SafetyWing Travel Insurance Review

Picture this: you’re working abroad, enjoying the digital nomad life, when you feel a sharp stabbing pain in the middle of your abdomen. You go to the hospital and you’re told you need an emergency appendectomy, which will cost you hundreds of US dollars.

If you have travel insurance, you’ll almost certainly be covered for this eventuality by your policy. If you don’t, the financial impact could be devastating.

Fortunately, there are a lot of companies these days that provide travel insurance for people plying their trade overseas. One of the most popular in recent years is SafetyWing, a relative newcomer on the scene that specializes in coverage for digital nomads and remote workers.

Their plans tend to be affordable and transparent, but they’re also predominantly aimed at younger people without pre-existing conditions.

What Is SafetyWing Insurance?

SafetyWing was founded specifically to solve the problem many digital nomads face around finding insurance policies tailored to their unique lifestyles.

The company started off with its Nomad plan in 2018, delivering basic coverage for people who spend months of every year simultaneously travelling the world and beavering away in coworking hubs or coffee shops.

More recently, they have expanded with a Remote Health offering, which is designed for companies that employ remote workers and contractors around the globe.

If you’re somebody who works from different locations over the course of a year, SafetyWing travel insurance should be on your radar, as that’s pretty much their specialty. Global coverage (excluding a handful of territories) is included as standard, so you won’t be hit by expensive additional fees for multiple destinations.

There are two tiers to choose from: the Essential package and the Complete package.

Key Features & Coverage

As part of our SafetyWing insurance review, we’ve broken down the main features of the company’s Nomad insurance coverage across both the Essential and the Complete tiers. There are significant differences between the two, so it’s worth comparing both side by side to see which one best fits your unique circumstances.

✅ Medical Coverage

• Safety Wing health insurance covers emergency medical treatment and hospitalization under both its plans, including associated surgery, diagnostics (e.g., X-rays, MRIs) and prescribed medication.
• The Complete tier also provides reimbursement for some routine and preventative care, including screenings and vaccines (up to $350), wellness therapies (up to $5,000) and maternity cover (up to $2,500). Cancer treatment is only available as part of this tier as well (up to the maximum).
• Injuries sustained during adventure sports such as motorbiking, paragliding and scuba diving are only covered by the Complete package (up to $100,000). However, you can purchase an adventure sports add-on for the Essential package.
• You can claim up to $250,000 under the Essential plan and $1,500,000 under the Complete plan per 364 days. There are additional limits on the amount that can be claimed for some types of treatment. For example, emergency dental is only included up to $1,000.
• Pre-existing conditions aren’t covered.

✅ Emergency & Evacuation Coverage

• SafetyWing provides medical evacuation to the nearest adequately equipped hospital if the location where you are initially treated is unable to meet your healthcare needs. There’s a $100,000 lifetime limit for this service.
• Repatriation is available if your attending physician declares that it is medically necessary for you to return home for follow-up treatment. In this instance, one-way transportation costs up to $5,000 are covered.
• If there is a travel warning for either political unrest or a natural disaster issued for the area where you are based, SafetyWing will pay for you to use the most economical means of transport to return you to either your home country or the nearest safe country. This provision has a lifetime maximum of $10,000.

✅ Travel-Related Benefits

• If you encounter trip delays of 12 hours or more, Safety Wing travel insurance will reimburse people on the Essential package up to $100 per diem (max 2 days) to cover accommodation and food. Complete package coverage offers a slightly more generous $60 for delays of more than 3 hours, rising to $150 for delays of more than 8 hours. A total of $450 dollars can be claimed per trip, with an annual maximum of $900 per year.
• Lost luggage provisions are the same across both Essential and Complete tiers: $500 per missing item. You can claim up to $3,000 per year, but the coverage tops out at $6,000 per lifetime.
• Electronics theft can be purchased as an add-on. Like lost luggage, this covers up to $3,000 worth of good, with a maximum of $6,000 per lifetime. However, there is a slightly more generous per item maximum of $1,000 – which makes sense, since in most cases your laptop is going to be worth more than your clothing!
• There’s no coverage for flight, hotel or tour cancellations.
• Personal liability for third-person injury is up to $25,000 (lifetime max), while third-person property damage is limited to $2,500.

