Best Travel Insurance for Mexico: Your Ticket to Peace of Mind

Heading south of the border? Consider getting travel insurance before you pack your bags. Even though Mexico is a nearby destination with direct flights for many Americans, it’s still international travel, and you may benefit from a travel insurance policy that can protect your nonrefundable travel booking costs and offer medical support.

Although travel insurance can add to the cost of travel, it offers peace of mind and can safeguard you against unforeseen circumstances that pop up during your trip. A comprehensive travel insurance policy can provide financial protection for trip cancellations, medical emergencies, and unexpected travel disruptions.

Read on to learn why Mexico travel insurance is often a good idea, how much you’ll pay, what’s covered, and how to find the best policies.

The 5 Best Travel Insurance Policies for Mexico

The best travel insurance for Mexico should offer the coverage you need at a reasonable price. We’ve run the numbers for policy scenarios based on age, coverage, and activities so you can get an idea of what Mexico travel insurance policies look like.

Consider these travel insurance policies for your trip to Mexico:

‌Best Mexico Travel Insurance for Young Travelers: Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection

Snapping up cheap travel insurance is fairly easy for young travelers, as insurance companies tend to offer favorable rates for young adults. We were quoted just $16 for a 25-year-old visiting Mexico. This Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection ExactCare Lite plan offers relatively low trip cancellation coverage of up to $500 and up to $750 for trip cancellation. Still, it has $10,000 in secondary medical and $100,000 in medical evacuation benefits.

‌Best Mexico Travel Insurance for Seniors: Nationwide

While seniors don’t get to take advantage of ultra-cheap travel insurance, Nationwide’s Essential plan offers good coverage at a reasonable price. For $93.95, a 65-year-old visiting Mexico can get trip cancellation coverage up to $2,500 and trip interruption coverage up to $3,125. Primary medical coverage offers up to $75,000 in benefits, and there’s also $250,000 in medical evacuation benefits.

‌Best Mexico Travel Insurance for Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR): Battleface

CFAR allows you to get reimbursed for nonrefundable travel expenses if you need to cancel your trip for any reason. Battleface’s Discovery Plan was quoted to us for $104.21 with up to $2,500 in CFAR trip cancellation coverage for a 45-year-old visiting Mexico. While it excels in trip cancellation coverage, this policy has no trip interruption coverage. Secondary medical benefits are up to $100,000, and medical evacuation coverage offers up to $500,000.

Best Mexico Travel Insurance for Adventure Tours: Travelex

If you’re planning adventurous activities in Mexico, you need a travel insurance policy for adventure tours that will cover you even if you get hurt. A Travelex Travel Select plan — $136 for a 45-year-old visiting Mexico — covers activities such as scuba diving and hiking with up to $50,000 in primary medical coverage and $500,000 for medical evacuations.

Best Mexico Travel Insurance for COVID-19: Tin Leg

If you’re concerned that COVID-19 might derail your travel plans before departure or while traveling, getting a travel insurance policy that covers COVID-19 is a good idea. We got a quote of $54 for Tin Leg’s Economy plan for a 35-year-old visiting Mexico. Tin Leg’s trip cancellation and interruption coverage of up to $2,500 includes COVID-19. The $20,000 in secondary medical coverage also includes COVID-19.

Is Travel Insurance for Mexico Worth It?

Travel insurance is worth it when you have significant nonrefundable travel expenses or concerns about the cost of medical care or evacuation at your destination. It’s also helpful if you might need travel assistance.

You might not be too worried about losing nonrefundable travel expenses if you’ve booked cheap travel deals to Mexico or if your bookings are fully refundable. But if you’ve booked costly Mexico travel plans that you can’t get refunded, travel insurance can give you flexibility and peace of mind if those plans change.

Even though Mexico is just across the border, you shouldn’t plan on your U.S.-based health insurance to offer coverage while you travel to Mexico. Travel insurance generally offers emergency medical coverage that can alleviate financial concerns if you get sick or hurt while in Mexico. That’s helpful if you pick up Montezuma’s revenge or mosquito-borne illnesses such as malaria or Zika virus.

For more serious concerns, medical evacuation coverage can get you to qualified medical care or bring you home. The availability of medical care in Mexico varies depending on where you’re visiting, so it could be a great distance to reach a medical facility equipped to treat you. Medical evacuations can be costly, and most travel insurance policies offer 6-figure benefits if you need them.

Cruise travel insurance can be beneficial if you’re planning a cruise to Mexico. Cruise travel tends to be unforgiving with refunds, and you could lose your deposit or more. Generally, cruise lines don’t offer refunds if you cancel within 14 or 30 days before your cruise. But if you have cruise travel insurance, you could get a refund.

While trip cancellation, trip interruption, and medical coverage are the primary benefits of most travel insurance policies for Mexico, travel assistance services can help you when you need it most. Generally, travel insurance assistance hotlines can help with medical referrals, emergency prescription replacement assistance, emergency cash, roadside assistance, travel rebooking, and more.

