As frequent global travelers, the Round The World Magazine team and our travel resources hub is certainly a good place to start if you are looking for advice on finding travel insurance for backpackers.
We have found a fantastic company that provides the most flexible and straightforward global remote health insurance for remote workers and nomads. They’re called SafetyWing. Travelers can even take up a new insurance policy with them whilst outside of your home country.
Our team has visited, on average, around twelve countries a year for the past six years. 2020 was a different story though, as it likely was for us all!
We found ourselves in a predicament during the COVID-19 pandemic and ended up ‘stranded’ in British Columbia, Canada, for the best part of nine months, and what a beautiful inconvenience it turned out to be (check our Instagram page for our COVID story).
We found ourselves in a travel dilemma as our existing travel insurance policy was due to expire while we were away. After we had made the decision to stay in Canada long-term during the pandemic, our policy would not allow us to extend unless we went back to our home country, the UK.
We combed the internet looking for a travel insurance provider who could cover us with a new policy while we were already abroad. After many phone calls and endless searching, we stumbled on SafetyWing, a pay-monthly travel insurance provider that specializes in cover for digital nomads.
During most of our past adventures, we always found travel insurance to be somewhat of a burden. It was hard to acquire an annual policy as many providers only offered three 90-day trips abroad each year and some restricted us on how many times we would be able to visit home. This never fully suited us as we live our wandering lives spontaneously.
Many other travel insurance brokers would not cover trips that were over 12 months in duration outside of our home country.
One of the biggest challenges in our recent jaunts was finding travel insurance suitable for a working holiday visa that was longer than one year. As UK citizens, we were advised by the Canadian Government that we were allowed to have a visa for up to two years as long as we had the same amount of travel insurance.
Finding SafetyWing came as a blessing, they had answers to all of our problems and suited our flexible needs as ever-wandering nomads. SafetyWing is a revolutionary travel insurance provider that is part of a digital boom in flexible online services that were previously not available to customers around the world.
As soon as our travel insurance policy expired, we signed up for coverage with SafetyWing. Here are all of the details from our experience.
What is SafetyWing?
SafetyWing prides itself on being ‘Insurance for Nomads’, providing travel medical insurance that covers people from all over the world, while outside their home country, and COVID-19 coverage is included.
Their slogan ‘SafetyWing is your home country on the internet’ certainly appeals to us, as long-term travelers who roam as often as we can.
On their ‘About page‘, SafetyWing announces that they are ‘here to remove the role of geographical borders as a barrier to equal opportunities and freedom for everyone’. It’s a dream for backpackers and people working abroad on temporary visas because you can sign up for a new policy whilst out of your home country, unlike many other companies who don’t let you get a new policy unless you are currently in your home country.
SafetyWing’s products are built and designed by a fully remote team of nomads who are distributed across three continents.
The company was founded to support nomads like ourselves by building an adaptable software-based safety net for everyone in the world.
What Insurance Policies do SafetyWing offer?
Safety Wing refers to their travel insurance policies as ‘products’ and they consist of three types of cover:
Nomad Insurance
SafetyWing’s ‘Nomad Insurance‘ is designed for travel and medical incidents. This policy is built specifically for digital nomads.
The ‘Nomad Insurance’ can be purchased while already abroad and it covers home trip visits and operates like a monthly subscription.
Remote Health (Teams)
The Remote Health (Teams) insurance policy is a fully-fledged health insurance policy for remote teams and entrepreneurs.
The Remote Health policy with SafetyWing gives global companies a truly flexible solution that no other insurance company offers.
Remote Health (Individual)
Another Remote Health (Individual) policy is designed for full-time nomads. It consists of comprehensive health insurance that works in any country. The policy covers everything you might need to stay safe abroad — no matter how long you stay or where you go.
Our Nomad Insurance Policy experience
We purchased the Nomad Insurance Policy while we were abroad, the flat monthly rate was $40.04 USD per person per 4 weeks and this would have been more expensive if we added the United States into our travel plans.
