Just to add my tuppence worth to the conversation, it is not the cost of the policy that should be paramount, but how easy, prompt and helpful they are if you need to make a claim – particularly for accident/illness/hospitalisation whilst abroad.
Having had the need to call on travel insurance twice over recent years, I found two companies to be chalk & cheese.
With a simple holiday cancellation claim due to developing Covid the day before travel (despite the Admiral policy stating they cover this) it took over a year to settle – in the end I just settled for what they were offering which wasn’t the full amount it should have been. Despite sending in all the evidence requested, they stalled and changed their minds (and the policy terms) at every stage. They wouldn’t accept an NHS PCR test certificate – they wanted a private one. Then wanted a second confirmatory PCR. Then wanted a GP letter. Then a hospital letter (I had no need to attend hospital). For some obscure reason they even wanted photographs of my baggage with the airline tags on! I dread to think what the service would have been like in a life-threatening ongoing emergency abroad.
On the other hand, whilst in the USA last year, I developed acute appendicitis requiring its removal in an emergency operation, Staysure made the process simple. One quick phone call to get the ball rolling was all it took. They then dealt directly with the hospital and other agencies direct, including fully paying the bills for the hospital stay, surgeon, operation, ambulance etc. They paid for the extra hotel accommodation until I was fit to fly home and my return ticket to UK in business class (as per my original itinerary) etc. They later sent me a completed claim form to sign and return. That was it – all sorted.
The Admiral policy was shall we say, at the cheaper end and the Staysure one quite a bit more expensive.
The moral of this tale being that you get what you pay for – it shouldn’t be based on policy price, but what the service is like when you really need them. There are reviews out there on t’interweb on how good the companies are when you need them!