SafetyWing Insurance Review 2024: Our Honest Opinion

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In this article, I will share with you the ins and outs of using SafetyWing, including what we love about them and what we don’t.

I will also give you a run down on SafetyWing’s latest product, Nomad Health which is health insurance for digital nomads / remote workers.

If you’re a long-term traveler or digital nomad, bearing the burden of medical costs on the road is bound to be one of your top concerns.

Even if you have health insurance at home, there are limitations to your coverage abroad, which means hefty out-of-pocket payments, rare direct billing, and the possibility that you may not be covered at all.

These concerns are serious, and makes having travel health insurance so important. That’s why companies like SafetyWing have created a travel health insurance policy for long-term adventurers and digital nomads alike.

Why You Need Travel Medical Insurance

For the average traveler, travel insurance typically provides sufficient coverage.

This type of insurance covers things like trip cancellation, lost baggage, and other technical incidents that may happen while traveling. Besides covering your financial investment in the trip, it also covers any medical emergencies that may happen along the way.

On the other hand, medical insurance primarily covers medical expenses, not only limited to emergencies. For instance, you will be covered for room and board in a hospital, surgery costs, intensive care costs, and ambulance charges, among other associated medical expenses.

While general travel insurance is helpful, it doesn’t quite meet the needs of long-term travelers and digital nomads.

For one, general travel insurance has limitations such as trip length and the medical coverage they do provide is geared primarily towards emergencies. Plus, you’re often not eligible to buy travel insurance once you’ve left your home country.

When you’re abroad for a long time, there will likely be an instance or two where you’ll need to see a doctor or may even end up staying in a hospital for a longer period of time.

These types of incidents can be extremely costly and since they aren’t covered under travel insurance, companies like World Nomads and SafetyWing came to life.

These companies have created a hybrid of travel insurance and typical health insurance, providing coverage to long-term travelers and digital nomads to ensure that they’re adequately provided for abroad in case medical care is needed.

SafetyWing: Medical Coverage for Long-Term Travelers and Digital Nomads

If you’re a long-term traveler or digital nomad, medical insurance is a must. Accidents happen and you never know when disaster will strike, so it’s much better to be safe than sorry.

As long-term travelers ourselves, we’ve had our fair share of travel mishaps, and without medical insurance, we would have had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket.

What traveler has that kind of money?

That’s why it’s worth investing in travel medical insurance like SafetyWing, which was designed specifically with people like us (and you) in mind.

SafetyWing takes the financial stress out of serious illnesses and accidents abroad, and makes sure you’re covered for unforeseen incidents that could happen along the way.

Does SafetyWing Cover Covid-19?

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One of the reasons why we love SafetyWing is due to the fact that they were one of the first insurance policies to cover Covid-19 after the pandemic started.

Although it isn’t such as huge concern anymore, SafetyWing still covers Covid-19 related illnesses.

Do note that SafetyWing will only cover the cost of Covid tests if they’re deemed medically necessary. This excludes the antibody tests.

That being said, we know people who have gotten repatriation flights and other Covid-19 related mishaps covered by SafetyWing recently, making them the obvious choice if you’re looking for travel insurance now or any time in the near future.

How SafetyWing Works?

As a partner of WorldTrips, subsidiary of insurance giant Tokio Marine, SafetyWing offers travelers insurance that’s a combination of medical and travel-related coverage.

You pay $45.08 for 4 weeks of coverage if you’re between 18 and 39 years old, and the premium increases according to age band if you’re older.

Coverage is also more expensive if you’re traveling in the United States, so keep that in mind when signing up.

Coverage automatically renews every four weeks for 364 days, and you can cancel at any time (such a luxury!) without penalty.

You can sign up from anywhere, whether you’re still at home or already on the road, so if you’re looking for some coverage on the go, SafetyWing is a good option.

 If you find yourself needing a doctor, you can go to any licensed physician – public or private. 

