If you’re wondering whether or not to get travel insurance for Bali, we’ve got all you need to know to make an informed decision.
We’re not a travel insurance provider, and thus, our advice is impartial and designed to help you weigh up the different travel insurance options on the market and decide on what’s best for you.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about coverage, costs, how to find a policy, the small print, etc. so that if you do opt for travel insurance coverage, you will know exactly what you’re paying for.
What Is Travel Insurance Cover?
Basic travel insurance is often offered by airlines and credit card providers when you book your holiday.
This form of travel insurance usually covers you in the event of trip cancellation (providing alternative transport or a refund of your cost), in the event of lost luggage, and other minor travel-related issues.
There may even be personal effects, such as delayed expenses paid if your luggage arrives late for your Bali holiday. This is some cash to help you buy clothes and other necessities while you wait for your own property to arrive.
Sometimes, it applies for the entire trip duration and at other times, it may only apply for the period of travel getting to and from Bali.
It’s the bare minimum of insurance cover for overseas travel, and it’s normally extremely cheap, and that’s because it’s really concerned with your travel arrangements rather than providing any valuable cover for your time in Bali.
What Is Medical Cover?
Medical coverage (as opposed to health insurance coverage, which is a separate thing) usually involves paying an additional premium for travel insurance.
What’s Typically Covered?
This coverage will normally assist with medical conditions that arise in Bali.
So, for example, it might help with injuries sustained in scooter accidents or in the event of a natural disaster, or with treatment if you contract dengue fever or your Bali belly turns out to be more than a minor upset stomach.
Travel insurers typically provide enough cover for medical and hospital expenses to get you patched up and back on your feet so that you can return home. That means you may need health care at home to complete treatment for any issues incurred in Bali.
If you want all your hospital and medical expenses paid, then you need overseas medical coverage in the form of health insurance. Health insurance cover is much more expensive than Bali travel insurance and needs to be arranged separately.
If you don’t have some form of medical cover, then you will need to meet all your own medical expenses should you become sick or have an accident.
It’s worth noting that while medical costs in Bali are usually lower than the cost of medical treatment in other countries, they can add up rapidly.
If you buy travel insurance for Bali, we recommend that you opt for something with medical coverage.
Generous medical terms can offer additional benefits such as hospital cash allowance (a sum paid out daily while you’re in the hospital to cover your day-to-day expenses).
What’s Not Covered?
You will find that your travel insurance policy will almost certainly have an exclusion for pre-existing medical conditions.
That’s because travel insurance for a Bali holiday is not meant to cover all your medical expenses but rather those that are incurred as a result of travelling.
It’s very difficult to find a policy that will pay your overseas medical costs for existing health conditions, and while you can shop around for Bali travel insurance coverage to address this, you may find that it’s simply not available or that the policy costs more than paying your own expenses.
These policies typically also excluded overseas emergency medical evacuation that’s because medical evacuation is very expensive, and typically, most conditions can be treated in Bali.
If you are worried about overseas medical costs exceeding the value of your policy and, thus, think you might require medical evacuation, you will need to talk to an insurer about having this coverage added to your travel insurance cover, and it won’t be cheap.
What Is Personal Liability?
Personal liability is when you are held liable for some or all of the actions that led to an accident. For example, if you’re driving and driving into the back of the car in front of you, you have personal liability for the accident.
Bali travel insurance may include coverage for personal liability, and it’s worth checking that it does. Personal liability can quickly become very expensive.
If you injure someone else in an accident, you can find that their medical expenses quickly skyrocket and that you are expected to pay a hospital cash allowance to the individual too.
If you have the right travel insurance for Bali, you won’t need to worry about paying this out of your own pocket. You can hand over the details of your travel insurance and get on with enjoying your Bali holiday.
The good news is that coverage for personal liability is often standard or added to a travel insurance policy very cheaply. It certainly won’t break the bank.
What Happens If You Need Emergency Assistance In The Event Of Natural Disasters?
It depends on what kind of Bali travel insurance you have, but emergency assistance is often included as a standard in travel insurance coverage.
Natural disasters are one of the biggest risks that people face in Bali, with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and even tsunamis all being possibilities.
A natural disaster can easily be the most expensive thing to happen on a Bali holiday if you don’t have travel insurance.
That’s because even if you’re not directly affected by the disaster, everything becomes more expensive as hotels become inundated with people evacuated from the affected areas.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis can leave tens of thousands of people displaced for long periods of time.