✅ COVID-19 & Pandemic Coverage

• COVID-19 is covered like any other illness under SafetyWing’s policies. Basically, if you require treatment, the insurer will pay out, but there’s no coverage for antibody tests if you think you might have COVID.

Pricing & Plans

Safety Wing insurance has two main policy types for nomads. The Essential plan is charged every 4 weeks, and you can cancel any time. The Complete plan is paid monthly and requires a one-year commitment.

One of the most attractive things about the pricing is that it’s completely transparent and simple to understand. Unlike most other providers, you don’t have to enter a bunch of information before you can see a standard quote.

• Essential

Premiums for the basic tier of coverage start at $56.28, paid every 4 weeks. Anybody aged 10-39 can take advantage of this price.

Costs steadily rise for every additional decade of age. For 40- to 49-year-olds, that means premiums of $92.40, while 50- to 59-year-olds pay $145.04 every 4 weeks. The maximum cost is $196.84, which covers people aged 60 to 69.

SafetyWing don’t offer anybody 70+ coverage. However, they do insure children under 10 years old for free. This is limited to one child per adult policy, with a maximum of 2 children in total.

People who enjoy adventure sports and/or have valuable electronics can purchase extra coverage. Both add-ons cost an additional flat fee of $10 per 4 weeks. Adventure sports include activities like paragliding, skiing, and motorbiking, but do take the time to check your policy before going wild. Anything not explicitly mentioned is probably not covered.

The electronics theft add-on is for things like laptops, cameras, smartphones – pretty much all the usual techie stuff, as well as drones for those people who take capturing their holiday experiences seriously.

There’s also an additional charge if you want to be covered in the US. This ranges from $48.16 for individuals under 40 to $189.28 for those aged 40 and over.

You can pay for the whole period in advance, but there’s no discount for doing that, so for most people it will probably be easier on the budget if you pay as you go.

• Complete

Pricing for the Complete tier is significantly higher, though that’s not surprising given that it covers a lot more medical treatment – and has a much higher maximum claim limit.

Premiums start at $150.50 per month for digital nomads aged 18-39, rising to $216.50 for 40- to 49-year-olds, $326.50 for 50- to 50-year-olds and $586.50 for 60- to 69-year-old.

Children up to the age of 17 can be covered for an extra $99.50 per month.

Adventure sports are automatically covered as part of the complete package, but there’s currently no option to include electronics theft.

If you’re planning to spend time in the US, Singapore and/or HK, bear in mind that SafetyWing only covers trips of up to 30 days for these destinations. In other words, this isn’t the package for you if you intend to spend most of your year in one of these three countries.

There’s a 10% discount if you pay for the whole year in advance.

How Does Pricing Compare to Competitors?

SafetyWing’s Essential package is one of the cheapest options on the market, especially for people under 40 years of age. For older people or anybody who wants more comprehensive coverage with the Complete package, prices from other companies become a bit more competitive.

Pros & Cons of SafetyWing

Pros

✅ Affordable pricing for long-term travelers
✅ Monthly subscription model (no long-term contracts)
✅ Covers multiple countries with no need to update location
✅ Includes some home-country medical coverage

Cons

❌ Limited coverage for pre-existing conditions
❌ Doesn’t cover high-risk sports or extreme adventures as standard
❌ Not as comprehensive as full expat health insurance

How to Sign Up & Use SafetyWing

• Sign-up process:

1. Create an account. You’ll need to supply an email address, name, date of birth, biological sex, citizenship and mailing address.

