International Medical Group is reporting a 15% increase in members purchasing policies for autumn 2026 trips compared with the same period last year, alongside a nearly 6% rise in average insured trip cost. The data covers more than 40,000 member itineraries for trips scheduled between September and November 2026 and reflects IMG's own internal booking data rather than industry-wide policy sales.
Mexico held its position as the top destination for IMG policyholders for a fourth straight year, with Italy, Canada, the Bahamas and the United Kingdom rounding out the top five. The Bahamas displaced Spain in the rankings this year.
Grant Hayes, IMG's global head of travel, said travelers are planning more trips and spending more on their travel experiences while continuing to prioritize destinations that offer a mix of cultural experiences and relaxation.
Nearly half of the travelers in IMG's autumn analysis are 65 or older. Fifteen percent are 75 or older. That is not a statistic about the overall travel insurance market - it is a description of what the buying population in this specific growth segment actually looks like, and it has direct implications for what cover those travelers genuinely need.
The fundamental coverage gap driving demand from this cohort is straightforward. Medicare generally does not cover medical expenses outside the United States. Medicare Advantage and Medigap plans may provide some overseas coverage, but that coverage has limits - and crucially, no Medicare plan covers emergency medical evacuation. A 70-year-old with a cardiac event in Italy or Mexico is not relying on Medicare to get them home. The cost of that evacuation, which can run into six figures depending on the destination and the care required, falls entirely on the traveler unless they carry dedicated travel medical insurance with adequate evacuation limits.
IMG's GlobeHopper Senior product is built specifically for Medicare-enrolled seniors traveling outside the US. It functions as secondary coverage to Medicare and a Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan, with benefit limits from $50,000 to $1 million depending on the plan selected. A 65-year-old traveler can access single-trip or multi-trip annual coverage, the latter covering trips up to 30 days each within a 12-month period. The product also covers the acute onset of pre-existing conditions - a feature that matters considerably for a population where chronic conditions are common and standard pre-existing condition exclusions would otherwise leave significant exposure gaps.
Squaremouth's analysis of travel insurance claims found that emergency medical expenses accounted for more than 27% of all paid claims in the past year, with an average payout of $1,816 per claim. Travelers over 80 now pay roughly seven times more for international coverage than those under 35 - a gap that directly reflects the underlying claims exposure rather than arbitrary pricing. Older travelers file medical claims more frequently, require higher coverage limits for emergency evacuation and treatment abroad, and tend to book longer and more expensive trips.
A related pattern is visible in the UK market. Medical expenses accounted for 43% of all claims handled by a specialist UK travel provider in 2025, with average travel medical claims rising 14% between 2020 and 2024 as premiums climbed 43% over the same period. The US and UK markets are not directly comparable - US travelers rely on travel insurance as primary coverage abroad where domestic health plans and Medicare do not extend, whereas UK claims patterns sit against a different domestic coverage backdrop - but both point to medical costs as the dominant pressure on travel insurance loss ratios in the 65-plus cohort.
The broader market context supports the demand trend. The global travel insurance market was valued at an estimated $35.82 billion in 2026, according to Fortune Business Insights. US consumers spent $5.56 billion on travel protection in 2024, covering nearly 87 million individuals, according to the US Travel Insurance Association.
For brokers with older clients planning international travel, the IMG data and the Medicare coverage reality frame a specific product conversation. A client who is 70 years old, holds Medicare Parts A and B plus a Medigap supplement, and is planning two weeks in Italy needs to understand three things before they depart: Medicare will not cover their medical care abroad; their evacuation home is not covered by any Medicare plan; and the average trip cancellation policy, designed primarily around pre-departure risk, will not be the most important coverage they carry if something goes wrong on the ground.
The conversation starts with what the client thinks they have - and what they actually have - before it reaches what product to recommend. Carriers face a two-part challenge in this segment: pricing that reflects higher medical loss severity in older age brackets, and coverage designed around the actual risk profile rather than adapted from standard templates. For brokers, the challenge is simpler: knowing that a client who is 75 and traveling to Mexico needs a different product conversation than a client who is 35 and doing the same trip, and having that conversation before the policy is placed rather than after a claim makes it necessary.
