Insured Nomads Insurance Review

More and more people are turning towards the digital nomad lifestyle, but the speed of the change has caught some traditional insurers off-guard. The usual expat packages just aren’t robust enough to cover the different types of modern nomadism, from the adventurer who hops from country to country while maintaining a career, to the remote worker who spends half of every year living in Indonesia and the other half in Mexico.

The best digital nomad insurance product is obviously going to vary from person to person, but several businesses have popped up offering a portfolio of plans that are tailor-made to cover the nomadic lifestyle.

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One of these new kids on the block is Insured Nomads, which was founded just a few years ago, right before the pandemic. Their policies feature a mix of medical and travel insurance, with enough flexibility to suit a whole range of circumstances.

What Is Insured Nomads Insurance?

Founded in 2019, Insured Nomads’ company goal is to help “global citizens.” Their policies focus on digital nomads and remote workers, with insurance that protects you over multiple short trips as well as long-term living overseas.

The company offers a “transactional card” that you can use to pay for authorized medical bills upfront. While this is their primary method of covering any treatment or trip fees, you can also apply for reimbursement.

Corporate social responsibility is a big part of their DNA. The company donates a percentage of every insurance purchase to Not for Sale, an organization that aims to end modern-day slavery and exploitation. They’re also a signatory of the UN Global Compact, an ethical framework that provides guidelines for doing business sustainably.

Key Features & Coverage

Insured Nomads’ policies are roughly divided into two types: health insurance and travel insurance, each potentially useful for a digital nomad. We’re going to look at both in this Insured Nomads insurance review.

Depending on where you are resident in the world, there are slightly different benefits on offer, but we’ll try to give you a general idea of the kind of coverage you can expect.

Most policies come with some tasty extras like airport lounge access, real-time travel alerts and telemedicine consultations.

Health Insurance:

This category is primarily for people who are moving abroad long term and don’t intend to return regularly to their country of residence. It includes more routine care but not trip-related reimbursement.

There are three main tiers of policy: Connect, ConnectOne and ConnectThree. In some geographies, these are substituted for Preferred and Preferred Plus.

✅ Medical Coverage

• All plans cover you for inpatient and daycare benefits such as intensive care, diagnostic tests, prescriptions, surgical costs and physician fees up to 100% of the policy maximum. Psychiatry and psychotherapy are also available for up to 60 days.
• Outpatient coverage is limited to oncology, surgery, some diagnostic scans and emergency situations. However, you can purchase an additional outpatient module that will pay out $3,000 (Connect), $5,000 (ConnectOne) or $8,000 (ConnectThree) for doctor visits, vaccinations and prescriptions. It will also cover between $300 and $2,500 for alternative remedies like chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, osteopathy, homeopathy, podiatry and Chinese herbal medicine.
• Dental emergencies are only covered if they are inpatient procedures. Outpatient dental treatment is only available with the ConnectThree plan up to $1,000. However, there is a dental add-on that you can purchase for more thorough coverage ($2,000-$5,000).
• There’s also a maternity module that you can purchase, which provides care for either $5,000 or $10,000 for pregnancies and childbirth following a 12-month waiting period.
• Pre-existing conditions are not included automatically on most policies, though sometimes the underwriters will agree to cover certain medical issues after a waiting period.
• Normal sporting activities are usually included, but adventure sports like rock climbing, bungee jumping, skiing off-piste and scuba diving to a depth greater than 30 meters are not.

✅ Emergency & Evacuation Coverage

• Medical evacuation is available up to the maximum.
• Evacuation and relocation services for political unrest, terrorism and natural disasters are not a feature of the insurance policy directly, but some aid is available as part of the Guardian membership program. This is bundled with most policies.

✅ Travel-Related Benefits

• No travel-related benefits are available as part of Insured Nomads’ health insurance plans.

✅ COVID-19 & Pandemic Coverage

• Insured Nomads have no exclusions for pandemics, including COVID-19. That means you can receive treatment for Covid symptoms if they are not caused by a pre-existing illness.

Travel Insurance:

The Insured Nomads travel insurance is primarily aimed at people who plan to take either one long trip or several short trips abroad over the course of a year. It comes with less medical care and can only be purchased if you have primary health insurance in your home country, but it does have trip-related coverage.

World Explorer can be used for a single trip of up to 364 days, while World Explorer Multi can be used for as many trips abroad as you like, though each trip may only last up to either 30 or 45 days.

