How to choose travel insurance

What the checklist asks you to arrange

The checklist is written for British people travelling abroad, and it places insurance early: travellers should get appropriate travel insurance as soon as they book, not once departure is close. [2] The word doing the work there is “appropriate”, which the same page unpacks as three checks — the places to be visited, the duration of the visit, and any planned activities such as adventure sports. [2]

Health sits in its own step. Travellers are told to tell their insurance company about any medical conditions, including undiagnosed conditions that are being investigated, and to check that the policy will cover those conditions. [2] That is a disclosure step as much as a buying step: the checklist pairs telling the insurer with checking the answer. [2]

Paperwork follows. The checklist asks travellers to print out health insurance documents and carry a copy, and to keep a backup route to key information — accommodation, flight and passport details, contact numbers and the insurance policy — in case a phone is lost. [2]

Nothing in the checklist asks for the cheapest policy available; every check it sets is about whether the cover matches the trip actually being taken. [2] That is why a low-priced policy can be the wrong purchase: if a destination, a date range, an activity or a declared condition falls outside it, the cover does not answer the risk the traveller bought it for. [2]

Medical, cancellation and baggage

Health insurance documents are to be printed and carried. [2]

What the checklist does make clear is the shape of the risk it is concerned with: health costs abroad that a public scheme does not meet, and repatriation, which it places outside a health card’s reach. [2] Readers comparing policies on cancellation or baggage should work from the policy document itself, and the terms pages linked below explain how those sections are usually structured. [2]

What a GHIC or EHIC already does

For travel to an EU country or Switzerland, the checklist asks British travellers whose Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) has expired to apply for a new GHIC. [2] It then limits what the card can do: an EHIC or GHIC may not cover all health costs and never covers repatriation costs, and the FCDO states plainly that it is not a substitute for travel insurance. [2]

That statement covers UK-issued cards and treatment costs in those destinations.

Questions to settle before paying

• Does the policy cover every country on the itinerary, including stops that are not the main destination? [2]
• Does it cover the whole length of the visit, and not only part of it? [2]
• Does it cover the activities actually planned, such as adventure sports? [2]
• Have I told the insurer about every medical condition, including one still being investigated without a diagnosis, and will the policy cover it? [2]
• If I am relying on a GHIC or EHIC, does it need renewing, and which health costs and repatriation would still fall outside it? [2]
• Can I reach the policy documents and emergency numbers without my phone? [2]

Exceptions and limits

• The checklist is not exhaustive. It is described as an aid to planning a trouble-free trip, and it states that no foreign travel can be guaranteed safe and that travellers take personal responsibility for their own travel. [2]
• UK Standard Visitor guidance sets its own eligibility tests, including being able to support yourself and your dependants and to pay for a return or onward journey [4], and the visitor visa national list sets out which nationalities need entry clearance before travelling [5].
• Payment cards.
• Claims. The policy wording, not this guide, decides whether a claim is paid. [2]

Related pages

Start with the insurance overview and the card travel protection checklist. Terms: emergency medical evacuation coverage, pre-existing condition exclusion, trip cancellation coverage. Also useful: the claims checklist, the Schengen visa insurance requirement, and the full glossary.

Sources

Sources accessed on 18 October 2026. Only UK government guidance was checked: no insurer’s policy wording, and no guidance from a regulator outside the UK, is covered here.

1. Foreign travel checklist, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, checked 18 October 2026
2. Visit the UK as a Standard Visitor: Overview, checked 18 October 2026
3. Immigration Rules Appendix Visitor: Visa national list, checked 18 October 2026