Quick answer: worldwide travel insurance 2026
- Avg annual (excl USA)
- £95
- 35-yr-old, £5m medical
- Avg annual (incl USA)
- £175
- Same profile, £10m medical
- Inclusive uplift
- +84%
- To add USA/Canada/Caribbean
- Recommended medical
- £10m
- £5m if USA excluded
Worldwide excluding vs worldwide including USA
The split exists because US healthcare costs are an outlier. The average UK claim from the US is £7,594, against £1,721 for Europe and £818 for Australia. Insurers price the US tier accordingly.
Worldwide excluding
From £95 annual · £5m medical minimum
- ✓Europe (all of it, plus Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia).
- ✓Asia (Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, all of it).
- ✓Australasia (Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific).
- ✓Africa and the Middle East.
- ✓South America (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile).
- ✗USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean (sometimes Hawaii and Bermuda too).
Best for: travellers who never go to North America or the Caribbean.
Worldwide including
From £175 annual · £10m medical minimum
- ✓Everything in the excluding tier, plus...
- ✓United States (all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska).
- ✓Canada (provinces and territories).
- ✓Mexico and Central America.
- ✓Caribbean islands (Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, Barbados, all of them).
- ★£10m medical, the right size for US hospital bills.
Best for: travellers planning even one US, Canadian or Caribbean trip in the year.
The maths. The inclusive tier costs about £80 more per year. A single US emergency-room visit averages £1,300 to £2,600 before any treatment. Even one US trip in the year pays the upgrade back many times over.
Worldwide vs single-trip: which is cheaper for you?
Pick the closest match to your travel year. The tool returns the policy type we would buy and a 2026 price range from the UK panel.
Your travel year
Right policy + 2026 price
Recommended policy
Typical 2026 premium
to
Annual policy, 35-yr-old, no medical declarations
What a claim looks like in each region
Average UK travel claim by region, with the one thing to check on the policy schedule for each.
| Region / country | Avg UK claim | What to check |
|---|---|---|
Europe
|
£1,721 | Cheap, GHIC-supported, but private clinics in resorts can charge full price. |
United States
|
£7,594 | Highest claims in the world. Excluded by default from most worldwide policies. |
Canada
|
£4,500 | Visitors not covered by medicare. Excluded by default from most worldwide policies. |
Japan
|
£1,900 | Quality care, cash often required upfront. Standard worldwide cover usually fine. |
Australia
|
£818 | Medicare reciprocal agreement; ambulance and repatriation excluded. |
China
|
£2,400 | International private clinics in Beijing/Shanghai bill in US dollars. Carry policy details. |
South Africa
|
£2,100 | Private hospitals are excellent; rural evacuation can run £15,000+. |
Brazil
|
£2,750 | Dengue and yellow-fever vaccination affects the policy; check the schedule. |
Source: ABI 2024-25 travel claims aggregate, UK-issued policies.
Worldwide annual vs backpacker policies
Annual worldwide policies cap each trip at 30 to 45 days, with an annual maximum of 90 to 183 days. They suit travellers taking several short or medium-length trips a year. A single 8-week trip to South America would breach the per-trip cap, leaving you uninsured from day 32 onwards.
Backpacker policies are built for one continuous trip of 18 to 24 months across multiple destinations. They are usually cheaper per month than buying single-trip cover for the same length and bundle adventure activities (trekking, scuba to 30m, motorcycling, bungee) most annual policies charge extra for. The catch: they only cover one trip; you cannot interrupt them with a return to the UK without losing cover.
For a gap year or career break, backpacker cover is the right product. For the traveller who does a Europe city break, a fortnight in Thailand and a long weekend in New York in the same year, an annual worldwide-including policy is the simpler buy.
Worldwide travel insurance FAQ
Almost every country, but the "USA, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean" cluster is usually excluded by default. The two tiers UK insurers sell are: Worldwide excluding (which excludes the above and sometimes includes Hawaii and Bermuda in the exclusion) and Worldwide including (which adds them back). The premium roughly doubles between the two tiers because the average US claim is over £7,594. Check the geographic schedule on the certificate before you book.
From the second trip if you are travelling outside Europe. A worldwide-excluding annual policy averages £95 in 2026; two single-trip policies to Asia plus a European city break would cost £80 to £130. From three trips a year worldwide is almost always cheaper. Inside Europe only, annual Europe cover beats both.
Yes, every policy excludes travel to destinations the UK Foreign Office advises against ("all but essential" or "all travel"). Check gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice before you book. Insurers update their excluded list within 24 hours of an FCDO change; the policy phone line is the safest source for the live picture.
Usually 30 to 45 consecutive days per trip, with an annual maximum of 90 to 183 days. If a single trip exceeds the per-trip cap, that trip is uninsured even mid-journey. For longer single trips, backpacker or long-stay policies cover continuous travel for up to 18 to 24 months.
Most insurers allow it within the first 30 days of the policy for a pro-rated premium. After that, you may be asked to pay the full inclusive rate from the upgrade date plus a small admin fee. If you only need US cover for one trip during a worldwide-excluding year, a single-trip US policy on top is often cheaper than upgrading the annual.
Mainstream insurers cap at 75 or 80; specialist insurers (Saga, Staysure, AllClear, Avanti, Goodtogo) cover up to 99 with no upper age limit on most plans. The premium uplift over 65 is steep on worldwide cover, especially the inclusive tier, but worldwide is the only realistic option if you want to travel beyond Europe more than once a year.
Standard worldwide cover includes "leisure" activities (hiking under 4,000m, snorkelling, swimming). Anything above that, trekking peaks, scuba below 18m, motorcycling, bungee, climbing, paragliding, needs an activity add-on. Backpacker policies bundle most of them by default; annual worldwide policies usually charge £10 to £30 per category.