Is travel insurance compulsory?

Quick summary for busy readers:

• Travel insurance is legally required to enter the Schengen Area (made up of 29 countries) if your trip is longer than 90 days, with at least €30,000 in medical coverage.
• Argentina and Cuba are among other countries with mandatory travel insurance and minimum coverage requirements.
• If you’re heading to a country where travel insurance is not compulsory, we highly recommend it anyway. Without travel insurance, medical bills and evacuations can cost $20,000-$100,000+ and often need to be paid upfront before you’re treated or moved.

 

Have you booked flights and accommodation but now you’re wondering whether travel insurance is compulsory? The answer depends on where you’re going. In many countries, having travel insurance is a condition of entry and you’ll be turned away at the border without it.

But even if you’re heading to a destination where travel insurance isn’t mandatory, we still recommend purchasing it. Why? Well, picture this: you’re halfway through your dream holiday when you slip on some cobblestones and break your ankle. The hospital bill could cost tens of thousands of dollars. The rescheduled flights home could cost another few thousand. And without travel insurance, that’s all coming out of your pocket.

Plus, you can’t rely on Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) or the ACC as that won’t cover you once you leave New Zealand, and your private health insurance generally won’t either.

Essentially, you need travel insurance whether it’s compulsory or not in the destination you’re headed; read on for absolutely everything you need to know.

Is travel insurance compulsory?

Yes, a growing number of destinations now require visitors to have valid travel insurance as a condition of entry.

This trend has accelerated in recent years, particularly as many governments have started to prioritise their public health systems, wanting to ensure tourists don’t become a financial burden.

The biggest group requiring mandatory insurance is the Schengen Area in Europe. If you’re planning to visit countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, or the Netherlands, and your trip will be longer than 90 days, you must have travel insurance with at least €30,000 (roughly NZ$59,000) in medical coverage and it must be valid for your entire duration of stay in Europe.

The 29 Schengen countries include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

For more information, check out our Schengen visa guide.

Other countries with mandatory travel insurance requirements include:

• Argentina - Requires all foreign visitors to carry travel insurance covering medical emergencies, hospitalisation, 24/7 assistance, medical transport or evacuation, and repatriation for the entire duration of their stay.
• Cuba - Requires all international visitors to have travel insurance with minimum medical coverage of US$10,000 (roughly NZ$17,000) for emergency medical treatment and hospitalisation. This coverage must be specifically valid in Cuba, as many international policies exclude certain countries or regions.
• Ecuador - Travel insurance isn’t required for mainland Ecuador, but it is mandatory for the Galápagos Islands. Foreign tourists must have travel insurance (along with a Galapagos Transit Control Card and proof of an outbound flight) before entering, and may also be asked to show hotel bookings.

This list is not exhaustive, so always check your destination's specific entry requirements before you travel.

If you try to enter a country where travel insurance is mandatory without it, you could face visa rejection, delays at immigration, be forced to purchase expensive local insurance on the spot or even be denied entry entirely.

Do I need travel insurance even if it’s not compulsory?

Yes. Unless of course you’ve got tens of thousands of dollars sitting around and you’re happy to lose it all if things go pear-shaped.

To break it down, medical emergencies overseas are expensive. A simple emergency room visit in the United States can easily run into thousands of dollars. If you need hospitalisation, surgery, or specialist care, you could be looking at bills in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Then there’s medical evacuation. If you’re trekking in Nepal or scuba diving in Indonesia, the cost of emergency medical transport can exceed $20,000.

In more extreme cases, evacuations have been known to cost over $100,000, often requiring upfront payment before they’ll even move you.

Beyond medical emergencies, there are plenty of other reasons to have cover. Trip cancellations happen – family emergencies, sudden illness, job loss, natural disasters. If you’ve paid thousands for flights, accommodation, and tours that are non-refundable, travel insurance means you might actually get some of that money back rather than losing the lot.

And lost luggage, travel delays, and missed connections are frustrating at the best of times, but they’re even worse when you’re the one who’s out of pocket for the replacement clothes, toiletries, accommodation, and meals. Travel insurance can reimburse these costs.

There’s also the peace of mind factor, which isn’t something you can put a dollar figure on. Knowing you’re covered means you can actually relax and enjoy your holiday instead of constantly worrying about worst-case scenarios.

What happens if I don’t have travel insurance?

Again, in many countries it’s compulsory to get travel insurance. And if you’re heading somewhere it’s not compulsory, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Seriously, if you’re thinking of going without travel insurance, ask yourself: what’s a few hundred dollars compared to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars if something goes wrong?

The average comprehensive travel insurance policy costs somewhere between four per cent and 10 per cent of your total trip cost. Sure, it’s not exactly pocket change, but it’s not going to break the bank either.

And if you’re travelling to countries where New Zealand doesn’t have a reciprocal healthcare agreement, you’re taking on significant financial risk by going uninsured.

We currently have reciprocal healthcare agreements with 11 countries: Australia, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. But even in these countries, the reciprocal arrangement typically only covers basic emergency treatment in public hospitals – it’s not comprehensive, and you’d still be responsible for many of the related costs.

Everywhere else in the world? You’re on your own. And some destinations are particularly expensive. For instance, the United States is notorious for its astronomical healthcare costs. And while popular European countries like France, Germany, and Spain have excellent medical care, it comes at a pretty penny for visitors.

Even ‘cheaper’ destinations like Bali or Thailand can leave you with bills in the thousands for anything serious.

Not to mention, some overseas hospitals won’t even let you through the door unless you can show proof of insurance or make a substantial down payment. Imagine being injured and being turned away because you can’t prove you can pay for treatment. It’s not a position anyone wants to be in.

It’s not just medical bills you need to think about either. Natural disasters, political unrest, airline strikes, supplier failures – these things do happen, and they can leave you stranded or out of pocket.

When should I purchase travel insurance?

It’s best to get travel insurance immediately after you book your trip. The earlier you buy it, the bigger your coverage window.

If you wait until a week before you leave, you likely won’t be protected against unforeseen events that could happen in the months before you depart – like getting sick, a family emergency, or even natural disasters affecting your destination.

For instance, let’s say you book a trip to Fiji, and you buy travel insurance right after booking. A few months later, a cyclone is forecast to hit Fiji during your travel dates. Because you already have travel insurance, you’ll most likely be covered if you need to cancel.

However, if you booked a Fiji trip and planned to get travel insurance closer to the departure date, but a cyclone was predicted before you purchased it, you won’t be covered for anything cyclone-related because it’s now a known event.

Now, if you’re booking your trip in stages – flights this month, accommodation next month, tours later – you should still buy your insurance when you make that first payment, then update your policy as you add more costs. Most insurers should let you modify your coverage to reflect your final trip cost, as long as you do it before you depart.

Finally, and with all that said, don’t panic if you’ve already booked and paid for most of your trip and haven’t bought insurance yet!

You can still purchase travel insurance right up until the day before you depart (with most providers), and you can still get important coverage like emergency medical expenses, trip interruption, baggage loss, and travel delays.

Tip: If you travel frequently, consider an annual multi-trip policy instead of buying separate cover each time you jet off. These policies cover you for multiple getaways over a 12-month period and can be more cost-effective if you’re taking two or more trips per year. Just make sure you buy it before your first departure of the year to maximise your coverage.