✅ Medical Coverage

• Emergency room visits are available under URC (usual, reasonable and customary) charges, so make sure you double-check what those are for the region where you are traveling. You can also claim for physician visits, operations, lab work, some diagnostic scans and surgeon fees.
• When you purchase a World Explorer plan, you can choose your own maximum benefit from three options: $250,000, $1,000,000 or $2,000,000. World Explorer Multi only offers $1,000,000. Bear in mind that there are additional limitations for people aged 65 and above.
• Pre-existing conditions are covered in the event of “acute onset.” That means that if one of your pre-existing conditions becomes serious, Insured Nomads will pay out a limited amount for care (between $5,000 and $1,000,000).
• Normal sporting activities are usually included, but you can also purchase add-ons that cover you for adventure sports and marine activities.

✅ Emergency & Evacuation Coverage

• Emergency medical evacuation is covered up to $1,000,000 (World Explorer) or $500,000 (World Explorer Multi). As with other medical coverage, there are additional limitations for people aged 65 and above.
• Under the World Explorer plan, political evacuation and repatriation is covered up to $100,000, while natural disaster evacuation is covered up to $25,000. Under the World Explorer Multi, political evacuation and repatriation is covered up to $10,000, but there’s no benefit for natural disasters.

✅ Travel-Related Benefits

• Trip interruptions (when you are forced to cut your travel short) are covered up to $10,000 (Explorer) or $5,000 (Explorer Multi).
• Lost checked luggage is reimbursed up to $50 per item, with a maximum of either $500 (Explorer) or $250 (Explorer Multi).
• Sports equipment and photography equipment are insured for up to $1,000, while electronics are insured up to $500.
• World Explorer provides $25,000 of personal liability coverage, but World Explorer Multi has none.

✅ COVID-19 & Pandemic Coverage

• The Insured Nomads travel insurance plan will cover necessary treatment for COVID-19, as long as you are not visiting a country that has active travel warnings for the virus (under the US system, anywhere with Level 3 alerts and below would be fine).

Pricing & Plans

We’ve assembled a range of quotes to give you an idea of premiums by age. These are based on worldwide coverage excluding the US – plans that include the US cost quite a lot more. Conversely, Insured Nomads do a pretty good deal on Africa-only and Southeast Asia-only health insurance that come in cheaper.

All premiums shown below are per month, but you can get an immediate 5% discount by paying for your annual policy upfront.

Health Insurance:

Prices for health insurance vary a lot based on your age, with incremental increases in premiums as you get older.

We’ve gone with no deductible for these examples, but you can choose between $500 and $10,000, which decreases the cost of the premium.

There are three optional modules that you can select: outpatient, dental and maternity. FYI, to purchase dental or maternity, you must also purchase the outpatient add-on.

• Age 24. $187 for the core plan. $248 for the core plan plus the basic outpatient module ($3,000 maximum limit).
• Age 32. $201 for the core plan. $307 for the core plan plus the basic outpatient module.
• Age 43. $245 for the core plan. $365 for the core plan plus the basic outpatient module.
• Age 64. $629 for the core plan. $892 for the core plan plus the basic outpatient module.
• There’s a flat fee for the dental add-on – $103 per month in our case.
• The cost of the maternity module increases according to the age of the insured person. For example, a 24-year-old might pay an additional $78 per month for the $3,000 maternity package, while a 44-year-old would pay an extra $112.

Travel Insurance

• Anybody up to the age of 69 is charged a flat fee for the World Explorer Multi plan.
• For trips up to 30 days, the price is $350 per year. Adventure sports is $85 extra.
• For trips up to 45 days, the price is $437.50 per year. Adventure sports is $100 extra.

How Does Pricing Compare to Competitors?

Insured Nomads’ health insurance is definitely on the more expensive end of the scale, but you do get a bit more coverage for your money. With a bit of savvy shopping, you can bring the price down through things like your deductible, as well as choosing packages that cover a specific region rather than blanket global coverage.

Pros & Cons of Insured Nomads

Pros

✅ Plans for short-term and long-term expats
✅ Can cover multiple countries with no need to update location
✅ Mix of medical and trip-related policies available

Cons

❌ Limited pre-existing conditions coverage
❌ Obtaining coverage isn’t instantaneous for health plans
❌ Policies aren’t as detailed or clear as other insurance companies

How to Sign Up & Use Insured Nomads

Depending on whether you are applying for travel insurance or health insurance, there’s a slightly different user journey. We’ve covered both in this section.

