How to choose travel insurance that covers you as an older traveler

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Most people assume the health cover they already have will follow them when they travel. In every one of the five countries covered here, it will not, at least not fully. This article walks through what a travel insurance policy needs to include. It covers what changes once age or a health condition enters the picture. It also explains what to do if an insurer refuses a claim. None of it comes from an insurer or a comparison site. Every fact below traces back to a government body or a regulator in the country it applies to.

Why your home health cover won’t follow you overseas

Whatever country you call home, the system that covers you there will not reach you once you cross a border. Exactly how it falls short is different in each place.

United Kingdom

A UK Global Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided healthcare in the European Economic Area (EEA). It also works in a small number of other countries. In each, you get care on the same terms as a resident. The older European Health Insurance Card works the same way if yours hasn’t expired yet. It is not a substitute for travel insurance. It doesn’t cover private hospital treatment, repatriation, or extras like mountain rescue.

Australia

Medicare does not pay for medical treatment overseas, and neither does your private health fund. Australia has reciprocal healthcare agreements with 11 countries: Belgium, Finland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Even in one of those, the agreement only covers essential treatment in a public hospital. It does not cover private care, medical evacuation, or repatriation. That is why travel insurance is still recommended, even when you’re heading to one of the eleven.

New Zealand

New Zealand’s Accident Compensation Corporation does not cover treatment you receive overseas. If you have an injury abroad, ACC can only help once you’re home for further treatment. It does not cover the cost of care while you’re still away. ACC also only covers accidental injury, not illness. Something like a heart attack or a stroke sits outside ACC entirely, wherever it happens to you.

Canada

Your provincial or territorial health plan may cover nothing, or only a small part, of your medical costs outside Canada. It never pays a foreign hospital up front. That is true even for a same-day trip across the border into the United States, not only for longer international travel.

South Africa

South Africa has no public scheme, and no private medical scheme, that extends to cover you once you leave the country. Both are built around the South African hospital network. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation has its own advice for citizens travelling abroad. It says to take out insurance that covers hospital treatment, medical evacuation, and repatriation. It also flags that a pre-existing condition or a higher-risk destination may call for more cover than a standard policy gives you.

What a travel insurance policy needs to cover

Regardless of where you live, a policy worth having should cover:

• The full length of your trip, including any maximum single-trip or annual limit on an existing multi-trip policy
• Treatment in both state and private hospitals
• Emergency transport such as an ambulance, which is often billed separately from other medical costs
• Medical evacuation and repatriation, including a family member’s flights to reach you or bring you home if needed
• Every place on your itinerary, even a country you’re only passing through
• A 24-hour assistance helpline with a real person on the other end of it

Cruises need an extra look. Reaching a hospital is harder mid-voyage. Both UK and Australian guidance treat cruise cover as something to check specifically, rather than assume it comes with a standard policy. If a cruise is part of your plans, our guide to choosing a small-ship cruise covers what else to check before you book.

Declare every condition, not just the serious ones

Every source checked for this article agrees on this without exception. Declare every existing medical condition, including one doctors are still investigating but have not yet diagnosed. If you don’t, the insurer can refuse the entire claim, not just the part connected to that condition. This holds whether the condition is long-standing, like diabetes or high blood pressure, or something recent you’re still waiting on test results for.

Buying travel insurance later in life

The UK is the one country in this research with a formal, government-backed system built for this. The UK Government, the Association of British Insurers, and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association have an agreement about age and travel insurance. Under it, an insurer that turns you away for your age must refer you to another provider or a signposting service. It cannot simply leave you with nowhere to go.

