Are you looking for affordable long-term travel insurance? Here’s my review of SafetyWing travel medical insurance and why I recommend this long-term travel insurance for nomads and travelers.
Post originally written on September 20th, 2019, updated on July 15th, 2025.
Traveling comes with inherent risks, even if you take your biggest precautions. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going on a short backpacking adventure around Europe, a one-week horseback riding trip to Kyrgyzstan or if you’re about to make an overland journey from Europe to Asia.
Going on a horseback trek, for example, requires good travel insurance…
Anything can happen when you’re on the road. From motorcycle accidents, lost luggage at the airport, pickpocketing, breaking your leg while skiing or falling from a horse, bad luck can strike you at the most unexpected moment.
I went skiing in Central Asia but I wouldn’t have done it as a beginner if I didn’t have good travel insurance…
After years of traveling with and without long-term travel insurance (more than 12 years now!), I can assure you that unexpected situations happen all the time. If you don’t have a plan B, your trip might end sooner than expected. That’s why it’s good to always have travel insurance to back you up in case something goes wrong.
There are nowadays so many different options on the market that it’s hard to know which one to choose.
Choose travel insurance that will cover you no matter where you go…
After testing out different insurances, I found one that offers a combination of medical insurance and travel insurance (including trip interruption, travel delay, lost checked luggage, etc.)
This travel medical insurance is called SafetyWing and I’ll tell you why it might be the perfect insurance to get for your trip.
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Why should you get long-term travel insurance?
As a long-term traveler, I’ve seen a fair share of disasters that could shorten or break an otherwise perfect adventure.
I’m grateful to only having to stay once in a hospital when I was in Panama, where I caught a bad virus during my trip. I’ve met many other travelers who fell while cycling, horse riding or hiking and needed medical care. Some didn’t have medical insurance and had to use their last savings to cover the medical bills.
You might be hesitant to get travel insurance as they can be very expensive, are complicated to set-up or you think they’ll never give the assistance you need while on the road. I’ll tell you why you should consider getting a travel medical insurance with SafetyWing.
What makes SafetyWing so great?
1. Finally affordable long-term travel insurance!
SafetyWing is an affordable travel medical insurance. The Nomad Insurance Essential starts at only $56,28 per 4 weeks, which is cheaper than most travel insurances out there. That’s the same price as buying a coffee every day!
This is perfect when you’re a budget traveler or a digital nomad who’s just starting an online career and you don’t want to/or can’t spend too much money on insurance.
The Nomad Insurance Complete starts at $161,50, billed monthly, and covers not only emergencies, but also routine check-ups, mental health care, maternity, burglary, canceled accommodation, and delayed luggage (I had this happen already a few times, not fun…). This is perfect for long-term travelers, remote workers, nomadic families, and anyone who’s looking for borderless healthcare.
The Complete plan is available for those under 64, but if you purchase it before turning 64, you can continue renewing it for life with no age limit.
Both plans have a $0 deductible.
2. You’re covered around (nearly) the whole world
With the Nomad Insurance Essentials Plan, you’re covered in nearly every country of the world, except for Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Puerto Rico, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and your home country (where you principally reside and receive mail).
With the Nomad Insurance Complete Plan, you are covered in your country of residence and anywhere you travel, except for any country or area that is sanctioned.
They can’t cover residents (those living there for 6+ months out of the year) of Belarus, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Republic of Ireland, North Korea, North Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Palau, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, and the USA and its territories.
3. SafetyWing has a very flexible policy
As a digital nomad and long-term traveler, it’s hard to know how long you’ll be on the road for. With SafetyWing you don’t have to pay for coverage you don’t need and you can cancel your subscription very easily.
The SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Essentials has a monthly subscription model and you can cancel whenever you want.
The SafetyWing Nomad Insurance Complete is a year-long commitment. You can either pay monthly or pay the full year in advance (-and get a 10% discount.
Another advantage of this company is that you can buy a policy even when you’re already traveling. You don’t necessarily have to be in your home country when you set it up, a requirement that many other insurance companies have.
I got my travel insurance with SafetyWing in Kyrgyzstan. The whole process was super easy and took less than 20 minutes.
4. Lots of sports are covered
I love hiking and trekking. I’m a mountain lover and I never miss the chance to go on a long hike in the mountains.
I used to spend whole summers bringing tourists on treks in Kyrgyzstan, but I wasn’t worried about stumbling over the rough terrain or sliding down a rock because I knew SafetyWing covers hiking accidents.
And that’s not the only outdoor activity covered by the insurance policy.
If you take the Nomad Essentials Plan, is an “adventure sport add-on” available for people who are looking to do more extreme activities like motorbiking, paragliding, or even skydiving. It’s automatically included in the Nomad Complete plan at no extra cost.
5. You can reach SafetyWing for support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
SafetyWing is easily reached from anywhere in the world and at any time you might need their assistance. They have a hotline you can call 24/7 if you want to speak directly to a staff member.
6. SafetyWing covers so many different things
For being such an affordable travel medical insurance, SafetyWing covers quite a lot of different situations and covers you for a considerable sum of money.
Here are just a few examples of things that are covered by the Nomad Insurance Complete:
- Lost checked luggage ($500 per item with a $3000 max per policy)
- Emergency medical evacuation ($100,000- evacuation from local unrest is $10,000)
- Emergency medical expenses ($1,500,000 limit)
- Trip interruption in case of family death ($5,000 limit)
- Emergency dental coverage ($1000 limit)
- Cancer tests and treatments ($1,500,000 limit)
- Wellness therapies ($60 per visit)
- Mental health care ($5,000 outpatient limit)
- Maternity care ($2,500 limit)
- and so much more!
7. Family coverage
Families can travel with peace of mind since SafetyWing covers the children of insured parents.
When you sign up for Essential Nomad Insurance, one child (older than 14 days but younger than 10 years old) per adult, or 2 children per group/family are be included in the insurance without added cost.
When you sign up for Complete Nomad Insurance, you can include under your plan a spouse and/or children under 18 or 18-24 in full-time education.
Even parents traveling with their kids can benefit from SafetyWing…
How does the claim process work with SafetyWing?
Making a claim with SafetyWing is super easy and simple and that’s another reason why I love this insurance policy so much.
To start, you just need to send the claim to the email address provided upon your sign-up. SafetyWing will get back to you quickly and let you know it’s being processed. They usually contact you within 24 hours.
You can see live updates concerning your claim by visiting the claims section of their website. It’s awesome to see the whole process instead of being left in the dark until your claim is either accepted or rejected.
In conclusion: should you go for SafetyWing or not?
After looking at all its awesome perks, the very affordable price, and how easy it is to sign up and make a claim, I’m definitely going to continue using SafetyWing for the rest of my travels.
You can plan your trip without worrying when you have travel insurance that covers so many things…
Whether you’re a long-term traveler, a digital nomad or going on your first trip to a foreign country, this travel insurance might be the one for you.
Nice review on Safetywing, good stuff. I have researched them too and consider them a great insurer overall, though far from perfect still. We’re collecting and have collected a ton of user reviews for them and most are positive.
SafetyWing, while not perfect, is a reliable travel insurance for budget travelers so we recommend them. However, if you ever come across the perfect travel insurance, do let us know! 😉
Too bad they eliminate seniors over 69
Hi Bob,
That’s indeed unfortunate but I think that most travel insurances have different or more expensive quotas for seniors over 69 as they’re generally seen as an age group with more health risks.