SafetyWing Review: Nomad Insurance [Essential vs. Complete]
As a self-employed digital nomad since 2016, I’ve explored an exhausting number of travel insurance options to find one that works for me. After trying multiple providers, I eventually settled on SafetyWing for its clear terms, reasonable pricing, and easy-to-use customer support. Online chat agents instead of never-ending phone trees and hold music just to speak to an agent? Yes, please!
SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance met my initial needs as a traveler. It was perfect for those sudden emergencies—and I appreciated that it covered things like telehealth—but what about the maintenance and upkeep that come with life on the road?
I’m talking about the things that you schedule regularly when you’re living your everyday life in back home… but very easily slip through the cracks when you’re traveling abroad, because they aren’t emergencies. Maintenance care and things like dental cleanings, vision checkups, mental health access… these are the kinds of things that creep up when you’ve been away for months or years, and yet, these are exactly the things that most travel insurances don’t cover.
For a long time, I’d resigned myself to paying out of pocket for these routine needs, but it felt like such a gap in the market. SafetyWing noticed this (of course—they’re founded by digital nomads, after all!) and decided to create a product that addressed this exact need. This led to the creation of two plans under their Nomad Insurance umbrella: Essential and Complete, the former for more short-term travelers and the latter more suited for long-term nomads like myself.
If you find insurance as intimidating as I do, don’t worry, I’m here to demystify things for you. This post will break down the two main plans under SafetyWing so you can see if either is suited for your travel needs. I’ll also share about my experience as a SafetyWing customer for over a year at the end of the post.
Note: SafetyWing contacted me to write a sponsored post explaining their insurance coverage. That said, I’ve been a 100% out-of-pocket paying customer of theirs for more than a year. This is my honest review, and I’m only writing about it because I’ve personally invested in and believe in the product I’m reviewing.
A Brief History of SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance
SafetyWing’s started with a focus on short-term and medium-term travelers, offering affordable (and flexible) coverage for emergencies and travel-related incidents. Over time, their product gained traction among digital nomads who liked how simple and non-intimidating they made travel insurance coverage.
In 2020, they introduced Nomad Health, a separate product addressing long-term healthcare needs for remote workers. While useful, the separation between travel insurance and health insurance was confusing.
Since then, they’ve streamlined everything under one product, Nomad Insurance, with two separate plans, Essential and Complete. This simplification makes it easier to find coverage that matches your lifestyle. And yes, it’s still global, meaning you’re covered in almost every country you’d want to visit (or live in!)
The Two Plans: Essential vs. Complete
Essential Plan
The Essential Plan is designed for shorter-term travelers who need emergency medical coverage and travel-related protections, but not ongoing preventive and routine care. Starting at just $56 per four week increment, it’s an affordable and straightforward option for basic coverage.
Key Features:
- Emergency Medical Coverage: Covers accidents and unexpected illnesses, including medical evacuation for serious incidents. Think a bad stomach bug in Bali or a twisted ankle while hiking Patagonia.
- Travel Insurance Benefits: Includes trip interruption, delays, and lost luggage protection, perfect for when your AirTags confirm your worst fears: that you made it, but your bags didn’t.
- Flexibility: Ideal for both short-term and medium-term trips, with fixed-date options available at lower prorated prices as well.
Limitations:
- No Routine Healthcare: Routine checkups, dental, vision, and preventive care (like cancer screenings) aren’t covered.
- Limited Home Country Coverage: If you’re spending significant time in your home country (more than 30 days – 15 if your home country is the U.S. – per 90 days), this plan would not be sufficient.
- No Maternity or Mental Health Coverage: These exclusions mean it may not be the best fit if you need regular access to these services.
- Optional Add-Ons: Adventure sports and electronics theft protection aren’t included, but can be added for an extra fee.
- US Coverage Extra: Given the craziness of the American health care system, there are additional charges if you require coverage while you’re in the U.S. (and this is available for non-U.S. residents only)
Who Is It For?