The worst of the potential natural disasters from a travel insurance point of view is a volcanic eruption. The smoke from a volcano can leave planes grounded in Bali and force you to extend your stay for weeks or even potentially months.
We strongly recommend that you check your travel insurance and see that it covers natural disasters and, if not, that you contact the insurer and find an upgrade that does.
What Happens To Insurance Cover If You Lose Your Travel Documents In Bali?
Losing your travel documents is a real pain, and it can be a huge problem to get them replaced. The good news is that travel insurance coverage does not depend on you having the same travel documents as when your travel insurance policy was issued.
In fact, many travel insurance policies provide some cover for losing your travel documents overseas and may help with the cost of replacing your passports (or obtaining emergency travel documents) and any travel costs that you rack up in the course of replacing your documents.
Again, you will need to investigate the coverage of your travel insurance policy to see if this is the case for you. If not, you might want to see if you can have it added to an existing policy or choose a different policy when you buy.
Why Do You Need Accidental Death Coverage?
It’s true that you won’t need medical expenses paid out if you suffer an accidental death overseas. But sadly, it costs money to ship a body home (and it’s a lot of money – airlines can’t just pop you in a seat onboard. The shipping has to be done to meet international standards).
It also costs money to return your personal belongings.
There are often legal expenses to be paid, too, regarding the release of the body to the proper authorities. Then, there’s the cost of cremation or a coffin. And so on…
You might be surprised to learn that it can easily cost $25,000 AUD to ship someone’s body from Bali to their relatives back in Australia! The Australian government does not help with these costs.
This is why many travel insurance policies have an accidental death clause. It’s a good idea to make certain that yours does, or you may end up putting your family under a lot of pressure that they don’t need to face.
Is Cheap Travel Insurance Good Enough?
Travel insurance and, in fact, all forms of insurance are a kind of bet. You bet that something will go wrong on your holiday, and the insurance company bets that it won’t.
The bigger the potential payout for the insurance company, the bigger the bet that you have to place in the first place.
Cheap travel insurance can be invaluable. For example, if you have a free policy that includes personal effects and delay expenses and your bags arrive late at the airport, you get some money to help out while you wait.
However, this kind of policy is usually limited to cover for travel expenses, flight delays and the like.
If you’re hurt, injured, die, or face a situation where you incur personal liability, you may have to meet all the costs yourself.
That can get expensive fast.
Now, it’s fair to say that we can understand why a healthy 20-year-old might shrug and decide to buy a few more beers rather than pay for a comprehensive travel insurance policy, but we’ve seen enough 20-year-olds trying to raise $50,000+ for treatment after a motorbike accident to be less blase about things.
Yes, it’s no fun paying for something where you’re hoping to lose the bet. After all, we all want a holiday that’s trouble-free rather than a massive invoice for overseas emergency medical costs, but in the event that things do go wrong, most of us are very grateful for insurance.
What Is A Policy Excess For Travel Insurance Cover?
A policy excess is an amount of money that you must pay before the insurer will pay out any money.
So, for example, if the excess policy on your travel insurance for Bali is $500 and you go to the hospital, You will then need to pay the first $500 of your treatment costs before the insurer will pay anything.
If you do not have $500, then the insurer will not pay anything at all, and you will become liable for the entire cost of treatment.
This matters a lot. We’ve met plenty of people over the years who had a very high policy excess in order to pay a very low premium on their travel insurance.
But this only makes sense if you can actually afford to pay the excess when called upon to do so. A $50 travel insurance policy with a $5,000 excess is awesome if you have $5,000. If you don’t have $5,000? You might as well have no insurance at all.
This means it’s important to choose a policy excess that you can handle if things go wrong in Bali.
What Kind Of Policy Exceptions Might I Find In Bali Travel Insurance Cover?
Travel insurance is a complicated thing, and, in general, policies don’t always cover every activity that you might undertake while you’re on holiday.
Things like medical treatment and hospital expenses are optional, but coverage for many other things is. For example, scuba diving may or may not be covered.
In fact, scuba diving often isn’t covered, but don’t rush out to buy a new travel insurance policy. You’ll often find that the scuba diving school you dive with has a separate insurance policy that covers you while you dive.
Family Emergency Coverage
Some travel insurance will cover any cancellation fees that you incur in the event of a family emergency preventing you from travelling, but most policies do not provide cover for this.
If you want it, you’ll have to add this kind of cover on top.