You can reach out if you want suggestions for recommended physicians in your area. Definitely reach out for advance billing if you find you’re inpatient at hospital, or needing surgery. 

The deductible on SafetyWing is $250 per policy period.

SafetyWing: What’s Covered

SafetyWing provides quite extensive coverage, particularly for unexpected illness or injury. That means if something happens along the way and you need medical attention, SafetyWing has you covered.

Here are some key inclusions that are of interest to long-term travelers or digital nomads:

• Emergency Medical Treatment
• Medical Expenses
• Emergency Dental
• Hospital Room and Board
• Family member transportation from home country in the event that you have an extended hospital stay
• Terrorism Evacuation
• Emergency Medical Evacuation
• Natural Disaster Accommodation
• Lost Checked Luggage
• Trip Interruption
• Travel Delay

Travel Insurance Highlights:

Trip interruption Up to $5,000. No deductible

Travel delay Up to $100 a day after a 12-hour delay period requiring an unplanned overnight stay. Subject to a maximum of 2 days. No deductible

Lost checked luggage Up to $3,000 per certificate period; $500 per item. Up to $6,000 lifetime limit. No deductible.

Natural disaster — a new place to stay Up to $100 a day for 5 days. No deductible

Political evacuation Up to $10,000 lifetime maximum. Not subject to deductible

Emergency medical evacuation Up to $100,000 lifetime maximum. Not subject to deductible or overall maximum limit.

Medical Insurance highlights:

Max Limit $250,000 ($100,000 for 65-69 years old)

Deductible $250

Hospital Room and nursing services

Intensive care Up to the overall maximum limit

Ambulance Usual, reasonable and customary charges when covered illness or injury results in hospitalization

Physical therapy and chiropractic care Up to $50 per day. Must be ordered in advance by a physician.

Emergency dental Up to $1000, must receive initial treatment within 72 hours (24 hours if policy was purchased prior to February 1, 2023, not subject to deductible.

All Other Eligible Medical Expenses Up to the overall maximum limit.

What’s Not Covered

Like most insurance policies, there are certain things that are not covered under SafetyWing. These exclusions are routine check-ups, pre-existing conditions, and cancer treatment, which is pretty reasonable as this is travel medical insurance, not primary health insurance.

If health insurance is what you’re after, check out the section below on Nomad Health.

Update: Safety Wing’s latest policy covers a WIDE selection of sports from scuba diving, bungee jumping and more. Check out their full policy below.

Finally, SafetyWing also won’t cover trip cancellations. For full details on what’s covered (and not covered) in a SafetyWing policy, we recommend checking out their website.

Nomad Health Review

As mentioned, the policy that I mainly talk about here is SafetyWing’s travel insurance. They recently launched Nomad Health which is health insurance primarily for remote workers.

So what exactly is Nomad Health? It is a Global health insurance for remote workers and nomads that covers your medical needs worldwide, including in your home country.

With Nomad Health, you’re covered in 175+ countries, and can get treated by any licensed professional at any clinic or hospital, private or public.

Please note that coverage for US, SG, and HK are only valid for 30 days when traveling there.

Here’s a quick overview of the two policy plans that Nomad Health offers.

What Nomad Health Covers

In a nutshell, Nomad Health covers everything that a regular health insurance covers, except this is a policy, made specifically for nomads who move around different locations all year round.

The maximum coverage is US$1,500,000 per policy year and 100% covers inpatient costs like standard private rooms, ICU, emergency room care, prescription medications, cancer tests,
medication and treatments and more.

The maximum allowable amount for all combined outpatient US$5,000 benefit expenses is up to five thousand dollars (US$5,000) per Policy Year. A ten percent (10%) co-insurance charge applies for all Outpatient services.

This includes physician visits, medication, physical therapy and more.

Overall, I am quite impressed with the coverage they are offering as most health insurances we’ve found are tied to geographical locations.

When you take out a Nomad Health policy, you can add dependents (spouse / children) which increases your premium depending on how many you add on.

For a full list of what’s covered in the policy, I recommend checking out the link below!

