SafetyWing Nomad Insurance 2.0: For the Anxious and Disorganized Long-Term Traveller

Hi, it’s us. We are anxious and disorganized travelers. Well, I am disorganized, and Kelli is anxious; perhaps she’s anxious because I’m disorganized…it certainly doesn’t help. Either way, SafetyWing DOES help when it comes to our disorganization and anxiety with set-and-forget nomad insurance.

Disclaimer: We are SafetyWing ambassadors. We get paid to share our opinions on the product, and we receive a commission if you purchase a SafetyWing product. We also pay for and use our own SafetyWing Nomad Insurance policy as our sole travel insurance.

“Have you sorted insurance yet?”

“Yep!…. …pretty sure I did…pretty, pretty, pretty sure I did it, yep…well nah, I might not have actually, sorted it, I did look it up once, I think”

That is an excerpt from a recurring conversation we used to have quite regularly. You can guess which player is which.

Sorting out travel insurance when you’re constantly on the move is an ongoing headache.

Travel insurance that covered Sailing in Greece needed to be traded in a few months later for a policy that would cover us Skiing in Kazakhstan. Before Kelli got Australian residency, we often needed different policies from different providers yet another complication.

What’s made this routine admin task even more draining is that most traditional policies have all sorts of rules and caveats that add a whole other challenge to this exercise. One policy can only be taken out while you are in your country of residence; another requires a trip start and end date, with proof of travel; a third wouldn’t offer policies that last more than 90 days. This narrowed down the options and usually resulted in expensive policies that didn’t necessarily suit us perfectly.

Why We Use SafetyWing

We were relieved to find SafetyWing Nomad Insurance, which was built to service the unique needs of nomads and long-term travelers.

Realizing that nomads were making do by cobbling together travel insurance policies or taking out expensive global health insurance, they created a product designed to meet the unique needs of those traveling or living abroad long-term or indefinitely.

There are a few things that set SafetyWing apart from traditional insurance, but these are some of our favorites.

• It’s cheaper than comparable traditional travel insurance – We currently pay $56 each per month for our policy. Previously, we were spending upwards of $1,000 per year each on separate fixed-term policies.
• It’s more flexible than traditional travel insurance – Traditional insurance often needs to be purchased in advance, with your country of origin, for a set amount of days and a pre-defined list of destinations. Safety Wing policies can be started or stopped anytime, regardless of where in the world you are (over 180 countries are currently covered).
• Good Customer Support – Our experience has been that the online customer support is responsive, and forthright whenever we’ve had queries about our policy.
• They Cover Trips Home – A very cool feature that means you don’t need to take out a separate insurance policy to visit “home”. SafetyWing offers up to 30 days of coverage in your home country (15 days in the US).
• It’s Set and Forget (no more yelling matches at the airport) – The policy lasts for one year and automatically renews each month until you cancel it. After 12 months you can take out a new policy and keep on keeping on.

What’s New With Nomad Insurance 2.0

SafetyWing has just finished rolling out its Nomad Insurance 2.0, an overhauled policy designed to address some of the problems travelers were having with the original product. Namely, the lack of coverage for extras like electronics and adventure sports and a clunky claims process.

The new policy offers some good add-ons we plan to take advantage of when our current policy expires and a streamlined claims process (that we hope we never need to use).

• Adventure sports: you can get coverage for over 30 adventure sports, including scuba diving, quad biking, motorbiking, and more.
• Theft of electronics: you can get up to US$1000 of reimbursement per item if an electronic device is stolen, including your laptop, phone, or camera.
• Improved claims experience: With the new version, the claims process is smoother, faster, and more user-friendly. Filing a claim can be done in 5 minutes online, and SafetyWing now advertises a 2.7-day turnaround on reimbursement.

What Don’t We Love About SafetyWing

Of course, no policy is perfect for everyone, and there are a couple of things that don’t suit us perfectly.

At $250,000, the maximum policy limit aligns with many US policies Kelli has used before, but it is far below the maximum limit of policies I’m used to in Australia, which are often millions of dollars, if not unlimited. However, when weighed against the cost of medical care and emergency transport in the places we are traveling, we feel like the coverage is sufficient.

Another small issue is that you can’t start or stop the additional coverage add-ons without canceling your whole policy and taking out a new one. If you want to add adventure sports just for a month of skiing during a longer trip, you’ll need to cancel your existing policy and take out a new one. Generally, this wouldn’t be a problem; however, if you have experienced a medical issue under the existing policy, this will be recorded as an existing condition on a new policy, restricting coverage. Additionally, if there has been any price increase on the coverage, you’ll be charged at the new premium.

For us, the flexibility and affordability of the Nomad Insurance Policy make up for these drawbacks, but you’ll need to review the full policy to determine whether a SafetyWing insurance policy is suitable for your specific needs and lifestyle.

If you have any questions about our experience with SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance, let us know below! If we’ve helped you make the decision to take out a SafetyWing insurance policy, use our link. You won’t pay any extra, and we will get a small commission!