coverage can pay. You can use medical evacuation insurance when you need to get to a better medical facility that can treat your condition. For example, a local rural clinic in Italy may not be equipped to handle a cardiac problem. In addition, your travel insurance company’s emergency assistance team can arrange for medevac transportation, so you don’t have to navigate that in a foreign country.
Coverage for Covid-19
Even fully vaccinated senior travelers may want to guard against a breakthrough Covid case. We included only travel insurance plans that cover Covid-related trip cancellation and medical expenses.
More: Best Covid-19 travel insurance plans
Coverage for pre-existing medical conditions
Make sure your plan offers a pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver, which removes exclusions for conditions you already have. You generally must buy a travel insurance plan soon after your first trip deposit in order to get the waiver, such as within two or three weeks. Without the waiver, the travel insurance company will likely exclude coverage for medical issues you had 60 to 180 days before departure. (This look-back window varies by provider.) We included only plans that provide this waiver.
Ability to add “cancel for any reason” coverage
Typical travel insurance policies have lists of reasons allowed for trip cancellation claims that include common problems such as illness, injury and severe weather. For an extra level of flexibility, some plans offer a “cancel for any reason” upgrade.
Buying this upgrade will allow you to receive partial reimbursement (often 75% of trip costs) if you cancel for a reason not listed in the base policy. For example, if you find out that your granddaughter’s birthday is going to be during your trip, you could make a “cancel for any reason” insurance claim.
This upgrade adds an average of 50% to travel insurance costs. We included only plans that have an option to add this benefit.
Consider an Annual Plan
Retired and planning to take multiple trips in a year? Consider an annual travel insurance plan. All your trips can be covered under one policy. This will save you time from buying a policy for every trip, and it’s also more affordable than buying multiple separate policies during one year.
Methodology
We included only plans with: $150,000 or more in coverage for medical expenses; coverage for Covid-19 related trip cancellation and medical expenses; the availability of waivers for exclusions of pre-existing conditions; and the ability to upgrade to “cancel for any reason” coverage.
Price (50% of score): Prices are based travel insurance costs for one trip. We averaged quotes for senior travelers ages 65 and 70 from California, Florida, Georgia and Texas. Quotes were based on trips to the U.K. ($5,000 trip cost) and Greece ($7,000 trip cost). Your own travel insurance price will be different, typically depending on your age, trip cost and trip length.
Benefits (50% of score): We scored a broad range of benefits to identity plans with the most robust coverage. The benefits scored were: medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation, Covid-related coverage, pre-existing condition exclusion waivers, “cancel for any reason” coverage, trip interruption, travel delay time requirements, baggage delay time requirements, baggage loss reimbursement, hurricane and weather coverage requirements, and coverage for financial default of a travel supplier.
