Post Brexit travel insurance for 2021

[Guest]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

Re the USA this is nonsense. I’d get a new insurer if I were you. In November 2018 the Open Skies Treaty was signed with the USA, flights to and from USA will not be affected at all by Brexit.

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Thank you for this. I will mention it and will see if they can be clearer what they are talking about.

They were adamant though. Wait until July. Hey ho.

[Peko]

In theory, travel to the US should not be affected by Brexit. However the reality may be different. Insurance for trips to the USA is often included within a worldwide policy, which would by definition include travel within Europe.

Since that has the possibility to be impacted by the post-Brexit agreement, mainly via EHIC arrangements, the premiums could be impacted indirectly. Maybe a bigger market for “USA only” policies would spring up, maybe competition would maintain prices, maybe an agreement will be reached which keeps as-is for insurance purposes.

There is a post-Brexit US-UK Open Skies agreement in place, and while its details have not been officially published to my knowledge, what I’ve been able to learn about it indicates not a lot would change that affects consumer insurance.

Another thing that could affect insurance premiums down the line (and it would definitely affect travel to the USA too) would be any change to the consumer protection offered by EU regulation EC261/2004. That is converted to UK law and remains in place, but could be repealed, replaced or amended by UK governments in future. Anything that reduced the burden on airlines would increase the potential burden on insurers, and therefore could impact premiums. Not really expecting that to change immediately, but nothing is impossible.

All of that aside, as with any major change like this, there exists the possibility of companies taking advantage to squeeze extra profits. Insurance pricing is incomprehensible to most of us to begin with, so frankly, who knows?

All most of us can do is make sure the policy we have in place, whether single trip or otherwise, covers our needs to be best of our knowledge at the time. Things may or may not change, much of it will not be in our hands to control.

[7SeasSailor]

For me there isn't anything to be concerned about. I won't be travelling to the EU and Brexit has got nothing to do with the USA.

[KCMUMMY]

I brought our family policy last week for our Florida August 21 trip. It cost an extra £3 compared to the policy purchased in 2018 for our 2019 trip, and the cover was better!