Travel insurance is one of those things that's easy to skip until you actually need it. Medical costs abroad can be significant, and most domestic health plans don't cover you outside your home country. A cancelled trip or lost bag at the wrong moment can wipe out money you've already spent. It's not exciting to buy, but neither is paying out of pocket for a hospital visit in a foreign country.
There's no single best provider. It depends on what kind of trip you're taking. Here's how the main names break down by what they're actually good at:
Allianz is the largest travel insurer in the United States, covering somewhere north of 55 million travellers a year, with an A+ financial strength rating behind it. That scale is the main argument for them. A claims and assistance operation that size is hard to match. Their OneTrip plans cover single trips, and the annual multi-trip options are worth doing the maths on if you travel more than twice a year. Their version of cancel-for-any-reason cover is called Cancel Anytime and reimburses more than anyone else here, though it works slightly differently. More on that below.
Travelex came out top in both the U.S. News and NerdWallet rankings for 2026. The plans are unusually customisable, so you're not paying for cover you don't want, and on most plans children are included at no extra cost, which makes them a straightforward choice for family trips. Cancel-for-any-reason is available as an upgrade.
Seven Corners offers something genuinely rare: an Interruption for Any Reason add-on. Most policies will only pay out if you cut a trip short for a specific covered reason; this one doesn't require you to justify it. If there's a realistic chance you'll need to come home early for reasons you can't put on a form, this is the one to look at. They also offer a cancel-for-any-reason upgrade.
Arch RoamRight consistently rates near the top for customer service and claims handling, and it's the sensible pick if your trip involves anything a standard policy would call hazardous. One thing to be clear about: the adventure and hazardous sports cover is a paid upgrade, not part of the base plan. It runs around $30 and attaches to the Pro, Pro Plus and On Trip Plus plans. Scuba, skydiving, bungee jumping and similar are excluded until you add it, so don't assume you're covered because you bought a policy.
Faye takes a more modern approach. Their app handles policy management, claims, and support in one place, and they're transparent about what's covered. Good option if you want to deal with as little paperwork as possible. Their cancel-for-any-reason add-on is at the more generous end of the market.
Redion is the company you'll know as Generali. The US business rebranded to Redion in May 2026. Plans, benefits, coverage and pricing all stayed the same; only the name changed, and you still buy through the same site. It remains a well-established name with solid trip cancellation and interruption coverage, single-trip and annual multi-trip plans, and an extensive emergency assistance network, which is useful if something goes wrong far from home.
Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) does what the name suggests: it lets you cancel without having to prove your reason falls into a covered category. It is always a paid upgrade. No policy includes it as standard, and it typically adds a meaningful chunk to the premium. Here's where each provider lands:
Two rules catch people out almost universally. You normally have to cancel at least 48 hours before departure. Deciding not to go on the morning of your flight won't qualify. And you generally have to insure 100% of your prepaid, non-refundable trip costs to be eligible at all; under-insuring to save money can quietly void the upgrade you paid for.
Before buying any policy, read what's actually covered. Trip cancellation terms vary a lot between providers, and some policies exclude pre-existing conditions or have limits on high-value items. The cheapest policy isn't always the right one.