Secure Gold review: up to €2,500,000 of medical cover, with the hospital paid directly

Secure Gold is the most protective tourism policy in our catalogue on the medical side. It covers up to €2,500,000 of medical expenses in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, with no medical deductible, and the hospital is paid directly by the insurer. Two weeks in the United States cost €128.93, and a week in Spain €42.15.

This review rests on a full reading of the policy's two contractual documents, its insurance product information document (IPID) and its 53 pages of general terms, and on real quotes captured on 7 September 2026 across seven travel profiles.

Secure Gold is designed for people who live in France or in the French overseas départements, and it is priced in euros. Your nationality does not matter: if you are an English speaker based in France, this is a policy you can buy.

Our take: Secure Gold is built around serious medical risk. Hospital care, repatriation, baggage and cancellation are treated generously, with limits among the highest we have recorded in leisure travel. For a trip to a destination where care is expensive, it is the policy that gives you the most room.

Medical cover reaches €2,500,000 in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, €1,500,000 in the rest of the world and €600,000 in Europe, per insured person and per event. If you are admitted to hospital, the bill is settled directly with the facility, with nothing to advance from your own pocket.

The table below sets out each benefit as it is written in the general terms, with the condition that goes with it.

Good to know before you travel

Secure Gold is a leisure travel policy. These points from the general terms help you use it well.

• A leisure trip
  The policy covers tourism, cruises and group travel. Business travel is not part of it.
• Travelling with a known condition
  In a life-threatening emergency from an unforeseeable complication, first aid and the first 24 hours of hospitalisation are covered. See the section on known conditions below.
• Valuables
  Jewellery, watches, furs, cash and identity papers are best kept with you: they are not part of the baggage benefit.
• Theft
  The baggage benefit covers theft committed with threats or violence.
• Destinations
  Worldwide cover, with the exception of Belarus, North Korea, Russia and Ukraine.
• One call first
  Call the assistance line before committing an expense, medical costs included, except in a case of force majeure.
• Medical care at home
  Benefits apply more than 35 kilometres from your home; the policy is not an expatriate health plan.

Five clauses shape how the policy works day to day: the call to the assistance service, the cancellation option, the 35-kilometre rule, known conditions and the baggage sub-limits. Here they are as they are written.

Call the assistance line first

In an emergency, the general terms ask you to call the assistance line and obtain its agreement before committing any expense. The only exception is force majeure or a proven physical impossibility. That call is what opens the case and lets the insurer pay the hospital for you.

In practice: save the assistance number (+33 5 49 16 36 68) in your phone and call it before using your bank card, including at a walk-in doctor's surgery. For a repatriation, the insurer's medical team chooses the transport after consulting the local doctors.

Cancellation: 42 accepted reasons

Cancellation is an option you tick when you buy, and it takes effect 72 hours after purchase. The limit is €10,000 per insured person, up to €50,000 per event, which covers a group of five travellers at €10,000 each.

The list of accepted reasons is long and unusually precise: 42 causes, from redundancy to jury service, from a refused tourist visa to a vehicle breakdown at least 8 hours before departure, by way of the death of a pet and the cancellation of the concert the trip was built around. It is one of the policy's real strengths. Our travel cancellation insurance guide explains how these options work.

The 35-kilometre rule and when cover starts

Benefits apply more than 35 kilometres from your home, cancellation excepted. They run from 24 hours before to 24 hours after the dates shown on your policy schedule, for up to 365 consecutive days.

Travelling with a known condition

In a life-threatening emergency arising from an unforeseeable complication of a condition you already have, the insurer pays for emergency first aid and the first 24 hours of hospitalisation.

Two further rules apply: a condition that relapsed or worsened in the 30 days before you bought the policy is not covered, and neither are the consequences of an illness that led to a hospital stay, day surgery included, in the 6 months before departure. If you travel with a condition under medical follow-up, our pre-existing condition travel insurance page explains the options.

Baggage: how the €4,000 works

The €4,000 limit covers the loss or theft of your luggage. Damage alone is compensated up to €800, and electronics, photographic gear and sports equipment up to €2,000, or more with an add-on. Compensation is based on replacement value, less 20% per year of age.

A useful habit: keep your receipts. Without proof of purchase, compensation is capped at €250 for the items concerned. In the event of theft, report it to the police within 48 hours.

Secure Gold costs €42.15 for a week in Spain and €128.93 for two weeks in the United States, for one traveller, at prices captured on 7 September 2026. The premium follows the destination, the length of the trip and the number of travellers, and does not depend on the price of the holiday as long as the cancellation option stays unticked.

