9 brands · 29 plans · one trip · read against the filed rate manuals

You are not paying for the medical limit.

Allianz sells three plans for the same trip: $114, $151, $204. The medical limits are $10,000, $25,000 and $50,000 — so the expensive one looks like the one with five times the cover. We read the rate manual Allianz filed with regulators. Raising the medical limit from $10,000 to $50,000 moves the price by 23%. The gap between the cheapest and dearest plan is 79%. The rest is cancellation, interruption and delay cover — the parts nobody compares. I'm an actuary (ASA); here is the same trip at every insurer that would sell to us.

Same medical limit, very different prices

Emergency medical limit

Prices are what each brand's own site quoted for the identical trip. "Who actually insures you" is the company named in the policy document — several brands share one.

The same plan costs more in some states

Three brands that sell direct, quoted in all 51 states on Sept 19, 2026. Insurers file a separate rate table in every state, so the same plan moves.

Your state

Sorted by company, then price — not a ranking. Plans differ in what they cover; read the policy before you buy. «Most states» = the price this plan had in the largest number of states.

One insurer, many brands

United States Fire Insurance Company (Crum & Forster) is the insurer behind AXA Assistance USA, Seven Corners and Faye — and, on our pet page, behind ASPCA, Spot, Hartville and Pumpkin. Same company, different storefronts, different prices.

Five things only the rate filings can tell you

35¢What quarantine cover actually costs inside a Generali plan. Its filing prices each peril separately: illness, injury and death of the traveller come to 1.7739% of trip cost; quarantine is 0.0118% — about 35 cents on a $3,000 trip. Pregnancy, inpatient mental health and rehab are excluded outright — the filing lists them as removed.

−14.7%How much Generali's filed rate drops because the plan does not waive pre-existing conditions (factor 0.8532). That is why so many plans on comparison sites show "pre-existing waiver ✗": it is a deliberate price cut, not an oversight.

Cents or whole dollarsAllianz's filing rounds to $1, Generali's to $0.01. So a price ending in .00 and one ending in .74 came from different rate manuals. AXA, Seven Corners and Faye are all underwritten by United States Fire — yet AXA and Faye quote cents while Seven Corners quotes whole dollars. Same insurer, different manuals.

7, 15, 21 or 24Days you have to buy if you want pre-existing conditions covered. Generali filed a 66-page comparison of its own 22 products against 126 policy clauses: some waive pre-existing conditions only if you buy within 24 hours of final payment, others within 7, 15 or 21 days of the first payment — and some never. Miss the window and the waiver is gone, whatever you paid.

Exclusions have a priceThe same filing says it plainly: add the peril with its rate, and the exclusion disappears. Mental health, pregnancy, rehab — these are not fixed rules of travel insurance. They are line items a company chose to leave out, and the filing shows what each one costs.

Sources: Generali NY filing SERFF GEUS-134253376 (retail manual and its own rating example); Allianz/Jefferson retail manual, Rule 8. We read the filings; we did not ask the insurers.

What most comparison sites won't tell you

The name on the website isn't always the insurer

From the policy documents themselves ("underwritten by …"). The underwriter is the company that decides and pays your claim.

You buy from	Underwritten by
John Hancock (travel)	Starr Indemnity & Liability Company
AXA Assistance USA · Aegis · Travel Insured International	United States Fire Insurance Company
Travel Guard	American Zurich Insurance Company · National Union Fire Insurance Company
Travelex	Zurich American Insurance Company
WorldTrips	U.S. Specialty Insurance Company (Tokio Marine HCC)
International Medical Group (IMG)	Sirius America / SiriusPoint · United States Fire (some plans)
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection	Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company
Detour	AXIS Insurance Company

Where these numbers come from

Prices: quoted on each insurer's own website on Sept 19, 2026 for the trip shown above (one traveler). Your price will differ with age, trip cost, dates, destination, and options.

Underwriters: the "underwritten by" line in each plan's certificate/policy document. Why states differ: insurers file their rates state by state with regulators (SERFF). For example, Zurich filed a separate Washington travel rate filing (SERFF ZURC-134748199).