Traveling can be a thrilling experience, offering new sights, cultures, and adventures. But what happens when things go wrong, like falling ill or facing an accident far from home? This is where travel health insurance comes into play. For frequent travelers, digital nomads, and expats, having the right coverage is not just a luxury—it's a necessity. Having reliable travel health insurance is crucial for us (and you!) for protection against the unexpected medical expenses. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy and determine if it's the right choice for frequent travelers, digital nomads, and expats.
When it comes to travel health insurance, it's important to distinguish between short-term and long-term plans. Short-term travel health insurance typically covers trips lasting one month or less. These policies are designed for vacations, business trips, or short-term relocations. They usually offer coverage for medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and lost luggage.
Long-term travel health insurance, on the other hand, is tailored for those who spend extended periods abroad. This includes digital nomads, expats, and frequent travelers. These policies provide continuous coverage and generally come with a wider range of additional add on coverage options. SafetyWing offers flexible plans that cater to both short-term and long-term needs, making it a versatile choice.
Many travelers make the mistake of assuming that short-term travel doesn't require travel health insurance. However, traveling puts you in the midst of all sorts of new experience that include unique risks, therefore we highly advise anyone traveling abroad for even just a week to secure travel health insurance.
Whether or not travel health insurance is required depends on the country (or countries) you will be traveling in and through. Some countries do require that visitors provide proof of health insurance coverage as they enter the country. While that might seem extreme to some, when you think about it, it makes absolute sense! The last thing a visitor needs to do is be an unnecessary financial burden on a country and take valuable medical supplies from a country's citizens. Travelers (like ourselves) became much more aware of travel health insurance requirements for some countries during COVID. Many countries required visitors to provide proof of a COVID covering travel health insurance before they could enter the country. While COVID is not the ordeal it was a few years ago, some countries still require travel health insurance.
SafetyWing is one of the few travel health insurance plans that covers COVID abroad which was game changing during the pandemic when we started traveling internationally again in 2022. Let's all hope nothing like COVID ever happens again, but if it does, my guess is that SafetyWing will be there for us and ready to protect us to keep us traveling safely and smoothly!
Also keep in mind that travel health insurance is required for many digital nomad visas. SafetyWing makes it really easy by putting a button right on the homepage when you login to the SafetyWing portal where you can generate a visa letter for time as an expat. Easy!
SafetyWing's travel health insurance is competitively priced against other popular travel health insurance options. Currently we're paying $66.28 per person which is for the nomad health insurance plus the electric theft add on. In our opinion, that's a small price to pay for having extensive coverage abroad! Keep in mind that pricing is based on a number of factors including your home country and age, so be sure to use the calculator below to figure out exactly how much SafetyWing travel health insurance would cost for you and your needs.
I can't speak to every policy, but currently our deductible is $0 USD.
It’s crucial to understand the difference between travel insurance and travel health insurance. Travel insurance generally covers non-medical aspects of your trip. This includes trip cancellations, lost baggage, and travel delays. It offers peace of mind for the logistical hiccups that can occur while traveling. Many people (ourselves included) often rely on our credit cards to cover us for basic travel insurance.
Travel health insurance, however, focuses on medical coverage. It ensures you're protected against the high costs of healthcare in foreign countries. This type of insurance covers emergency medical expenses, hospitalizations, and just about any sort of treatment that was not preexisting prior to the start of your policy.
While both types of insurance are important, frequent travelers and digital nomads should prioritize travel health insurance as well as basic travel insurance. It provides the necessary medical coverage that standard travel insurance might lack. SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy combines elements of both, offering comprehensive protection for both your health and travel plans.
Many travelers wonder if they really need travel health insurance. The answer is a resounding yes, even if travel health insurance isn't required by your destination. Healthcare systems vary greatly around the world, and medical expenses can be exorbitant in some countries. Without proper insurance, you could face financial hardship in the event of a medical emergency (definitely not something you want to have to stress about if/when you're already in the hospital injured or sick!).
For digital nomads and expats, travel health insurance is even more critical. When you're living abroad, you're more susceptible to local illnesses and may not have easy access to familiar healthcare services. Travel health insurance provides a safety net, ensuring you can receive quality medical care without breaking the bank.
SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy is designed to meet the needs of these groups. It offers worldwide coverage, including emergency medical evacuation and repatriation if the worst of the worst nightmare occurs. This means you can travel with confidence, knowing you're protected no matter where you are.
A common misconception among travelers is that their domestic health insurance will cover them abroad. Unfortunately, most health insurance plans in the USA do not provide international coverage. This leaves a significant gap in protection for travelers.
Even if your domestic plan offers limited international coverage, it may not be sufficient. Many plans exclude certain treatments or impose high deductibles and co-pays for out-of-network care. This can result in substantial out-of-pocket expenses during your travels.
SafetyWing’s travel health insurance bridges this gap. It offers comprehensive international coverage, ensuring you're protected against unexpected medical expenses making it an ideal choice for travelers seeking reliable health insurance abroad.
