From a ski trip in the French Alps to backpacking South America, travel insurance is one of the most important things to purchase for any trip. When it comes to insurance, you insure what you can’t afford to pay yourself. Unlike health insurance in the United States, travel insurance is very affordable. SafetyWing is currently my go-to company for flexible travel medical insurance, and I currently use their Essential plan. In this post, I share their insurance and coverage options along with my personal review of SafetyWing.
Affiliate links are used in this post. If you make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no cost to you, which goes toward blog maintenance costs. This post was originally published in February 2025 and has been updated with my most recent experience.
In This Post
Why do you need travel medical insurance?
SafetyWing Travel Insurance Options
What does SafetyWing Travel Medical Insurance cover?
Does SafetyWing cover adventure sports?
Does SafetyWing cover electronics theft?
What’s not covered by SafetyWing travel medical insurance?
How much does SafetyWing cost?
Purchasing Process with SafetyWing
My Review of SafetyWing Travel Medical Insurance
Why do you need travel medical insurance?
Travel insurance covers all the things that go wrong – the flight delay that left you stranded in Istanbul for the night or the bout of food poisoning that hits a few hours before your flight home from Mongolia. Both are true stories from my travel adventures and not fun memories. Both of these I claimed on travel insurance and were covered by my plan. I ALWAYS buy travel medical insurance for every trip, which usually runs roughly $56-100/month depending on your age.
Who is SafetyWing?
Founded in 2018, SafetyWing was a fully remote Norwegian startup based in California run by nomads and expats providing insurance for budget travelers and nomads. (You don’t have to be a nomad or a budget traveler to use their insurance. It’s available to everyone.)
SafetyWing Travel Insurance Options
SafteyWing Nomad Insurance has two options: Essential and Complete. Neither plan covers pre-existing conditions. (I’m currently on an Essential plan.)
In late 2025, SafetyWing launched Nomad Citizen—a beta membership offering global coverage for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and nomads who join Plumia’s Nomad Citizen or a sponsoring organization.
SafetyWing Nomad Essential
Best for short-term travel
Nomad Insurance Essential provides short-term coverage for unexpected medical issues and emergencies while traveling outside your home country. Additional add-ons include adventure sports, electronic theft and U.S. coverage for non-residents.
You can pay monthly or in full for policies. Longer policies can be set to auto-renew. When you cancel a policy anytime and get a pro-rated refund. There’s no minimum time limit for policies, so you can buy coverage for the exact dates you need.
This policy is very affordable because it’s less comprehensive than other companies, but provides optional add-ons so you only pay for what you need and don’t overpay for what you don’t. Prices start at $56.28 for people aged 18-39.
SafetyWing Nomad Complete
Best for longterm travel
The Nomad Insurance Complete is long-term comprehensive coverage (12-month commitment) for unexpected and ongoing health concerns worldwide. These plans can be paid monthly or annually for a 10% discount. While adventure sports are included, additional add-ons include electronic theft and coverage in Hong Kong, Singapore and the U.S. (This policy is not available to U.S. residents.) Plans start at $150.50/month.
One of the best benefits of SafetyWing is that you can buy while you are abroad and get 24/7 customer support with a REAL human! (I can vouch that they are excellent at assisting and will follow up with you afterward!) Prices start at $161.50 for people aged 18-39
SafetyWing Nomad Citizen
Global coverage for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and nomads
SafetyWing’s newest insurance program, Nomad Citizen, (beta version) is for people under age 50 who live abroad six months a year and earn $4,000 USD per month for the last year. It provides premium worldwide healthcare, including emergency and preventative care along with coverage for maternity, mental health and massage, plus travel and income protection. Plans start at $400/month for ages 18-39 for members of Plumia or another association focused on borderless living. Join the waitlist for details.
What does SafetyWing Travel Medical Insurance cover?
While it’s important to always read the full insurance policy, the items below are covered by SafetyWing for the Essential and Complete plans:
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Essential Plan
Each Essential policy has a $250,000 USD max limit and a $100,000 USD max limit for U.S. residents over 65.
- Emergency Accident & Sickness Expenses.
- Emergency Evacuation & Repatriation. (Evacuation to a better-equipped hospital when needed is included with a $100,000 USD lifetime max.)
- Trip Cancelation, Delay or Interruption. (Benefits kick in usually for delays after 12 hours. $100/day for two days)
- Baggage Delay & Damage. ($500/item with a $3,000 policy maximum)
- Injuries from leisure sports and activities.
- Motor Accidents. You must be properly licensed, not intoxicated and wearing safety equipment to be covered. ($250,000 US max limit)
- Continued coverage in your home country after 90 days abroad. (30 days for non-U.S. residents and 15 for U.S. residents.)
For more details, read the full policy on their website.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Complete Plan
This is an annual comprehensive plan with $1,500,000 overall limit for people aged 18-65.