Once you’ve got an account, you’ll have access to the SafetyWing Nomad Insurance dashboard. From here, you can choose whether you want to sign up for Essential or Complete coverage. The user journey for each is slightly different, so we’re going to focus on the process for Essential here.

2. Click on Essential. First, you’ll be asked to enter your coverage period, i.e., how long you want SafetyWing to protect you and when you want that protection to start. At this point, you can choose whether you want to pay upfront for a set period or pay as you go. You’ll also be able to select add-ons for adventure sports, US coverage and electronics theft.
3. Enter your telephone number, sex and a beneficiary should anything happen to you.
4. Choose which countries you want coverage for.
5. Add any group members who are travelling with you that you also want to insure, such as family and/or a partner.
6. Finally, enter your payment details and purchase the policy.

• How to file a claim and get reimbursed:

1. From your account dashboard, click the “Submit a claim” button.
2. You’ll be taken to a window that explains the basics of the claims process. Pay particular attention to the part concerning what documents you’ll need to have, such as medical reports and treatment receipts. If you have all that stuff prepped, click the “Start” button.
3. Now for the most important part: filling out the insurance claim. This is all done within the dashboard, from entering details of the injury to uploading medical reports and receipts. This is also where you’ll put in your bank details.
4. Submit the claim. On average, SafetyWing will let you know within 3 business days if they are going to reimburse the claim. You can check the status by selecting “Claims” from the dropdown menu on the dashboard.

• User experience:

SafetyWing is very easy to navigate, with a colorful but pared-down interface so that it’s not hard to find what you’re looking for. The website is mobile-friendly and mimics the desktop version almost exactly.

They also have a dedicated app that is easy to use and has a dedicated FAQs tab, so you can quickly find the answers to any burning questions.

SafetyWing vs. Competitors

*Prices are per 4 weeks. Quotes vary based on your age, home nation, destinations and several other factors, so only treat this as a rough estimate.

Customer Reviews & Ratings

Most people have a positive experience with SafetyWing, with 73% of reviews on TrustPilot giving them 5 stars. However, their overall rating of 4 out of 5 is lower than several of their competitors, including World Nomads and Faye.

What people like:

• The price. A lot of people sign up because of the affordability – and it’s undeniable that SafetyWing are one of the cheapest insurers for digital nomads on the market.
• The customer service. Even though it’s largely limited to a chat function, the response to queries is generally fast and very handy if you need help with your claims form.
• Simplified claims process. SafetyWing underwent a system overhaul last year, which massively simplified their claim form and led to a reduction in wait times for claims confirmations and reimbursements.

What people don’t like:

• The coverage limits. On the Essential plan, these are pretty low compared to other players in the market.
• Claims are largely via reimbursement. Most of the time, SafetyWing doesn’t settle with the hospital directly. That means you could be out of pocket significant sums until they approve your claim.
• The pre-existing conditions clause. SafetyWing are upfront that they will not pay out for pre-existing issues, but this is a major turnoff for some policyholders.

Who Should & Shouldn’t Use SafetyWing?

• Recommended for → Budget-conscious nomads, freelancers, remote workers
• Not ideal for → Expats needing long-term healthcare, older individuals living abroad

Final Verdict: Is SafetyWing Worth It?

SafetyWing may not be the best digital nomad insurance overall, but it is a good choice for anybody seeking an affordable policy that covers them in case of emergency treatment. It’s particularly handy for younger travellers with no pre-existing conditions who want a safety net but don’t anticipate needing long-term care.

It’s also a solid choice for anybody who likes their adventure sports. Even though these aren’t covered as standard, the add-on is very comprehensive in terms of the included activities – and these are very clearly stated in the terms and conditions. The add-on is relatively pricy as a percentage of the overall policy, but you can easily add it for a month when you plan to go, say, paragliding, then remove it the next month.

For people with pre-existing health issues, a company like Allianz or GeoBlue offer a better choice of coverage, as they will cover chronic ailments, although that does come at a cost.

Sign up for SafetyWing Nomad Insurance.