Investing in travel health insurance is a wise decision for anyone planning to spend time abroad. The peace of mind it provides far outweighs the cost. Medical emergencies can be financially devastating without proper coverage, and travel health insurance offers a safeguard against such risks.
SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy is particularly appealing due to its affordability and flexibility. It offers coverage starting at just $56 USD per month, making it accessible to a wide range of travelers. Additionally, the policy is designed to be easily extendable, allowing you to adjust your coverage based on your travel plans.
For digital nomads and expats, the benefits are even more pronounced. SafetyWing provides comprehensive health coverage options that include preventive care and routine check-ups in addition to basic travel health insurance. This ensures you can maintain your health while living and working abroad.
Note: Coverage options depend on your country of residence. Always verify SafetyWings coverage for your home country and destination country before purchasing.
Insurance is one of those things that always seems to be a bit too ambiguous to fully trust. It always feels like insurance companies are trying to make the paperwork, website interface, and fine print as difficult to read as possible to get out of actually covering you in the event of a claim. However, SafetyWing is not like that! In fact, when we tried SafetyWing for the first time one of my favorite things about it is how simplistic the the sign up process was and how simple it was to view coverage options, policy details, start and stop coverage option, and so much more.
I'm going to go ahead and breakdown for y'all exactly what I see on my end and what our policy include. I'm even going to share some screenshots so you can see what I see when I login to SafetyWing to check our policy and/or make a claim.
Note: There's so much ambiguity regarding insurance in general so I'm going to copy and paste some stuff from the backend of our SafetyWing portal so you can get the exact verbiage that SafetyWing uses. Anytime you see italics in this section of this article, know that it's an exact quote from SafetyWing's website. I think this will save any confusion and keep me from accidentally incorrectly claiming something they do or don't cover.
SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy offers extensive coverage for a variety of medical expenses up to the policy's limit which for us in $250,000. This includes emergency medical treatment, hospitalization, and outpatient care. The policy also covers emergency dental treatment and prescription medications for up to 60 days.
Any medically necessary services, treatments, equipment or prescription drugs (inpatient or outpatient) for illness or injury that happened during your trip. Hospital charges including intensive care unit (ICU), nursing services, local ambulance & emergency transport.
Say you're in a really bad car wreck on a backroad in Thailand and you need to be transported to a better hospital. Or say you're already in one hospital and the assisting physician recommends you return to your home country to receive better care. Private transport when you're in critical care would be crazy expensive! However, SafetyWing has you covered.
Emergency ground and/or air transport to transfer you from one healthcare provider to another so that you can receive medically necessary treatment that you can't receive from the first provider.
Any transportation arrangement must be pre-approved and coordinated by us. It must be recommended by an attending physician and agreed to by you or someone on your behalf. Up to $100,000 during your lifetime, $25,000 in relation to a pre-existing condition.
If you're an expat who spends most of the year abroad, SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy might be enough to cover you at home since it covers you for 15 days home out of every 90 days. Personally, that's not enough for us so we've continued to keep our USA based health insurance in addition to our travel health insurance through SafetyWing since when we're home we're generally home for weeks to even months at a time.
Do note that SafetyWing does offer Global Health Insurance for nomads starting at $133 a month. However, being based in the USA the policy offered wasn't great since it ended up being as expensive (or more!) than what we're already paying for USA based health insurance plus our SafetyWing travel health insurance. However, it's worth checking out if you live somewhere other than the USA, Hong Kong, or Singapore. I think it would likely be a savings if you're just one person on a policy, but since there are two of us and there's not discount for multiple people, it ended up being more than what we're already paying.
For every 90 days of active coverage, you are covered for up to 15 days of emergency medical treatment when you get sick or injured while in your home country.
Up to overall maximum limit.
Enjoy playing a game of pickup soccer while traveling? Or maybe you're like us and enjoying hiking and running in different locations. SafetyWing covers you for amateur and recreational sports that you might enjoy participating in a foreign country. Do keep in mind that if you're planning to do extreme sports such as skydiving or hang gliding, these are not covered under sports activities package, however, you can add an extreme sports option to your policy if your policy is 28 days or longer. That's not something we feel the need to purchase, but if you're an adrenaline junky, it would be worth the extra expense!
Medical treatment of injury caused while participating in amateur/non-professional sports and activities that were not the purpose of your trip. Excludes certain high-risk activities unless you buy the adventure sport add-on, which covers many of them .
Up to overall maximum limit.
Have you ever been on vacation and your luggage was lost? Yeah, we've been there and it's not fun. While our travel credit card covers lost luggage as well, SafetyWing has a great policy so in case we book our trip with the wrong credit card, we're still covered!
Reimbursement for the cost of lost checked luggage minus any repayment you received from the airline or cruise line. Luggage must be lost for at least 10 days.
$500 per item of luggage up to $3,000 per policy term. Up to $6,000 lifetime limit.
Again, travel delay is one thing that our travel credit card covers us for. However, if I don't book the trip with the correct card or if someone else books it for us (like for work trips), I'm still covered because of SafetyWing's policy for covering some of your expenses during a travel delay.
