Travel cover does two different jobs. One pays your medical and trip costs when something happens to you. The other protects the money you paid a tour company if that company fails. Mixing them up is how travellers walk into a hospital bill with the wrong document in hand.
Before you book a Thailand trip—or any international itinerary—separate those two jobs, then match limits to where you would actually be treated. Planning frame: How to Plan a Trip to Thailand in 2027: 7 Easy Steps · papers checklist: Before You Fly.
1. Two Kinds of Cover
If the company stops trading, insolvency protection is the refund and, when the law requires it, the trip home. It takes the form of a bond, a guarantee fund, insolvency cover, or the operator’s own liability policy.
You want both jobs done. The bond does one. Your personal travel policy does the other—medical treatment, evacuation, cancellation and baggage when you are the risk.
Each market answers three questions:
- What you must carry
- How your tour money is protected
- When a tour operator may sell you a policy
2. How Much to Buy
Match the limit to the country where you would be treated.
For a short trip in Southeast Asia, a medical limit from about RMB 200,000 (roughly USD 28,000) is a common starting band in many consumer markets—not a guarantee that every hospital will bill under it.
Higher destinations need higher ceilings. Schengen visa products often start at EUR 30,000. Mainstream UK medical limits commonly sit at £1 million to £2 million. US visitor-medical products commonly run USD 50,000 to USD 250,000, with emergency evacuation often USD 100,000 to USD 500,000.
Buy for the country of treatment, not for the cheapest sticker on a comparison site.
3. The EU and the Schengen Area
A Schengen visa application includes travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000. The policy must be valid in every member state and must cover the whole stay and any transit. On a multiple-entry visa, cover for the first stay is enough. The 2020 amendment left this rule in place.
Visa-free entry at a Schengen border does not ask for insurance. ETIAS, planned for the fourth quarter of 2026 with a fee of about EUR 20, will not require or store proof of insurance.
A package organiser must hold insolvency protection that refunds services it does not deliver and, when transport is included, brings travellers home. In Germany the fund you can join, since November 2021, is DRSF. In France the industry guarantee body is APST.
An EHIC card is reciprocal public healthcare between states. Private hospitals, emergency repatriation, cancellation and baggage sit outside it.
Schengen visa policies commonly show medical cover of EUR 30,000 to EUR 100,000. Higher policies reach EUR 2,000,000.
If a tour operator recommends, arranges or concludes an insurance contract, it registers as an ancillary insurance intermediary under the Insurance Distribution Directive, discloses what it is paid, and runs a needs analysis.
4. The United Kingdom
Mainstream UK medical limits are £1 million to £2 million.
A package that includes a flight sits under ATOL, run by the Civil Aviation Authority. If the operator fails, people who have not travelled are refunded, and people already abroad are brought home. The CAA states that ATOL is not travel insurance.
A package without flights uses an ABTA bond, financial-failure insurance, or a trust account. The statute is Part 5 of the 2018 Package Travel Regulations. Amending regulations take effect in April 2027, so the 2018 rules are the ones in force at this writing.
5. The United States
The United States has no single federal tour-operator insolvency fund like ATOL.
California requires a seller of travel to register with the Attorney General, to show the registration number in advertising, and to participate in a limited refund scheme called TCRC.
Florida registers sellers under Chapter 559, through the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Published regulatory figures put travel-insurance premiums at about 5 to 10 percent of the trip price. Americans spend about USD 5.56 billion a year on travel insurance, nearly half again the pre-pandemic level. Cancellation products are more than 90 percent of policies bought.
Visitor medical limits commonly run USD 50,000 to USD 250,000. Emergency evacuation commonly runs USD 100,000 to USD 500,000.
Cancel-for-any-reason cover typically pays 50 to 75 percent of the trip cost. You buy it inside a set window, you cancel at least 48 hours before departure, and the premium is about half again the standard price.
The NAIC Travel Insurance Model Act, official number 632 (often called 400 in the trade), frames how states regulate the product.
6. If East Marvel Arranges a Policy
Every market asks for registration, a licence, or an appointment before anyone recommends, arranges or concludes insurance for you. Unlicensed selling is unlawful. In Hong Kong it is a criminal offence.
The lawful paths are:
- Register as an ancillary intermediary
- Hold an independent intermediary licence
- Act as an appointed representative of a licensed insurer or intermediary, with that firm carrying compliance
- Fit a statutory exemption for a low-premium add-on
Local names for that status:
- EU: ancillary intermediary under the IDD
- UK: FCA authorisation / appointed-representative route
If the operator pays the premium and hands you a real policy, that arrangement is still insurance distribution. The giver holds a licence or works under a licensee.
US anti-rebate rules limit benefits outside the insurance contract used to push a purchase. “Free insurance with your booking” has a compliance edge.
The usual paper is a group master policy. The operator is the policyholder. You are the insured person. A licensed insurer underwrites it. You receive, in writing, what is covered, the insurer’s name, and whether the cover is optional.
A credit-card policy comes from the bank and the card network. It is usually excess cover, and it often applies only when you paid with that card. It is a separate contract from anything an operator gives you.
7. What This Means for a Thailand Trip
For a Thailand holiday, keep the split clean:
- Buy a personal travel medical policy sized for Southeast Asia treatment (and for any Schengen / onward destination on the same ticket)
- Confirm how your tour deposit is protected if you booked a package
- Do not treat ATOL, ABTA, TCRC, or a credit-card perk as a substitute for medical cover
- File entry papers separately: TDAC · Before You Fly
Browse private routes: Thailand tour packages.
8. Ask Us Before You Assume Cover
East Marvel builds private Thailand itineraries. If we ever arrange or hand you an insurance document, it will sit on a lawful path for that market—registration, licence, appointment, or a written group-master structure—not a vague “included free” line.
Tell us your dates, nationality and whether Schengen or a US/UK departure is part of the same trip. eastmarvel.com/thailand · WhatsApp +1 201 240 4890.
The rules below are the position in November 2026. Laws change. When you book, read the current local rule and the wording of your own policy. This is business information, not legal advice. General business guidance only. Confirm current regulator pages, insurer wording and your card-network benefits before you travel.