Worldwide Travel and Emergency Medical Insurance

I've had to do a bit of shopping over the past week. On previous travels I've opted out of travel insurance plans but given that I will be away this time for 10 months in an area where I may catch malaria or have an accident but have no medical cover, I thought it best (with some persuasive advice from loved ones and other volunteers) that basic cover is essential for Ghana.

VHI have a global health cover policy for travellers going abroad (worldwide excl. US/Canada option)for 6 months+, but that excludes dental emergency care and costs €763. Maybe they offer a cheaper option to VHI members? But it's a bit steep I think.

Quinn Direct do not seem to have an option beyond 31 days for a single trip. Multi trip does not apply for more than 30 days on any one trip. I spoke to one of their agents and was told the max. they can cover for is 6 months. I didn't get a quote but as they are a private health insurer expect a quote around €500, probably more.

USIT on the other hand have 2 options for backpackers (even though I wouldn't count myself in this category). Their work and travel section only covers US, Australia, for example, so volunteers not going through a USIT programme havethe following options:

Silver policy (10 months)- €330

Gold policy (10 months) - €345

In order to get access to either of them you have to have one of their cards. The cheapest to get if you are not a student is the backpacker card, which will set you back €25. Or if you can prove that you are a teacher (bring a reference) you can get a teacher card costing €13.

The difference between the policies is fairly big in terms of the amount you can be paid out. For example, if you die, under the silver policy you get (or your next of kin) €1 million, whereas under the gold policy you get €1.5 million. But you'll be dead so who cares! Essentially they cover the same ground, including emergency surgical or medical procedures, repatriation in the event of illness, high risk sporting activities, travel cancellation, luggage loss, etc.

Then there are some cheaper options that I searched through, but most do not have appropriate annual cover. For example, Insure have an "annual multi trip cover which means that you may make multiple journeys of up to a maximum of 31 Days duration each, subject to a cumulative 90 days during the policy period."

Watch out for this small print as Bank of Ireland have the same stipulation for their multi-trip insurance. The single trip cover is for 90 days maximum. If you are going on a 3 month voluntary trip this may work out well. It costs €68 for the first 31 days, then €9 for each additional week.

AIB probably have something similar but I don;t have an a/c with them so didn't bother checking.


Just Cover offer a Backpacker / Longstay quote of €200. With cancellation and baggage cover it moves up to €258. This might be the option that I'll take. €130 less than USIT, it has quite good coverage in terms of medical emergency, dental emergency, and you have the option of opting out of cancellation and baggage cover which USIT does not have.

If you know of any more options please add a comment.