Reimbursement for meals and accommodations for an unplanned overnight stay for up to 2 days when your trip is delayed by at least 12 hours. Only applies for delays caused by the transportation company, a traffic accident, a labour strike, or loss of passport.
Up to $100 a day for up to 2 days.
Trip interruption is one of those things that I'm always worried about but thankfully I've never had to file a claim for with SafetyWing! It's one of those big picture travel health insurance coverages that is so nice to have just in case. For example, say we're traveling through Mexico and a loved one dies suddenly or our home is damaged during a natural disaster while we're away and we have to get home quickly to take care of things. SafetyWing will cover us for up to $5000 for that last minute travel expense to get home.
Cost of a one-way air or ground transfer back to your home country due to an unforeseen event like a death of a family member or damage to your home country residence.
Up to $5,000.
Let's be real, nobody likes going to the dentist but sometimes accidents happen! For example, Chris somehow broke a wisdom tooth when we were traveling in Arizona last year. Now, we didn't file this claim with SafetyWing since we were stateside but if we had been abroad and this happened, we definitely could have filed this because it was an unexpected emergency dental visit and treatment.
Necessary treatment to resolve sudden onset of pain. You must get treatment within 72 hours of the first symptom to receive reimbursement.
Dentures or dental appliances are not covered.
Up to $1000.
Our SafetyWing travel health insurance policy covers the cost of returning your remains to your home country in the unfortunate event of your death. I know that's a dark thing to think about, but it really is important to consider so that in the event of the worst case scenario your loved ones aren't grieving your death and dealing with astronomically expensive repatriation costs.
Costs to prepare your remains and transport you by air or ground to your home country. Coverage also includes expenses incurred by the receiving funeral home costs and the cost of local burial or cremation in your home country. If your family or a friend chooses to bring back your remains on their own, their flight expense is not covered.
Pre-approval is required.Up to $20,000 lifetime maximum.
In addition to the items listed above, SafetyWing also provides the option to add different coverage options so long as your policy is 28 days or longer.
Because we have a policy that is longer than one month long we also had the option to add theft coverage for electronics which is hugely helpful for us since our usual insurance for our camera gear and cameras covers everything except theft. The policy covers up to $1000 per item. However, the electronics theft policy is good for up to $3000 of coverage a year and a maximum of $6000 in your lifetime. While $1000 isn't near enough to replace one of our cameras if it's stolen, it does help some! For a few extra dollars a month it's a really nice addition since nobody else wants to cover electronics theft.
SafetyWing does offer an adventure sports add on for policies longer than 28 days. However, this isn't something we've chosen to add on since we aren't regularly flinging ourselves out planes skydiving. However, if this is something that interests you, definitely add this option to your policy!
Like all insurance policies, SafetyWing's travel health insurance has certain exclusions. These include injuries sustained during high-risk activities like extreme sports and theft to personal belongings (unless you choose to add these to your policy so long as it's over one month long), as well as losses resulting from war or terrorism, and trip cancellation so long as it was cancelled after you've already left home. It's important to review the policy details carefully to understand what is and isn't covered. Here's the exact short quote SafetyWing has inside their portal when you login to your account regarding what they will not cover:
High-risk or professional sport activity, pre-existing conditions, cancer treatment, lost or stolen personal belongings, trips that were cancelled before you left.
I also want to note that allergic reactions are generally not covered by SafetyWing because they are viewed as preexisting. This is important to us since Chris has a nut allergy. We travel knowing that we need to carry the appropriate medicines anyway.
However, we do know of a fellow travel couple who had a new allergic reaction while traveling from a food they had never been exposed to and SafetyWing did not pay for their medical bills because they viewed it as preexisting. While that might seem unfair since the person was unaware of the allergy, logically it makes sense since most allergies already exist but don't show up until you're exposed to something new (which happens often when traveling). Just keep that in mind if you're someone who has a lot of allergies!
Enrolling in SafetyWing's travel health insurance is straightforward. Simply visit their website, create an account, and select the coverage that best suits your needs. You can customize your policy based on your travel plans and extend it as needed. Not to mention that you can even add the policy once your trip has already begun and you're already in a foreign country! Truthfully, this option has saved our butts a couple of times because when I'm running around packing before a trip I generally forget to start our SafetyWing travel health insurance back until I'm on the ground in our destination (oops).
SafetyWing also offers a 24/7 customer support team to assist with any questions or concerns. This ensures you have access to the help you need, whenever you need it.
Travel health insurance is an essential investment for frequent travelers, digital nomads, and expats. It provides the necessary protection against unexpected medical expenses, ensuring you can travel with peace of mind. SafetyWing's travel health insurance policy offers comprehensive coverage, affordability, and flexibility, making it an excellent choice for those seeking reliable insurance abroad.
By understanding the benefits and coverage options available, you can make an informed decision about your travel health insurance needs. Don't leave your health to chance—consider SafetyWing for your next adventure.
If you're ready to take the next step, visit SafetyWing's website to learn more and enroll in their travel health insurance policy today. Safe travels!
Get comprehensive travel health insurance coverage with SafetyWing, offering flexibility for digital nomads and expats worldwide—enroll today for peace of mind on your adventures!