Two practical points. The cancellation option carries €10,000 per insured person, which makes it worthwhile as soon as the money you have committed runs past a few hundred euros. And without that option, a €300 ticket and a €3,000 ticket cost the same to cover on the medical side.

You can buy the policy right up to the day you leave, and even after departure, with a 72-hour wait in that case. The medical benefit works alongside the French social security system, so if you have just moved to France, make sure your registration is complete before you travel.

On the same 14-day trip to the United States, Secure Gold sits at the top of the price range, at €128.93 against a median of €96.05, and it comes first on the medical limit and first on baggage. It is the only policy in this group to combine a €2,500,000 medical limit with cancellation at the full price of the trip.

What the difference buys: five times the medical limit of the policies around €45 to €115, and the highest baggage limit in the group. In the United States, where a single hospital stay can run into hundreds of thousands of euros, that headroom is exactly what you want.

• ✓
  The highest medical limit in our leisure travel catalogue: €2,500,000 in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, per insured person and per event, with no deductible.
• ✓
  The hospital settled directly: If you are admitted, the insurer pays the facility, so you never advance sums that run into tens of thousands of euros.
• ✓
  Cancellation with 42 accepted reasons: One of the widest lists we have recorded, including rare grounds such as a refused tourist visa or a vehicle breakdown.
• ✓
  The best baggage limit in this comparison: €4,000, against €1,500 to €3,000 for the policies closest to it on price.
• ✓
  You can buy it right up to departure: No minimum delay between purchase and departure, and trips accepted up to 365 consecutive days.

• Personal liability
  €2,000,000 per claim, with a €100 deductible.
• Sport
  55 leisure activities are covered; extreme sports and competition are not part of the policy.
• Search and rescue
  The €6,000 applies on the pistes and authorised off-piste terrain of a resort.
• A trip, not a move abroad
  Secure Gold covers travel; it is not designed as an expatriate health plan.

Secure Gold is built for classic tourism, above all to destinations where care is expensive: the United States, Canada, Thailand, Indonesia. It also suits cruises, group travel and long trips.

On skiing: the contract names skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and sledging among the 55 covered activities, and provides €6,000 of search and rescue on the authorised ski area, the resort's permitted off-piste terrain included. These activities are covered when they are not the main purpose of the trip. For a holiday booked mainly to ski, a dedicated winter sports policy is the better fit.

Secure Gold is designed for residents of mainland France, Corsica and the French overseas départements and regions, aged under 75, for a leisure trip of 1 to 365 days and 1 to 50 travellers. Your nationality is not a criterion: an American, British or Australian national living in France can buy it.

On that last point: the insurer pays medical costs after the Sécurité sociale and your top-up health insurance (mutuelle), so registration with the French social security system is part of how the benefit works. If you have recently moved to France, complete it before you travel. For travellers aged 75 and over, our senior travel insurance comparison lists the policies designed for those ages.

On the right to withdraw: for policies of more than a month bought online, you can withdraw by email within 14 days of joining. Policies of less than a month, and policies that have already started, cannot be cancelled.

The risk is carried by IMA Assurances, a public limited company with fully paid-up capital of €157,000,000, headquartered in Niort and registered with the Niort trade register under number 481 511 632. Round-the-clock assistance is provided by the same group.

The policy is distributed by a Spanish-registered broker, Smart Insurance Correduria de Seguros, and marketed under the Heymondo name. IMA is the company that underwrites the policy, organises a repatriation and settles the hospital bill.

You have 15 days to report a claim, 48 hours in the event of theft and 30 days for the death and disability benefit. Once your file is complete, the contract provides for settlement within 40 days.

1. Call the assistance line before spending anything
   +33 5 49 16 36 68 answers 24 hours a day. That call opens your case.
2. Have the facts recorded on the spot
   A police report within 48 hours for a theft, a property irregularity report from the airline for delayed or lost luggage, a medical report in the event of hospitalisation.
3. Report the claim within the deadline
   15 days from the day you became aware of it, 48 hours for a theft, 30 days for the personal accident benefit.
4. Gather the originals
   Original invoices, proof of purchase for baggage, and statements from the Sécurité sociale and your mutuelle for medical costs.
5. Follow your file
   By phone on +33 5 49 16 36 69, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 pm, or by email to travel.remboursement@ima.eu. Settlement follows within 40 days of a complete file.

Good to know: the policy pays after any other source of reimbursement, such as the Sécurité sociale, your mutuelle, the carrier or the activity provider. The cash advance and legal fees are advances, repayable within 30 days of your return. The limitation period is two years.