- Emergency medical treatment and hospitalization (Including evacuation to better-equipped hospital and transport of remains)
- Routine check-ups and preventative care plus doctor and specialist visits
- Psychologist and psychiatrist visits along with wellness therapies (chiropractor, dietician, etc.)
- Trip Cancelation, delay or interruption. (Benefits kick in after three hours.)
- Lost checked luggage and stolen belongings
- Injuries from leisure sports and motor accidents
- Maternity Care (10-month waiting period)
- Cancer Tests and treatment
For more details, read the compete policy.
Does SafetyWing cover adventure sports?
SafetyWing now covers adventure sports with a policy add-on for the Essential plan. It is included in the Complete plan. From paragliding to scuba diving, check out the full list of covered sports here. Organized and professional sports are not covered.
Does SafetyWing cover electronics theft?
Yes, you can add electronics theft coverage to a SafetyWing Essential and Complete policy for an additional fee. It covers cameras, laptops and phones with a $1,000 USD limit per item and a yearly limit of $3,000 per policy. This benefit is only available as an add-on for policies over 28 days. Proof of ownership like a receipt is needed for claims. To read the fine print, check out this page with all the details.
What’s not covered by SafetyWing travel medical insurance?
SafetyWing doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions for either plan. The Essential plan does not cover cancer treatment, lost or stolen personal belongings (except for electronics if you purchase that policy add-on), or trips that were canceled before you left.
Where can you travel with SafetyWing Nomad Insurance?
You can travel anywhere in the world except for your home country and countries with U.S., U.K., EU or UN sanctions including Belarus, Cuba, Iran North Korea, Russia, Syria and Ukraine.
After being abroad for 90 days, you can get 30 days of home country coverage. (For U.S. residents, it’s 15 days.) This is only for the Essential plan.
Who is eligible?
Essential Plan: Anyone aged 69 and under. Their policies cover people from across the world while they are outside their home country. Plans can be purchased abroad. Over 180 countries are covered. One child under 10 can be added at no extra cost per adult.
Complete Plan: Ages 18-65 except for residents (people who live in the following places 6 months per year) of Belarus, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ireland, Palau, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Please note that this policy doesn’t cover you in your primary residence.
Nomad Citizen (beta): Ages 18-50 who live abroad six months a year, earn $4,000 USD per month and members of Plumia or another association focused on borderless living.
How much does SafetyWing cost?
Plans cost just a few dollars a day and vary by age making SafetyWing one of the most affordable brands of travel medical insurance. Policy add-ons such as U.S. coverage, adventure sports and electronics theft are extra for the Essential plan.
Purchasing Process with SafetyWing
It just takes minutes to fill out the form online including your age, home address and countries you’ll be visiting. The chat box makes it easy to ask questions and talk to a real human 24/7. Customer service can easily answer any questions quickly. They are also great about following up when needed.
My Review of SafetyWing Travel Medical Insurance
This includes my experience with three claims in late 2025 and 2024.
I spend every winter in Southeast Asia and always buy a Nomad Insurance policy for my time abroad. In late December 2025, I went to Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai to see a doctor for a UTI, who ordered a urine test, gave me some meds and asked me to come back in three days for another visit and urine test. Thankfully, it was all cured by then. The total cost for both visits and the medicine was $113.70 USD. (I’ve also written about my experience with Thailand’s affordable private healthcare.)
The process of filing a claim with SafetyWing took only five minutes and was very simple. (It took probably 15 minutes total, including the time to organize and PDF the documents.) I had to include the medical report with the diagnosis and an itemized bill and proof of payment. (Make sure to ask for these before leaving the doctor’s office.) The best part of about the filing process is that you can upload all the documents together as a single file and don’t have to upload each in a separate category, which I’ve had to do with my regular health insurance. The next step was to add my banking details and done!
A quick note: I waited to upload the documents from both appointments at the same time because it just seemed easier. You can upload things separately because there’s an option to select if it’s related to an existing claim.
The normal turnaround time for processing claims is five business days. Since I submitted the claim late on the Friday before Christmas week, I expected a delay due to the holiday, but it was approved exactly on the fifth business day (December 29th). Since there’s no policy deductible, the direct deposit for the full amount was in my account the same day via a wire transfer that showed up from EXPATPA!
In February 2025, I filed a small claim for a bout of food poisoning I got in Cambodia. The doctor’s visit and medicine were less than $20 USD. The claim was approved the next day and deposited the following day. Perhaps the small amount of the claim helped expedite the process. Either way, I’ve had nothing but smooth experiences since they launched the new streamlined claims process.
In early 2024, SafetyWing paid a claim related to some knee pain I had that required an MRI ($331). In general, they’ve covered a wide range of injuries and illnesses for me over the years.
Overall, the process was smooth. It’s very important to have all your documentation together including the doctor’s report, payment receipts for the visit and any prescriptions. I’ve always had great experience using their plans.
Safe Travels!
