JOSH WOODWARD – ALREADY THERE

When holidaymaker Michael Doyle contracted blood poisoning in Bulgaria in July, his family attempted to arrange a medical flight to bring him back to the UK. But his travel insurers refused to pay for the flight or medical bills, saying that his policy didn’t cover him – and three weeks later, Doyle died from kidney failure.

Another significant change has been the introduction of new, lower age limits, so that whereas most premiums used to be available to under-65s, now you often find that they rise when you reach 45 or 50. Limitations on family policies have also tightened: it used to be easy to find a policy that would cover dependent children at college or university up to the age of 23; they are often restricted to children under

Here is our comprehensive guide to buying travel insurance – and ensuring it coversall of your travel plans.

A step-by-step guide to buying travel insurance

How do you find the best-value travel insurance policy? Easy, you might think. Just go to a price-comparison website and buy the cheapest. But there is a catch. Price-comparison sites seem to be having an interesting effect. Because they are so powerful and used by so many people, there is intense competition among companies to keep the price of their products and services as low as possible to try to ensure that they appear near the top of the results.