If your trip takes you somewhere care is expensive, Secure Gold gives you the highest medical limit in our leisure catalogue and a hospital paid directly. Our travel insurance comparison prices it next to the rest of the catalogue for your own dates and destination.

Recommended for youA. Fruchard · Co-Founder & Travel Insurance Expert

Our verdict: the strongest medical protection for a trip where care is expensive

Secure Gold is the policy to choose when a hospital stay abroad could cost a fortune: up to €2,500,000 of medical cover in the United States, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, no medical deductible, and the hospital paid directly by IMA, without you reaching for your card.

Around that medical core, it adds €4,000 of baggage cover, €2,000,000 of personal liability and an optional cancellation benefit with 42 accepted reasons. It welcomes groups of up to 50, cruises and trips of up to a year, at the same price whatever your age up to 74.

If your trip stays in Europe and you want a lighter budget, Secure Silver in the same range keeps a €1,500,000 medical limit. Enter your dates below to see today’s Secure Gold price for your trip.

Secure GoldUnderwritten by IMA Assurances

From€128.93

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€2,500,000

Direct billingIncluded

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full

24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited

See all 23 benefitsGet a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

Go ProtectUnderwritten by Mutuaide

From€44.30

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€500,000

Direct billingIncluded

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full

24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited

See all 23 benefitsGet a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

WorldSecure PlatinumUnderwritten by MGEN

From€67.12

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€500,000

Direct billingIncluded

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full

24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited

See all 23 benefitsGet a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

SafeTrip TourismUnderwritten by AIG

From€113.00

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€500,000

Direct billingIncluded

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full

24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited

See all 23 benefitsGet a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

Secure SilverUnderwritten by IMA Assurances

From€96.05

Included coverage

Emergency medical expenses€1,500,000

Direct billingIncluded

Emergency medical evacuation & repatriationCovered in full

24/7 worldwide assistanceUnlimited

See all 23 benefitsGet a quote

Personalized quote · no obligation

Real prices captured on 7 September 2026 for 1 traveller aged 34, 14 days in the United States (5 to 18 November 2026), departing from France, without the cancellation option, in euros. Secure Gold comes out at €128.93 on this trip. The limits shown on the cards are the contract limits for that destination: Secure Gold's medical ceiling changes with the country you visit.

• What does Secure Gold cost?

  From €42.15 for a week in Spain to €682.86 for a 90-day round-the-world trip, for one traveller, at prices captured on 7 September 2026. Two weeks in the United States for an adult come to €128.93. The price depends on the destination, the duration and the number of travellers.

• What is the medical limit in the United States?

  €2,500,000 per insured person and per event, with no deductible. The same limit applies in Canada, Thailand and Indonesia. It is €1,500,000 in the rest of the world and €600,000 in Europe. If you are admitted to hospital, the insurer settles with the facility directly.

• Is skiing covered by Secure Gold?

  Skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and sledging are among the 55 activities named in the contract, with €6,000 of search and rescue on the authorised ski area. They are covered when they are part of a wider holiday rather than its main purpose.

• Up to what age can you buy it?

  Up to and including 74. Below that age there is no surcharge and no reduction in cover: a traveller of 70 pays €58.53 for 14 days in Spain with exactly the same limits as a traveller of 30.

• Are conditions I already have covered?

  In a life-threatening emergency caused by an unforeseeable complication, the insurer covers first aid and the first 24 hours of hospitalisation. A relapse or worsening in the 30 days before purchase, and the consequences of a hospital stay in the 6 months before departure, are not covered.

• How does the cancellation option work?

  You tick it when you book the trip, and it takes effect 72 hours after purchase. It covers up to €10,000 per insured person for 42 listed reasons, from redundancy to a refused tourist visa. The event causing the cancellation must occur after the purchase date.

• Are extreme sports covered?

  Secure Gold covers 55 named leisure activities. Mountaineering, climbing, ice climbing, combat sports, motor sports, bobsleigh, rugby, diving beyond 40 metres and any sport in competition are outside the policy.

• How do I get the most from the baggage benefit?

  Keep your receipts and report any theft to the police within 48 hours. The limit is €4,000 for loss or theft, €800 for damage alone and €2,000 for electronics and sports equipment. Without proof of purchase, compensation is capped at €250.

• Who pays the claim, and how long does it take?

  IMA Assurances, the insurer carrying the risk. The claims department can be reached on +33 5 49 16 36 69, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 pm, or at travel.remboursement@ima.eu. Settlement follows within 40 days of a complete file.

• Can I cancel the policy after buying it?

  For policies of more than a month bought online, you can withdraw by email within 14 days of joining. Policies of less than a month, and policies that have already started, cannot be cancelled.