It’s For Tourists
You may also find that you’re required to undertake your Bali trip on a tourist visa if you want the policy to provide cover. This is a response to “digital nomads” trying to use travel insurance instead of health insurance while living in cheaper destinations.
Travel insurance is meant to cover periods of overseas travel for leisure or temporary business purposes, and it’s not meant to provide cover for people living in another country.
Coverage Length Can Vary
Some travel insurance will provide cover for every holiday that you take in a given period. Some only last for the specific trip duration that it was purchased for.
If you extend your Bali trip and have trip duration coverage, you will need to extend the coverage too (usually for a fee) or take out a full new policy.
It’s important to understand what is and what is not covered in your policy before you pay for it (most insurers don’t give refunds). You can then arrange for additional coverage (at an additional premium) or an alternative policy to make up the difference.
What Is Comprehensive Travel Insurance?
Comprehensive travel insurance is a form of travel insurance that covers most of the expected situations that you might face in an emergency on a holiday in Bali.
However, that doesn’t mean that you can rely on comprehensive travel insurance to cover your exact needs without reading the small print.
You will find that it still has exclusions, a specific excess to pay, etc. and that you need to ensure that these meet your needs.
Is Travel Insurance For Bali Worth It?
Yes, we think it is. If you’ve ever seen an appeal for help with overseas emergency medical expenses, you will know that it’s all too easy for a trip to go wrong and that it can happen to anyone.
While you may not be able to afford the best travel insurance policies, it’s always a good idea to have some coverage (and coverage where you can afford to pay the excess).
It’s very much worth investigating if any of your card providers offer overseas cover or travel insurance policies as part of their standard terms. You may be automatically covered by these policies when you make a purchase.
While this may not be the greatest level of cover, it can certainly help with the costs of replacing personal effects or damage to a rental vehicle. Small things can add up when it comes to travel insurance.
Are You Legally Obliged To Have Travel Insurance?
No. While there were various requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic from both airlines and national governments regarding travel insurance and COVID-19 coverage, this is no longer the case.
You will not be asked to provide evidence of travel insurance coverage during check-in or by immigration in Bali.
This does not mean that it’s a good idea to travel without insurance. It just means that you can and won’t get into any kind of trouble for doing so.
How To Find Travel Insurance To Bali
There are two main ways to find travel insurance for a trip to Bali. The first is to arrange insurance through your travel agent (we recommend that you use the Bali Res Centre for booking all trips to Bali, as they’re a great local agent), and the second is to search online.
The advantage of using a travel agent is that they will have a good understanding of the type of trip that you’re planning and can easily advise on what kind of coverage will suit you best.
However, it’s important to note that travel agents may not have the largest range of insurance products to call on, and you may be able to find a better deal elsewhere.
You can also go online and Google for travel insurance or contact one of the insurers that we’ve listed below.
Insurance is a very competitive field, and you can easily find insurance to cover any eventuality with a reasonable excess, and the costs can vary dramatically between insurers.
We recommend that everyone hunts around for travel insurance to find the best deal for themselves.
It’s also worth noting that you may already have some basic overseas cover from your credit card provider or airline. If you do, you may be able to exclude this coverage from another policy and pay less for your travel insurance by doing so.
Potential Insurance Providers For Bali Travel Insurance
This is not a comprehensive list of all travel insurance providers. It is, however, a list of trusted insurers that are used to working with Australians and other Western nationals to provide travel insurance for holidays in Bali and elsewhere in the world.
These insurers are suitably bonded and can be relied on to make good on claims as long as you have complied with the terms of your policy and also meet the policy excess when required to do so.
We are not expressing any preference for any particular insurer here. FINNS does not act as a financial services advisor and cannot help you decide on which insurance policy is best suited to your needs.
Cover-More Insurance
Cover-More offers unlimited expenses for medical and dental issues. We will pay out up to $15,000 for lost luggage and documents, up to $750 for delayed luggage, $5,000 in the event of hijacking, and much more.
Perhaps, most importantly, for some travellers, they cover almost all activities that you might undertake in Bali, such as bungee jumping, Bali swings, etc.
They will also provide cover for scooters and motorbike riders, but you must have a legal driving license with a motorbike endorsement, an international driver’s permit, a helmet and be sober. You can’t drive anything over 200cc either.
One Cover Bali Insurance
This is a reasonably comprehensive standard policy that offers good value for money, particularly for families travelling together.
The focus here is on medical coverage, though pregnancy is only covered up to 24 weeks.
It has decent coverage for overseas activities, but you want to check the list of activities covered to ensure that you’re covered. Extreme sports are excluded as a standard.
