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The quick rule: 4 to 10 percent of the trip
Travel insurance usually costs between 4 and 10 percent of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip cost. A $5,000 trip typically costs $200 to $500 to insure. Industry data from 2026 puts the average policy at about $307 for a 15-day trip. That is the headline number. Everything below explains why your quote lands where it does.
What moves the price
Age is the single biggest factor. A 30-year-old might pay around $200 for a $5,000 trip while a 75-year-old pays $550 or more for the same trip, sometimes 11 percent or higher. Trip cost and trip length are next. Longer, more expensive trips cost more to insure. Destination matters too, since medical care costs vary by country, and adventure activities like skiing add surcharges for rescue and sports coverage.
Coverage tier changes the price a lot. For a $5,000 trip, basic plans average around $125, comprehensive plans around $227, and premium plans around $345. The jump from basic to comprehensive buys you much higher emergency medical and evacuation limits, which is the part that matters most on international trips.
What you are actually buying
A comprehensive plan covers trip cancellation and interruption, emergency medical care abroad, and medical evacuation. That last one is easy to underestimate. Medical evacuation can cost $25,000 within North America and over $250,000 from remote international locations, according to the CDC. Your domestic health insurance often covers little or nothing once you leave the country, which is the gap travel medical coverage fills.
Cancel for any reason is an optional upgrade that pushes the price past 10 percent of the trip. Standard cancellation covers specific named reasons like illness or a family emergency. If you want the freedom to bail because you changed your mind, that is the upgrade, and it usually reimburses 50 to 75 percent, not the full amount.
When it is worth buying
Buy it when the trip is expensive and mostly nonrefundable. A $6,000 cruise with strict cancellation penalties is a very different risk from a $400 domestic flight you can change for a fee. Buy it for international trips, especially anywhere with expensive healthcare or limited medical infrastructure. Buy it if anyone traveling has a health condition that could flare up, and buy it early enough to qualify for a pre-existing condition waiver, which most insurers offer if you buy within 14 to 21 days of your first trip payment.
Skip it or buy light when the trip is cheap, domestic, and mostly refundable. Your credit card may already include some travel protection, so check that before you pay for overlapping coverage. Some premium cards include trip cancellation and interruption coverage that handles the smaller risks on its own.
How to avoid overpaying
Compare quotes on a comparison site instead of buying the first policy the airline offers at checkout. Those checkout offers are convenient and usually overpriced for what they cover. Insure only the nonrefundable parts of the trip. And if you travel several times a year, price an annual multi-trip plan. For frequent travelers it often costs less than three or four single-trip policies. If you have never shopped insurance this way before, our guide to comparing quotes shows how to do it apples to apples.