A separate rule covers medical conditions rather than age on its own. UK insurers must point you toward a directory of specialist firms if they decline or cancel your cover. The same applies if they offer only a medical exclusion, or a loaded premium above a set threshold. That threshold is currently £200, raised from £100 on 1 January 2026. Two directories meet the regulator’s criteria and cost nothing to use:

• MoneyHelper’s travel insurance directory, run by the public Money and Pensions Service: moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/insurance/use-our-travel-insurance-directory
• BIBA’s Find Insurance service: insurance.biba.org.uk/find-insurance, or by phone on 0370 950 1790

This research found no equivalent formal system for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or South Africa. We checked with a second, dedicated search for this question, not just the first pass. If you live in one of those four countries, don’t assume a safety net like the UK’s is waiting for you. Independent specialist brokers who work with hard-to-place cases operate informally in some of these markets. These include New Zealand and Canada. They are private businesses, not firms a regulator vets or lists. Treat one the same way you’d treat any other insurer: with the questions below.

Questions to ask before you buy travel insurance

You don’t need to be an insurance expert to buy well. You need clear answers to a short list of specific questions. A good insurer will answer every one of these plainly. A vague answer to any of them is a reason to ask again or look elsewhere.

• What is the maximum age this policy covers, and what happens the year I go over it: does cover stop, does it need renewing differently, or does the price simply rise?
• Exactly which of my medical conditions have I declared, and does the insurer’s written confirmation list each one by name, not just “pre-existing conditions noted”?
• If I’m declined, cancelled, or offered a medical exclusion or a loaded premium, will the firm point me to a named specialist directory, and which one?
• What is the actual limit on emergency medical treatment and medical evacuation or repatriation, as a number, not just “comprehensive cover”?
• Does this policy cover a family member’s flights to reach me or bring me home, and is that a separate limit?
• Is this a single-trip or annual multi-trip policy? If annual, what is the maximum length of any one trip it allows?
• Does it cover every country on my itinerary, including places I’m only passing through?
• Is a cruise specifically included, or does it need a separate add-on? Does that change if the ship calls at a port a long way from a hospital?
• If my claim is refused and I disagree, which free ombud or complaints body handles this insurer?

Using your answers to choose travel insurance

A reader who gets a clear, specific answer to each of these has done the real work of choosing a policy. A vague answer to any of them is worth pushing back on, or taking your business elsewhere.

EKTA Traveling is one provider you can run through this checklist when you’re ready to compare policies.

What a real claim can cost

Three real, government-published figures make the case better than a general warning would:

• United Kingdom: breaking a leg in Spain and needing hospital treatment and possible evacuation can cost £25,000 or more. A quad bike accident in Greece needing surgery and evacuation can cost £80,000 or more. A stomach infection treated in a US hospital with possible evacuation can cost £150,000 or more
• Canada: one traveller whose policy lapsed three weeks before an accident left her family to raise $300,000 CAD over three days to cover treatment and evacuation
• Canada: a traveller who went into early labour on a trip needed an emergency caesarean and medical repatriation. She faced a $75,000 CAD bill, because her policy, like most, did not automatically cover pregnancy-related conditions

Before you buy cover for a trip abroad, check how long your passport is still valid. See when to renew your passport, and how to do it.

For more trip planning help, see our travel guides.

If your travel insurance claim is refused

Every one of the five markets has a free, independent complaints body that can review an insurer’s decision. You must go through the insurer’s own internal complaints process first.

Market	Free complaints body	Notes
United Kingdom	Financial Ombudsman Service	Free service, reviews travel insurance complaints once the insurer’s own process is exhausted
Australia	Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)	Free and binding on the insurer. Explicitly handles disputes over a travel claim refused for a pre-existing condition
New Zealand	IFSO Scheme or Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL)	Two approved schemes exist. Check which one your insurer belongs to before lodging a complaint
Canada	OmbudService for Life & Health Insurance (OLHI)	Free, covers travel insurance specifically, oversight from the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators
South Africa	National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa (NFO)	Free, but only for insurers that are FSCA-regulated, and only after the insurer’s own internal process

None of this guarantees a smooth claim. It gives you a clear footing to ask the right questions before you buy. You can spot a policy with a real gap, and know where to go if something still goes wrong.