Their scooter coverage isn’t great, though, and you not only need to be road-legal, but you can’t ride anything over a 50cc engine capacity.
You can find a full breakdown of the One Cover policy here.
Allianz Travel Insurance Bali
Allianz is one of the biggest names in the insurance industry, and they offer very reasonable terms in their standard policy.
There’s no extreme sports coverage, but most ordinary activities, such as snorkelling and surfing, are covered.
They offer unlimited medical expenses, including evacuation if needed.
The bike coverage allows legal road users to ride up to a 250cc bike with full coverage.
We like that they offer $1,000 towards emergency dental expenses, too. There’s nothing worse than ending up in a dentist spending all your holiday savings on a filling.
Travel Insurance Direct
This insurer offers very reasonably priced policies for Bali, but it tends not to have the most comprehensive offering, and you may need to add things on to get the coverage you need.
They are very strict about pre-existing conditions for their medical insurance, and they may refuse coverage entirely if you’ve had a stroke or heart attack in the past.
Their motorbike coverage is the best, however, as they will let you ride any cc bike as long, of course, as you are legally entitled to do so.
Interestingly, they offer $10,000 worth of insurance against any lost income caused by injury or illness on your holiday.
Fast Cover Travel Insurance
This is a very comprehensive offering that covers theft, medical issues, lost baggage and documents, etc.
It’s nice to have peace of mind when you travel, and while they don’t cover extreme sports as standard, you can buy an “adventure pack” to get coverage for these activities as an extra.
They cover all engine capacities with their scooter/bike policy, though, as always, you must remain legally allowed to drive. This means you must be sober, wear a helmet, and have the right paperwork.
Their $50,000 coverage for expenses relating to any natural disasters is fairly generous, too.
You can find out more about Fast Cover’s offering here.
Medibank Travel Insurance
This is a well-known Australian insurer, and it’s very popular with Australians because of its “high trust” status.
They offer both a comprehensive policy and one focused entirely on the medical aspect of travel.
Families tend to opt for comprehensive travel insurance because of the range of things that go wrong on holidays, whereas many singles will opt to keep their costs down and just cover the medical side of things.
They do cover some extreme sports, but check the policy details carefully with respect to this.
They don’t offer motorbike coverage as standard, but they do offer this coverage as a paid extra, but only for vehicles up to 200cc in engine capacity. As always, you have to be road-legal to claim for this.
Their unlimited cancellation coverage for any unforeseen act (except for terrorism) is very good. Find out more here.
Can You Stack Travel Insurance Policies?
Yes, sort of. Sometimes, you may find that it’s cheaper to take out two separate policies for different areas of coverage.
So, for example, let’s say that your credit card offers comprehensive insurance for your personal effects and that your travel insurance provider gives much better coverage for medical expenses.
You can take out both policies and choose which one to claim when you are in Bali, and you need to use your insurance.
What you cannot do, however, is claim for the same event twice. So, if you lose your camera, you must claim for it on one policy or the other.
If you end up in hospital, you can claim on one policy or the other. You can’t double dip and suddenly buy two cameras or use the cost of your medical treatment to pay for an extension of your Bali trip.
Will The Australian Government Help If I Don’t Have Travel Insurance?
No. The Australian government provides limited assistance to Australians overseas through its consular services. This assistance does not extend to paying for Australians’ expenses in an emergency.
The consulate will help you contact people back home if you have an overseas emergency medical need and see if they can help you pay for your treatment, but they do not provide loans or any other kind of financial assistance.
The only time when consular services really come into their own is if the Australian government orders a full emergency evacuation of Australian citizens from another country. At this point, they will usually arrange for and often pay for your flight out.
Otherwise, you’re expected to have insurance or the means to pay for your own expenses and to use them as necessary.
You can find full details of what the government can and cannot do on the Smart Traveller site provided by the Australian government.
Bali Travel Insurance FAQs
Who Is Best For Travel Insurance To Bali? What Is The Best Travel Insurance For Bali?
We’re not an insurance broker and can’t offer any insight into which exact travel cover might be best for your needs.
We’d recommend that you draw up a list of the kind of coverage that you need and then seek quotes from insurance companies to address those needs.
Don’t be afraid to shop around when choosing insurance, and there’s no need for any kind of brand loyalty. Get the coverage you need with the right level of excess at the lowest possible price.
Do I Need Travel Insurance In Bali?