• Sign-up process for health insurance:

1. At the top of the Insured Nomads homepage, move your cursor over the “Health Insurance” tab, then click “Individual/Family Health Insurance.”
2. You’ll be taken to the main hub for health insurance. Click “Get Your Quote and Apply.”
3. In the righthand bar, enter your age, your current or future residence, your nationality and your area of cover, then choose your inpatient benefit maximum, your deductible and any additional modules. You’ll be able to see how your selections alter the estimated price. This is also where you can add any additional family.
4. Enter your basic personal details, as well as your contact information, then click “Email Quotation.” This basically allows Insured Nomads to contact you to push the sale.
5. If you already know you want to purchase an Insured Nomads policy, click “Apply Now.”
6. Re-enter your personal details and the address where you will be living for the majority of the policy, then re-select your coverage options.
7. Scroll down to enter any dependents and the start date of your cover.
8. Keep scrolling down to fill in the medical questionnaire, then submit the form.
9. Insured Nomads will review your details and get back to you after their underwriters have examined your medical history. We were contacted within 24 hours.

• Sign-up process for travel insurance:

1. At the top of the Insured Nomads homepage, move your cursor over the “Travel Insurance” tab, then click “Annual Multi Trip.”
2. Click “Get Covered.”
3. Indicate whether you are purchasing insurance just for yourself or for your family as well, then select whether you want coverage for 30 or 45 days per trip.
4. Choose your main destination and whether you want worldwide coverage including or excluding the US, then enter your basic personal information. There’s a box on this page that you can tick if you want to pay for additional coverage for adventure sports like bungee jumping, paragliding and kitesurfing.
5. Enter your payment details and you’re done!

• How to file a claim and get reimbursed:

Most of the time, you will need to receive pre-authorization from Insured Nomads before you can go ahead with medical procedure. If you do need to file a claim, it must be done within 60 days of any treatment/loss.

1. For health claims, log in to the dedicated claims portal or the My Insured Nomads App. From here, you can submit details of your health issue, along with medical statements and receipts for expenses incurred.
2. For travel claims, you’ll have to resort to emailing travelclaims@pointcomfort.com.

• User experience:

Insured Nomads does that annoying thing that some insurers do where they make you enter your information once to get a quote, then enter it all over again to apply. It’s a waste of time and completely avoidable with a little bit more thought put into the user journey, but hey, it is what it is.

Aside from the time wastage, the process is easy to follow. It’s easier to do on a PC than on a smartphone, but the site is mobile-friendly.

Filing claims is a bit cumbersome, especially for travel, but the My Insured Nomads app is decent enough. It is a little surprising that they haven’t got a smoother process given the company has positioned itself as a hot young upstart, but that might be because they’re very keen on pre-authorization.

Insured Nomads vs. Competitors

*To provide a more direct comparison, we’ve scaled all prices to be equal to roughly 1 month of coverage. Quotes vary based on age, trip duration, destinations and several other factors, so only treat this as a rough estimate.

Customer Reviews & Ratings

Insured Nomads health insurance has a 4.2 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot. That’s a pretty solid reputation, although the number of reviews is relatively low.

What people like:

• The website. Most people are happy with the clear layout and easy-to-use interface.
• The sign up. Getting a policy is usually a smooth, seamless process.
• The customer service. A lot of clients praise the rapid response to inquiries, especially via the online chat function.

What people don’t like:

• The customer service. There’s a bit of a mixed experience when it comes to getting in touch with the Insured Nomads team, particularly with regards to policy questions and other non-emergency issues.
• The lack of clarity on coverage. A handful of reviewers have noted that they needed assistance to clarify the details of their policy and how to claim.

Who Should & Shouldn’t Use Insured Nomads?

• Recommended for → Long-term expats, nomads taking multiple short trips
• Not ideal for → Budget-conscious travelers, people with pre-existing conditions

Final Verdict: Is Insured Nomads Worth It?

One of the core things that makes Insured Nomads attractive is that its policies are designed from the ground up to appeal to digital nomads. The digital payment card is also a nice feature, which provides a degree of reassurance that you’re not going to be left out of pocket.

On the downside, their prices are quite punchy, especially for health coverage. As a young company it’s also quite clear that there are a few kinks in their processes and policies that need to be worked out in terms of making it easier for customers to understand and act.

Cheaper options like SafetyWing and World Nomads exist, and there are certainly more experienced businesses in the market like Allianz.

However, it’s still worth checking out Insured Nomads, as it is possible to get a good deal if you can be bothered to spend the time fiddling about with deductibles and the amount of geographical coverage.

Sign up for Insured Nomads.