This is a quick guide of the SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Essential and Complete plans.
As someone who’s traveled with and without travel insurance, I can tell you that having travel insurance is one of the best things you can do for yourself as a traveler – especially as a digital nomad. From having my backpack stolen in Portugal to being hit by a car in Bali, no matter how safe you are, things can go wrong. While you can’t control everything around you, you can control how you protect yourself.
And that’s where SafetyWing comes in.
SafetyWing has relaunched its Nomad Insurance and Nomad Health as Nomad Insurance: Essential and Complete. This means you no longer have to choose between travel or complete medical insurance.
Which of these two new plans is right for you? In this guide, I’m going to take a closer look at the difference between Essential and Complete Nomad Insurance from SafetyWing.
Disclosure: I’ve put together this SafetyWing Nomad Insurance comparison to the best of my knowledge and understanding – and with the resources provided to me. Changes to insurance policy terms can happen. Before purchasing a policy, do your research and make sure that your personal needs are covered.
What is SafetyWing?
“We’re building a global safety net”
At its core, SafetyWing is an insurance company. But where they differ from other insurance companies is through their products, services, and customer support.
SafetyWing’s travel and medical insurance is designed to meet the needs of remote workers, digital nomads, and travelers from all across the globe.
Their mission is to provide affordable, flexible, borderless coverage that caters to short and long-term adventures. As someone who’s used SafetyWing for years, I can confidently say that they are always listening to their customers. They know what digital nomads need – because they are digital nomads and remote workers.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance
In this latest product update, SafetyWing is unifying Nomad Insurance (their travel medical product) and Nomad Health (their comprehensive health plan) under a new ‘Nomad Insurance’ label. There will be two options for insurance that you can choose from: Essential and Complete.
Their ‘Essential’ plan offers travel medical coverage, while ‘Complete’ gives you comprehensive health insurance with travel coverage. They are both designed for anyone working or exploring multiple countries on one trip.
Nomad Insurance: Essential
According to SafetyWing, Essential is designed for any short-term travelers or nomads who want to make sure they have emergency medical coverage on their trip. You can get Essential coverage for any trip that’s lasting longer than 3 days.
The important thing to note with their Essential plan is that it’s not replacing regular health insurance. It’s designed for travel. So it’s not going to cover things like preventative care and regular checkups.
However, the nice thing about SafetyWing is that you don’t have to know your itinerary ahead of time. You can buy an Insurance plan while you’re already abroad. SafetyWing works like a subscription service, covering you, no matter what country you’re exploring next.
It’s the Netflix of travel mishaps.
Nomad Insurance: Complete
Now where Essential is designed to be your travel mishaps, Complete is designed to be your comprehensive health insurance and travel insurance. This covers things like doctor’s visits, preventative care, and prescriptions. However, it is also travel insurance – covering those travel mishaps on the road.
This offer is vital for self-employed digital nomads like myself. Since I’m not living in America (and haven’t been for 10+ years), I’m not paying for health insurance in America.
That means while I’ve had travel insurance, I haven’t had health insurance. This new update from SafetyWing is giving you an easy place to have both.
The Highlights of Nomad Insurance
Here’s a quick guide to each of these new insurance plans from SafetyWing.
| Essential: | Complete: |
|---|---|
| Choose fixed dates for shorter trips | Includes all benefits from the ‘Essentials’ plan |
| Your subscription is on a 28-day cycle | Minimum contract of 12 months (paid monthly or yearly, renewable indefinitely) |
| Works only when outside your home country | Full coverage in your country of residence |
Nomad Insurance Coverage
Let’s dive into a bit more about what’s covered in each of these insurance plans. This will help you determine which plan is right for you based on the travel you’re doing, the length of your trip, and the coverage that you need.
| Essentials: | Complete: |
|---|---|
| ✅ Emergency medical coverage (unexpected accidents and illnesses), medical evacuation, trip protection | ✅ All ‘Essential’ benefits, plus routine healthcare, mental health, and maternity healthcare |
| 🎿 Add-ons for adventure sports, electronics theft, and US coverage | 🩻 Cancer screening and treatment |
| ✈️ Trip protection for delays, interruptions, or lost luggage | 👩🏻⚕️ Outpatient services, maternity care, mental health support, complementary therapies like chiropractors |
| 🚨 Medical evacuation and repatriation | ⏰ Works for both year-long travel or settling in one place |
| 🚫 NOT COVERED: Routine checkups, vision, dental, maternity care, extended home country coverage | ✈️ Includes additional coverage for trip or accommodation cancelation, burglary, and delayed luggage |
| 🎿 Includes adventure sports add-ons |
*It’s important to note that neither of these insurance plans covers preexisting conditions.
What Countries Are Covered?
As I’ve already mentioned, you can get SafetyWing Insurance while you’re already abroad – and you don’t need to give them every country on your itinerary. With the Nomad Insurance Complete plan, the exceptions are Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United States. In each of those countries, coverage is limited to 30 days per trip, not to exceed 183 days, unless you purchase the worldwide add-on.
Is Pre-Approval Needed?
You need to get pre-approval for procedures that cost more than $500. Pre-approval makes sure that the procedure is covered by your policy. This will protect you from getting stuck with a large bill. You can also choose that the healthcare provider be paid directly.
**If you do not get pre-approval, you’ll need to pay for the procedure and submit a claim as normal, however, you may get back 30% less on your reimbursement. In an emergency where you aren’t able to communicate, report your treatment within 72 hours. (You can find this information (section 9.1) and more in the full policy document).
Discounts
At this time, SafetyWing offers a discount on the annual billing of their Complete plan. They offer 10% off when you choose annual billing which gives you almost one month for free. This is another unique feature of SafetyWing!
Which Nomad Insurance Plan is right for you?
If you’re setting off on a shorter trip and need to make sure that your travel mishaps are covered, the Essentials plan should be sufficient.
You can also get the Essentials plan if you still have comprehensive coverage in your own country and plan to travel back home for routine appointments, screenings, and checkups.
However, if you’re like me and you’re self-employed, you travel full-time and you’re over the age of 26, then you’ll want to consider getting the Complete plan. This will not only cover your adventures, but it will also help make sure you are getting the preventative and regular care that you need.
Whichever Nomad Insurance plan you choose, make sure that you’re covered. With SafetyWing, you’ll know that someone always has your back – which can be so reassuring on the road.
Remember that it’s always important to do your own research to make sure that the insurance plan you choose has the coverage that you need. What I love about SafetyWing is how easily they line everything out for you. There’s no hidden subtext or shady practices. They’re very upfront about what they cover and what they don’t.
Learn more about the new SafetyWing Nomad Insurance and get insured for your next trip.