You are not legally required to have any kind of insurance to take a holiday in Bali. That doesn’t mean that you don’t “need” insurance, but it does mean you’re not obliged to take any out.
We would point out that the vast majority of trips to Bali are likely to go without any need to make an insurance claim, which often leads people to believe that they don’t need coverage.
However, if things do go wrong (and nobody has a crystal ball to work out who will be lucky or unlucky), you may find that you really do need travel insurance in order to cover the expenses that you incur.
Do You Need Travel Insurance To Go To Bali From Australia? Do Australians Need Travel Insurance For Bali?
Again, no. There’s no legal obligation to enter Bali with any form of travel insurance, and this includes travellers coming from Australia.
Just remember that health care is not free in Bali for Australians or any other overseas tourists and that it’s very easy for things to get expensive fast.
We would encourage you to investigate your travel insurance options even if you’re not obliged by law to take out a policy.
What Insurance Is Required For Bali?
There is no insurance of any kind currently required to visit Bali. Tourists may come and go as they please without presenting any form of insurance paperwork.
You will not need to show coverage to your airline or to immigration on arrival. You may travel at your own risk.
Do You Need Medical Insurance For Bali? Do You Need Medical Cover For Bali?
We would strongly recommend that your travel insurance has at least some form of basic medical coverage. This will ensure that you get some help with the costs if you get sick or have an accident.
While a dose of the Bali belly won’t cost a fortune to treat in a local clinic, a scooter accident can leave you facing bills of tens of thousands of dollars.
However, unless you are moving to Bali as an expat or retiree, you don’t need medical insurance. Health insurance is a very different product from travel insurance, and it is designed to cover all your expenses for almost all medical conditions.
You will find that health insurance allows you to be treated entirely in Bali, unlike travel insurance, which tries to get you well enough to go home and continue your treatment at home.
This means that health insurance is usually much more expensive than travel insurance, and most tourists simply don’t need this kind of cover on a two-week holiday.
Should You Buy Travel Insurance For Bali?
We recommend that you buy some form of travel insurance and that you discuss with your travel agent what kind of coverage you might need.
Medical conditions can strike anyone at any age at any time, so it’s best to be prepared for this eventuality. You also want any unusual activities covered if they might lead to injury, too.
Which Travel Insurance Company Is Best?
There is no “best company” for travel insurance despite a million bloggers insisting otherwise, thanks to the generous commissions that these insurance companies pay.
Insurers tend to be covered by the same regulatory body and provide a very similar standard of service when the coverage you have paid for is at the same level.
That means you should always hunt around for the best travel insurance deal and then carefully read the small print before you sign on the dotted line to ensure that it meets your needs.
Don’t be loyal to a brand, that’s how insurers make their biggest profits – if you don’t shop around and always use the same insurer, they can hike their prices without you knowing how much you’re overpaying for your insurance.
How Much Is The Travel Insurance For Going To Bali?
It depends to a large extent on how much coverage you want, of what type, which insurer you use and how much of an excess you are willing to pay.
However, according to Market Watch, most people spend between $50 (AUD) and $250 (AUD) per trip on travel insurance.
If you travel on a regular basis, you may find that it works out cheaper to buy a year-long policy than to buy a policy for each trip that you undertake.
How Much Does It Cost To Insure A Trip To Indonesia?
Insurance costs for most of Indonesia are the same as they are for Bali, which you’d expect as they are the same country.
However, there are parts of Indonesia that Western governments recommend that you do not travel to.
Your insurance will not be valid in these parts of the country, and you will need to seek alternative insurance (which is likely to be very expensive if you can get it at all).
Fortunately, as we go to press, these areas are tiny parts of the country around two active volcano sites. Most travellers will be fine with a standard travel insurance policy.
Final Thoughts On Travel Insurance Bali
It’s a good idea to get travel insurance before you come to Bali as an accident or illness can quickly see you run up bills that are in the thousands of dollars.
You will need to carefully check your travel insurer’s coverage and make certain that it’s right for you and that you can afford the excess on the policy when you need to make use of it.
There is no legal requirement to have travel insurance in Bali, mind you, and you are free to take a chance on not needing it.
However, you cannot rely on government assistance if you do need travel insurance and don’t have it.
Disclaimer: The information included here is to help you choose the right travel insurance for Bali. We can accept no responsibility or liability if you find that your travel insurance coverage is inadequate for your needs in Bali.
We recommend that you ask your travel insurance provider to fully explain your coverage before you pay for it and that you compare travel insurance coverage from different providers before you commit to cover.
