USA Travel Insurance

If there is one destination on earth where travelling uninsured is genuinely reckless, it is the United States. There is no reciprocal health care agreement with Australia, no public safety net for visitors, and American hospital pricing is among the highest in the world. Emergency room visits are billed in the thousands, a hospital admission can run to tens of thousands, and a medically supervised flight home is one of the most expensive journeys money can buy.

Why medical cover matters more in America than anywhere else

• The bills are not exaggerated. A broken leg treated in a US emergency department, with imaging, surgery and a short admission, routinely produces bills that would buy a new car. This is why the unlimited* overseas emergency medical benefit sits at the centre of both Travel Protect plans.
• Hospitals want a payer before they want your story. Our 24/7 emergency assistance team can liaise with US hospitals directly and coordinate care, which matters in a system built around insurance verification.
• Getting home is its own project. Medically necessary repatriation from the US to Australia with clinical escorts can be covered under the emergency medical benefit and arranged by our assistance team, not left to your family to organise.

Beyond medical: the rest of a US trip

• Cancellation exposure is huge. US trips are long-haul, multi-stop and expensive, with flights, hotels, theme park tickets and tours booked months out. Explorer lets you set cancellation and trip interruption cover up to $40,000 to match what you actually have at risk.
• Luggage and gadgets. Explorer's optional luggage cover of up to $10,000 covers accidentally lost or stolen bags and personal effects. Set the limit with your camera, laptop and phone in mind, keeping in mind that there is a per item sub-limit of $2,000.
• Road trips. Hiring a car for Route 66 or a Florida loop? Explorer includes rental vehicle insurance excess cover.
• Skiing Colorado or Utah? Add the optional snow pack; snow sports are otherwise excluded.

Which plan for the USA?

• COVID Basic can suit a traveller whose bookings are flexible and who mainly wants the medical safety net: unlimited* emergency medical plus up to $4,000 cancellation cover for events relating to COVID-19, with no baggage benefit.
• Explorer is the sensible default for most US itineraries because of the prepaid costs involved: unlimited* emergency medical, cancellation cover you can set up to $40,000, luggage cover up to $10,000, rental vehicle excess and optional packs. Travellers up to age 99 are eligible, well beyond the age cut-offs common elsewhere.