If you’re a backpacker, vacationer, or occasional remote worker, the Essential Plan’s basic protections are likely more than enough. It can cover you from anywhere from 5 to 365 days, so it also may be fine if you’re a long-term nomad, but don’t mind paying out-of-pocket for your routine care and just want emergency care covered.
However, if you require ongoing medical services and want check-ups and preventive care included, the Essential Plan will not be enough and you should look to the Complete Plan.
Complete Plan
The Complete Plan is tailored for long-term digital nomads and remote workers who need comprehensive health coverage beyond emergencies (while also enjoying travel insurance benefits). Priced starting at $150.50 per month, it’s designed for those of us who’ve built a life abroad and want a plan that covers our routine medical expenses as well as any emergent care needs.
Key Features:
- All Essential Benefits: Includes emergency medical coverage, trip protection, and more.
- Routine and Preventive Care: Covers dental and vision checkups, mental health support, maternity care, and preventive care (things like OB-GYN visits, mammograms, and cancer screenings).
- Complementary Therapies: Includes visits to chiropractors, PTs, and other alternative healthcare providers. (That post-long-haul flight back pain? Covered!)
Limitations:
- Year-Long Commitment: Requires a minimum contract of one year, so it’s not a good choice for short-term travelers.
- No Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage: Just like the Essential Plan, pre-existing conditions are excluded.
- Optional Add-Ons: While adventure sports are covered on this plan (including activities that are often excluded by traditional travel insurance, such as scuba diving — score for me, as I’m a big scuba diver!), electronic theft protection is an additional fee.
- US, Singapore, Hong Kong Coverage Extra: Like the Essential Plan, there are additional charges for US coverage, as well as Singapore and Hong Kong, due to the higher medical costs in these destinations.
Who Is It For?
Full-time digital nomads, expats, or anyone living abroad long-term who values comprehensive health coverage will love the Complete Plan. It’s also good for those who do diving or other adventure activities! If you’re tired of cobbling together solutions for routine care and want a health insurance plan that makes claims easy (think: an entirely English-speaking interface and claims process), this plan is a game-changer.
My Experience with SafetyWing
For me, SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance stands out for its transparent terms, user-friendly interface, and global reach. It’s incredibly intuitive to navigate, which makes it perfect for task-avoidant people like me, who despise wading through fine print and red tape.
Honestly, if I have to dig through a 50-page PDF just to figure out if my plan covers the type of doctor I want to see, I might not even go. But with SafetyWing? Everything is laid out in plain language, and if you’re confused, chat support is just a few clicks away to clarify.
I used SafetyWing during my year of digital nomadism, and I found them so easy to reach anytime I had a question. Their chat support was a lifesaver—I’m not a fan of dealing with automated phone trees, insanity-inducing hold music, and insane wait times.
To be honest, I never actually had to file a claim with SafetyWing during my policy because during that year that I used them, my health care needs on the road did not exceed their $250 deductible (a blessing of traveling through affordable destinations!).
However, that deductible no longer exists for either plan now. They’ve now done away with those deductibles (that’s right, $0 deductibles!), which is cause for major celebration!
But I still appreciated having the peace of mind that, if something major happened, I was covered. And when I wasn’t sure about the specifics of that coverage, the chat team was always there to clear things up with a quick message to their support team.
A number of my friends had SafetyWing in the past and have always had no problems getting their claims addressed, including several friends who received emergency evacuations during the initial outbreak Covid pandemic.
Now that I’ve settled down in Thailand as my home base, I’m considering moving to the Complete Plan. I appreciate that their new plan doesn’t just cover emergencies; it’s designed with the specific realities of a life abroad in mind. The endless moving, the maintenance needs of long-term living abroad… and perhaps most importantly, mental health coverage!
So many travel plans overlook this, but let’s be real—life abroad can wreak havoc on your mental health. It’s incredibly reassuring to see a plan that recognizes how crucial mental health care is and includes it in the coverage.
So if you think that SafetyWing might be the right solution for your travel insurance needs, click here to read more about their policies!
Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016, visiting 75+ countries in total. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. As a former educator, she merges her writing and educational experience to encourage ethical, sustainable travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and TBEX. Her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. When she’s not on the road, she lives in Bangkok, Thailand.