Personal Experience With SafetyWing

Our experience with SafetyWing has been overwhelmingly positive so far!

We were looking to try out a new insurance provider, and have been really pleased with the experience. We haven’t run into problems, and find that navigating their website and processes have been very easy.

We recently filed a dental claim with Safety Wing and promptly received the payment back, following the file procedure for emergency dental claims.

What We Like about Safety Wing

Not only does SafetyWing provide coverage that suits our needs, it’s also easy to use with a great platform that makes getting started really easy.

We really like the option to make payments every four weeks, with the option to cancel at any time. Having no long-term, set in stone contract is super useful, especially for those just interested in trying it out or people traveling for a short term.

Personally, I LOVE the fact that this is a monthly commitment rather than a yearly one. This makes it a lot more manageable financially as well as flexibility wise.

The subscription model is also super appealing for long-term travelers who don’t know when their globetrotting will be coming to an end.

This allows you to stay covered for the entire time you’re abroad, without having to worry about falling under a certain plan or set time frame.

You also are covered for 30 days in your home country for every 90 days of coverage abroad (15 days, if you’re a U.S. citizen).

We also really like how easy it is to understand SafetyWing’s policies and all that is covered. The policy breakdowns on the website are straightforward and easy to understand, without all the insurance jargon that’s generally included with this information.

If you’re interested in taking a look at the full policy, that’s provided as well, but we like having a guide to understand what we’re getting.

Because it’s available for purchase in 180 countries and you can buy coverage even when you’re already abroad, SafetyWing is very appealing for those who may be lacking insurance but already out on their adventures (like me!).

You don’t even need proof of residency in your home country, or anywhere else for that matter, making signing up and receiving coverage extremely easy and hassle-free.

Finally, SafetyWing covers a lot at a low price.

A premium of $45.08 every four weeks is an incredibly reasonable deal and much cheaper than the alternatives out there, making it an appealing option for digital nomads and full-time travelers like us!

This value is something we really love about this provider, and is a good incentive to renew our coverage.

The Claims Process for Safety Wing

The claims process is straightforward, which is another reason why we love these guys. 

To start, you just log on to your SafetyWing account and click sumbit a claim. This will take you to a Docusign form which you have to complete.

When you hit submit, you will receive a confirmation email immediately from Docusign. You can then visit WorldTrip’s Member Portal to catch updates on your claim.

It’s nice to be informed throughout the whole process instead of just being notified when your claim is either accepted or rejected.

Safety Wing Customer Service

Another thing that we really like is about Safety Wing is their customer support.

They are VERY easy to contact and always have someone on standby to get back to us. Before I head to the doctor, I usually reach out to their customer service to ask what I would need in that specific instance to make a claim.

This will allow me to remember everything I need prior to leaving my appointment.

Thankfully, we’ve never actually had to claim anything with Safety Wing. We had inquired about possibly filing for a dental treatment but got clarification from their customer service that our treatment did not qualify under the emergency dentist clause.

However, we have had A LOT of friends who used them when Covid19 first broke out who got full repatriation flights covered back to their home countries from various parts of the world.

FAQ on SafetyWing Insurance

Our Overall Thoughts on Safety Wing

If you’re a long-term traveler or digital nomad, you should absolutely consider SafetyWing as your insurance provider. Their simple, inexpensive, and widely-covered insurance will make our lives that much safer and easier anywhere in the world.

The only travelers I wouldn’t recommend SafetyWing to are those who constantly participate in adventure sports or move around with lots of expensive equipment, as these are not covered in their policy.

If you want more information on SafetyWing, you can also check them out on Trust Pilot to see unbiased reviews.

Overall, SafetyWing is a great option for long-term travelers and digital nomads if you’re looking for medical coverage during your adventures abroad.

It’s also great that they’re committed to improving their product offering. As far as travel medical insurance goes, SafetyWing offers a great deal for those who like to bounce around, explore the world, and work remotely and is a great option due to its affordability.

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