Need to know
- The older you are, the more you'll pay for travel insurance, with premiums skyrocketing for travellers from about 60 years
- All travel insurers have age limits, which vary by policy, but many will cover travellers aged 99 years and beyond
- You might have to contact the insurer directly for a quote that includes cover for pre-existing medical conditions
Whether you're going on the trip of a lifetime or visiting your adult children who've moved away, there's one non-negotiable when heading overseas, and that's travel insurance.
The primary reason we recommend travel insurance is for medical care and evacuation, and this gets even more important as we age. Travel insurance can also cover things like theft, additional accommodation or cancellation costs if your trip is interrupted, and returning to Australia early if a relative becomes ill.
In this article, we look into the tricks and traps of buying travel insurance if you're in your golden years, and how much you can expect it to cost.
On this page:
- Is there an age limit for travel insurance?
- Will travel insurance cover your existing medical conditions?
- Do seniors pay more for travel insurance?
- How much does travel insurance to the US cost for seniors?
Is there an age limit for travel insurance?
Most insurers do have an age limit, which varies policy to policy. A handful of policies limit cover to just 69 years, but most will cover you until 99 years or beyond 100. This age limit is usually listed in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or on their website. You can also find them in the accordion below or in our travel insurance review.
Some insurers limit the length of trip they'll insure for older people depending on destination. In most cases, the way to find out what they'll cover for you is by plugging your details into the online quoting system. But as an example, Tick Travel Insurance lists a complex set of rules in their Target Market Determination about the trips they'll insure for different age groups, including limiting worldwide trips for those over 80 years to 35 days, and trips beyond the Pacific region to 90 days for travellers over 65 years.
It's also not uncommon that the age limit for a brand's single-trip policy is more generous than those for their annual multitrip insurance.
Some policies have additional conditions based on age too. Zoom and 1Cover, for example, provide insurance to people up to 85 years with their multi-trip and top-tier single trip policies, but charge travellers over 80 years an extra $3000 excess for medical claims and limit trips covered by their annual multi-trip policies for this age group to 90 days. But these are the only policies in our review that charge an extra excess,
Passport Card does not have an age limit for their policy, but requires travellers over 85 years to provide a medical certificate declaring them fit for travel. And Tick Travel Insurance's top plan offers a reduced benefit for accidental death if you're over 65.
Will travel insurance cover your existing medical conditions?
Unfortunately, as we get older and wiser our medical needs often get more complex. If you have a medical condition, you can still get insurance for international travel but you may have to pay extra for it.
Some medical conditions require special approval from the insurer, and payment of an additional fee, while others are automatically covered as long as you meet a few requirements, such as not requiring hospital treatment within the last two years. For some medical conditions, automatic coverage can also depend on age. For example, it's possible for asthma to be covered automatically, but only for travellers under 60 years. Requirements vary from policy to policy. If you have any medical conditions, make sure you read this section of your PDS carefully and seek advice from the insurer when necessary.
Do seniors pay more for travel insurance?
Yes, our analysis of premiums across age groups shows that older people pay more. Travellers in their 70s pay more than triple the price of those in their 30s and 40s, and those aged over 80 pay more than five times the price. People in the higher age brackets tend to have longer trips, but this doesn't seem to explain the skyrocketing premiums. In fact, prices really start to increase for travellers in their 50s and 60s, who pay around 10% and 50% more, respectively, than those in their 30s and 40s.
These average premiums are based on a market-representative sample of 230,000 quotes collected in June 2025. Quotes for a wide variety of customer profiles were collected at the insurers' default excess with as close as possible to $10,000 cancellation benefit selected.
Visit our travel insurance comparison and use the filter to find travel insurance policy options for people across a range of ages up to over 100.
How much does travel insurance to the US cost for seniors?
The average cost for travel insurance for a trip of 10–20 days in the US would be $1259 for a couple or family with an adult in their 70s. A couple or family with an adult in their 60s would pay $662 on average, while a similar group with an adult in their 50s would pay $535 and for someone in their 40s it would be $496 on average.
These calculations are based on average premiums of market-representative samples of 7694 quotes collected in June 2025. Quotes for a wide variety of customer profiles were collected at the insurers' default excess with as close as possible to $10,000 cancellation benefit selected.
If you're planning a trip, we've calculated the best travel insurance policies for the US.
How we test
Over 230,000 quotes were analysed from over 65 different single-trip policies. Scenarios used to obtain these quotes contain a wide variety of market representative demographics, holiday destinations and durations, and were quoted on at different points of time before travelling. They were collected at the insurers' default excess with the maximum amount claimable for cancellation expenses being as close to $10,000 as possible. Scenarios were segmented and averaged by demographic of the oldest traveller in the scenario.
Read more about how we compare travel insurance policies.
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