Mexico Travel Insurance Costs

Expect to pay 5% to 10% of your total trip cost for comprehensive travel insurance for Mexico. For a $2,500 trip, for example, that’s $125 to $250. That generally includes trip cancellation and interruption coverage for at least the cost of your trip, emergency medical and evacuation coverage, and 24-hour travel assistance. However, your travel insurance costs can vary depending on factors that influence policy costs, including:

• Additional features such as CFAR
• Coverage options
• Deductibles and limits
• Travel destination
• Traveler age
• Trip cost
• Trip duration

What Mexico Travel Insurance Covers

Travel insurance coverage depends on the policy you select, but you can generally expect comprehensive travel insurance for Mexico to include:

• 24/7 Travel Assistance: Whether you need help finding help in a medical emergency, need replacement credit cards or identification, or have to rebook travel, support is available from travel insurance hotlines.
• Emergency Medical: Travel insurance generally offers financial support for medical emergencies with primary or secondary medical insurance.
• Emergency Evacuation: Travel insurance can pay for costly emergency medical evacuations if you’re seriously ill or injured and need to be moved for medical care.
• Lost or Delayed Baggage: Baggage protection offers coverage if your baggage is lost, stolen, damaged, or delayed and you need to buy replacement items.
• Rental Car Damage: Some travel insurance policies can provide reimbursement if your rental car is damaged in an accident or stolen while you’re on a covered trip.
• Trip Cancellation: You can cancel your trip for covered reasons and get reimbursed for nonrefundable travel expenses.
• Trip Interruption: While traveling, trip interruption coverage can offer refunds for nonrefundable travel expenses if you need to cut your travel short.

Types of Mexico Travel Insurance

With many options for travel insurance, you can customize your travel insurance for Mexico and choose as little or as much coverage as you need. Additional coverage options may include adventure sports or CFAR coverage, which allows you to cancel your trip for any reason and receive partial reimbursement.

CFAR coverage can be especially helpful if you’re traveling during hurricane season and want to be able to cancel your trip if there’s a chance of a storm hitting during your travel dates.

These coverages can add to your travel insurance policy’s cost, so if you’re hoping to get cheap Mexico travel insurance, limiting your policy to primarily trip cancellation and medical coverage may be helpful.

If you’re visiting an area of Mexico with travel advisories for crime and kidnapping, you might consider a kidnapping insurance policy. This type of policy, commonly known as kidnap, ransom, or extortion insurance, is more common for business travel than personal. It can pay a ransom if you’re kidnapped while traveling. Kidnapping coverage is generally not covered by comprehensive travel insurance, so you need a separate policy if you want this type of coverage.

What To Look for in a Travel Insurance Policy for Mexico

As you shop for Mexico travel insurance policies, consider these important factors that can affect your experience, costs, and coverage:

• Cancellation Timeframe: Verify the cancellation window, which is how long before your trip you need to cancel it to receive full reimbursement.
• Cost: It’s a good idea to get multiple quotes from insurance companies to compare prices and coverage before choosing a policy.
• Coverage Availability: Check the policy’s coverage to make sure it has all of the coverage areas you want, such as trip cancellation and interruption, baggage protection, and emergency medical treatment and evacuation. Also, look for additional coverage options such as adventure sports and CFAR.
• Coverage Limits: Understand how much you’ll be reimbursed in specific situations, such as canceling your trip or needing emergency medical coverage.
• Customer Reviews: Read travel insurance reviews before you purchase your policy to find out how other customers have rated their experience with the provider.
• Eligibility: Check the fine print to make sure you and your trip are eligible for travel coverage depending on criteria such as age, trip duration, and preexisting conditions.
• Natural Disasters: Mexico is prone to hurricanes, so make sure your trip cancellation and interruption coverage applies to natural disasters.
• Policy Limitations: Travel insurance isn’t a blank check, so you should know what’s excluded and how much is covered. For example, a policy might not cover canceling your trip for work reasons, or medical coverage might not apply if you’re injured doing adventure sports.

You might travel to Mexico with a pet, as most pets don’t require a health certificate to enter Mexico. However, travel insurance policies rarely extend to pets, so you’re not covered if you need to cancel or interrupt your trip due to pet health, and pet medical expenses aren’t covered either. It’s best to get a pet health insurance policy that works internationally if you’re concerned about travel insurance coverage for your pet.

How To Get Travel Insurance for Mexico

You may have the opportunity to purchase travel insurance when you book your travel, or you can shop independently for Mexico travel insurance.

Travel agents, airlines, and online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia and Booking.com may give you the option to buy travel insurance at booking. These travel insurance policies are generally offered by third-party travel insurance companies working with the travel company. 

But before you buy travel insurance at booking, it’s a good idea to compare directly with travel insurance companies. You can do so by visiting the travel insurance company websites or using a travel insurance comparison engine such as Squaremouth, where you can get travel insurance quotes from multiple travel insurance companies simultaneously.

Just don’t wait too long to buy your policy: it’s best to buy travel insurance within 2 weeks of making your first trip payment so you can make the most of your coverage.

Also, consider whether you have travel insurance coverage from another source, such as your credit card. Many travel cards, such as Chase Sapphire Reserve^® and The Platinum Card^® from American Express, offer travel insurance benefits. Depending on your benefits, you could get coverage for trip cancellation and interruption, baggage delay or loss, rental car damage, medical treatment, medical evacuation, and more from your credit card. Just be sure to check policy limitations and exclusions and consider getting a travel insurance policy if your credit card’s coverage isn’t enough.

Final Thoughts

Before you head down to Mexico, secure your trip with a travel insurance policy that can help with unexpected circumstances and assure you that you’re covered if anything goes wrong. Compare costs, coverage, and reviews to find the best Mexico travel insurance for your needs.