Average Cost of Travel Insurance to USA (2024) (2024)

Whether you’re heading off on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the USA or you’re a regular visitor to that side of the Atlantic, you should consider buying travel insurance before you set off. Medical expenses and liability can be particularly expensive if you have trouble while in America.

Our team at NimbleFins has researched hundreds of policies from nearly twenty of the top UK travel insurance companies to give you an idea of the average cost of travel insurance to America. Use this information as a guide to understanding expected costs when considering which policy and features to buy. If you have any pre-existing conditions you can find more information in our article on average cost of travel insurance for medical conditions.

Table of Contents

• Travel insurance UK to USA
• How much is travel insurance to USA?
  • USA travel insurance costs for a family
• How much are winter sports and cruise insurance to America?
• Cost of travel insurance to USA by age

Travel insurance UK to USA

It's critical to insure all trips from the UK to the USA because of the exceptionally high cost of health car in America. While travel insurance is also good for protecting against events like trip cancellation and lost luggage, it's the health cover that could really make or break a holiday if something where to go wrong, from an accident to an illness.

For the same reason (i.e. high medical care costs in America), travel insurance to the USA can be noticeably more expensive than cover to other parts of the world. Anyone making more than 2 trips to the USA in a year may well save money buying an annual policy, so be sure to check prices of both single trip cover and annual cover. Comparing quotes is all the more important for USA travel insurance since prices can be higher—and we've noticed that some insurers may be less keen to insure trips over there and may charge even higher premiums as a result.

Average Cost of Travel Insurance to America

Travel insurance for America is nearly always more expensive than any other region, and prices have more than doubled for many people since the onset of the pandemic. The cost of cheaper, 3-star Defaqto rated travel insurance covering America starts from £37.5 to cover a 10-day single trip, while 4 star policies start from around £48.8 and 5 star from £62.5.

The average cost of annual multi-trip travel insurance covering the USA and the rest of the world starts from around £39.3 for a 3 star policy, £41.1 for a 4 star policy and £56.1 for a 5 star policy. These figures represent the average of the 10 cheapest policies on offer.

As you can see, annual, multitrip policies can be cheaper than single trip cover. People who will take more than one trip a year are nearly always better of buying an annual, multitrip policy because they usually cost less than 2X the cost of a single trip policy—but the exception can be if you have a lot of pre-existing medical conditions or if you need extra cover cruise or winter sports for one trip.

Travel Insurance Costs for a Family to USA

A family of four pays roughly 2.5X what a solo traveller would pay. Travel insurance prices for a family of 4 heading to America start from around £94 for a 3-star Defaqto policy. Annual, multitrip cover is generally a better buy if you'll travel again in the year, or even if you might not. In some cases it's possible to get annual cover for the same price as single-trip cover. In fact, 5-star Defaqto policies covering the USA can be secured for less when buying annual cover rather than single-trip cover.

A Family of three would pay a touch less; a family of five would pay a touch more.

Average Cost of Travel Insurance Extras to America

Just as a basic policy costs more for coverage in America, extras like cruises and winter sports tend to cost more as well. Expect cruise cover to roughly double the amount you'll pay for travel insurance; winter sports cover costs even more.

Since cruise and winter sports cover add so much to the cost of travel insurance, you may find it quite expensive to buy annual, multitrip cover that includes these features. Some people who want cover for multiple trips find it cheaper to buy a regular annual policy and then supplement this with single trip cover with extras for a ski holiday or cruise. You'll have to compare prices yourself to see how the numbers work out for you.

Regardless of whether you go with a single or multi-trip policy, if you're booking your own holiday be on the look out for SAFI or ESF protection if you want cover for insolvency of your airline and/or accommodation to avoid stress around situations such as the recent Flybe failure.

How Age Affects the Cost of Travel Insurance to USA

Travel insurance costs roughly the same amount through one's 20s, 30s and 40s. When you turn 60 years old, prices rise around 30%. Then around age 70 they basically double, making a healthy 70 year old around 3X more expensive to insure than a 30 year old. From 70 years to 80 years old, prices can rise 3.5X!

For example, a 30 year old would pay from around £31.7 to secure a 3 star Defaqto policy; an 80 year old would need to pay around £342 for the same cover. Prices reflect the average of the ten cheapest quotes obtained.

FAQs

Methodology

To determine the average cost of travel insurance for UK consumers heading to America, we first collected dozens of travel insurance quotes. To get an idea of the true cost of a "cheap" policy, that is, how much someone might need to pay to secure cover, we averaged the 10 cheapest quotes available for policies rated 3 stars, 4 stars and 5 stars by Defaqto.

In order to standardize our results, we made certain assumptions about the type of plan and level of coverage sought by the average consumer. Other than the "age" section, our sample traveller was 30 years old and healthy with no pre-existing conditions.