IMG Travel Insurance Review | 2023

Protecting a trip with travel insurance is a way to minimize out-of-pocket costs if plans change for your vacation or business trip. The most basic travel insurance policies offer trip cancellation and interruption coverage, which foots all or part of the bill if you call off a trip or change plans for a covered reason.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, International Medical Group (IMG) provides travel insurance that also specializes in travel medical insurance and international healthcare insurance for people visiting the US and elsewhere. In this IMG travel insurance review, we at the MarketWatch Guides Team outline the coverages available and sample rates.

IMG travel plans come with standard travel protections, such as coverage for trip delays and cancellations for covered reasons. Its list of reasons for canceling a trip and getting a reimbursement is long, and it includes events like losing a job or being in a car accident. The maximum trip length IMG insures is 180 days, making it an option for longer travel stays.

IMG also provides a number of medical coverage plans for travelers, including specialized plans for students, older adults and missionaries. Healthcare plans for international students in the US feature coverage of $500,000 to $5 million with $5 copays at student health centers. Patriot Travel plans and global health insurance policies have limits that reach $8 million.

IMG’s iTravelInsured Travel Lite is designed as a budget trip protection plan, but it comes with some perks. For one, the policy can protect trips up to 180 days (six months) long, and you get coverage for baggage and medical expenses. Here’s an outline of what’s covered:

• 100% of non-refundable insured trip costs for trip cancellation
• 125% of non-refundable insured trip costs for trip interruptions
• $125 per person per day ($500 max per person) for travel delays
• $750 ($250 max per item) for baggage
• $150 for baggage delays of at least 24 hours
• Up to $100,000 per person for accident and sickness medical expenses

Add-Ons

Add-ons, or riders, are benefits you can include in your policy, often for an extra fee. Below are optional add-ons and features available in higher-value IMG plans:

• Accidental death and dismemberment
• Cancel for any reason coverage
• Change fee coverage
• Interruption for any reason coverage
• Natural disaster evacuation coverage
• Political and personal security evacuation coverage
• Rental car damage and theft coverage
• Pet kennel coverage
• Search and rescue coverage
• Sports equipment rental coverage

Policies Offered

Below are travel insurance policies offered by IMG.

the best travel insurance companies let you secure rates online. Factors that affect travel insurance rates are how many people are going on the trip, the cost of the trip and the scheduled duration of the trip. Here are sample domestic and international travel rates.

Cost of International Travel Insurance

We pulled the quotes below for a three-person trip to England. Travelers’ ages are 5, 28 and 32. The cost of the trip is $6,000, and the travel dates are July 1, 2023, to July 9, 2023.

Cost of Domestic Travel Insurance

Below is a quote for a two-person stateside trip. Travelers are aged 40 and 45. The cost of the trip is $4,000, and travel dates are August 5, 2023, to August 15, 2023.

IMG gets many positive reviews on review sites that say the company provides transparent policies that clearly list what’s covered. However, there are some negative reviews about glitches with the IMG website and general frustration with website performance. Others have complaints about canceling trips and not receiving expected coverage.

Overall, IMG Global gets 4.6 out of 5 stars from nearly 7,000 reviews on Trustpilot. Here are four examples:

“This website makes it very easy to find what type of insurance I need. I have been using IMG for five years for all my international trips.” — dao

“The process is clear and simple, and the product is well-priced for an extensive range of coverage. I use it for both business and personal travel.” — Meagan

“The website application process is frustrating. I had to continue to clear my cache five times to get it to work… One more time of not working, and I was going with someone else. Luckily, it worked on the sixth attempt…” — Warrens

“We never traveled to Turks and Caicos but they charged us the full amount even if we canceled more than one month before the trip!” — Luca Montebugnoli

We reached out to a representative by email for comments on the reviews above and received the following statement:

“At IMG, our mission is to be an exceptionally innovative partner that provides creative and practical solutions, and our staff strives to ‘Be There’ to protect and enhance the well-being of our customers every day.

We appreciate the time our customers take to share the experiences they’ve had with our company to further connect others to the travel and health safety solutions we provide for those traveling, living or working away from home.

We understand how important it is to provide high-quality service to our customers, which is evidenced by our overwhelmingly positive Trustpilot reviews, and we are committed to providing every customer with the best possible experience.”

IMG is a comprehensive travel insurance option for many types of travelers. But students, business travelers and frequent travelers who spend extended time away on international trips may find IMG’s coverage most beneficial. If you invest significant money in an international trip that goes awry, the multi-trip travel policies and longer-term plans with high coverage limits can help you avoid carrying a large financial burden.

Our team surveyed dozens of travel insurance providers and created a scoring system to judge each company’s quality and service. We reached out for sample quotes, both over the phone and on the internet, to simulate an authentic customer experience. Here are the factors that account for our provider reviews:

• Plan availability (20%): We looked for insurers with a variety of plans and the ability to customize the policy with upgrades.
• Coverage (40%): Among the benefits scored were medical expenses, medical and nonmedical evacuation, COVID-19 coverage, preexisting condition exclusion waivers, “cancel for any reason” coverage, trip interruption, travel delay time requirements, baggage delay time requirements, baggage reimbursement and financial default of a travel supplier. Special consideration was given to companies offering unique add-ons, such as extreme sports coverage, coverage for business equipment and pet coverage.
• Customer service and support (30%): We looked for indicators that a company is well-prepared to respond to customer needs. Companies with an established global resource network, a 24/7 emergency hotline, robust mobile apps and perks like concierge and translation services scored higher.
• Reputation (10%): We gauge reputation by evaluating consumer reviews, third-party financial strength and customer experience ratings, specifically from AM Best and the Better Business Bureau.

Taylor Medina started blogging about her experiences stretching a dollar in 2013 as a recent college grad. Eventually, that passion grew into a career studying personal finance topics and demystifying them for people like her — the everyday consumer. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her hunting for travel deals or trying (and often failing) on ​​a DIY project.