The Nomad Insurance Policy included (but is not limited to) the following coverage*:
Medical Coverage
- Hospital – Room and nursing services, Intensive care (Up to the overall maximum limit)
- Ambulance – Usual, reasonable, and customary charges when covered illness or injury results in hospitalization
- Physical therapy and chiropractic care – Up to $50 per day. Must be ordered in advance by a physician.
- Emergency dental – Up to $1,000. Not subject to deductible.
Notable exclusions – High-risk sports activity, Pre-existing disease or injury, Cancer treatment
Travel Incidents
- Trip interruption – Up to $5,000. No deductible
- Travel delay – Up to $100 a day after a 12-hour delay period requiring an unplanned overnight stay. Subject to a maximum of 2 days. No deductible
- Lost checked luggage* – Up to $3,000 per certificate period; $500 per item. Up to $6,000 lifetime limit. No deductible.
- Natural disaster — a new place to stay (up to $100 a day for 5 days. No deductible)
- Political evacuation – Up to $10,000 lifetime maximum. Not subject to deductible
- Emergency medical evacuation – Up to $100,000 lifetime maximum. Not subject to deductible or overall maximum limit.
Notable exclusions are electronics such as phones, laptops, cameras are not covered
* Read the full coverage of each policy on SafetyWing’s website.
Minimum and maximum coverage duration
There is no maximum coverage period until the customer reaches the age of 69. The minimum policy period is 5 days.
Please check with SafetyWing direct for the most up-to-date information.
How much does a SafetyWing policy cost?
We paid $40.04 USD per person for four weeks of coverage within Canada. You can visit SafetyWing’s online price calculator for an accurate valuation of a trip.
Buying a SafetyWing policy
Acquiring travel insurance with SafetyWing can be done online and it’s super easy. Once you have fully read and understood the Description of Coverage, you’ll receive an email with details of how to log on to the customer portal.
It is here where you will find your policy, details on how to claim or amend a policy, and how to make a claim or speak to a SafetyWing advisor.
What countries am I able to visit on a SafetyWing policy?
SafetyWing customers are covered for travel anywhere in the world outside of your home country, with the exception of *Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.
What do SafetyWing cover and exclude in their policies?
For a complete list of what SafetyWing include and exclude from their travel insurance policies, see their Description of Coverage PDF.
Does SafetyWing offer companion insurance for groups/families?
Yes, when customers buy a policy with SafetyWing, they can also buy insurance for a friend, family, or group member.
If you are traveling with children, one child older than 14 days, but less than 10 years old, per adult, they will be included in the insurance without added cost (otherwise, family and group members pay the regular price).
Also, note that there’s a maximum of 2 children per group/family that are included without added cost. Just remember to add them as a group member to the policy when signing up.
Extending the Nomad Insurance Policy while abroad
It is possible to extend the SafetyWing policy while abroad by means of a monthly subscription. Customers are billed every month until it is manually canceled or an end date is set when purchasing or while the policy is active.
This is a great option, as most other providers of travel insurance for backpackers won’t extend whilst you are out of your home country.
Can customers buy a new SafetyWing policy from anywhere in the world?
Yes, SafetyWing Insurance is available to anyone from any home country in the world, unless your home country is Iran, North Korea, or Cuba (or have Cuba as your citizenship).
What about Winter Sports or other physical activities?
With the Nomad Insurance policy, there is no option to add additional activities coverage, however, the policy already covers a large number of sports/activities.
Take a look on Page 25 of the policy for the full list of what’s covered: https://safetywing.com/nomad-insurance/description-of-coverage.pdf
Does the policy cover theft/accidental damage to property
No, the policy only covers health insurance without any public liability.
How do I make a claim on my SafetyWing policy>
Claims are made by filling out a claims form and uploading it together with photos or screenshots of receipts to Tokio Marine’s online portal.
You can read the full instructions on SafetyWing’s claims page (after logging in to your SafetyWing account to access this page).
Conclusion
Our experience with SafetyWing was simple and clean. We encountered no issues with communication nor understanding what we were covered for. The SafetyWing website is very easy to navigate, and everything is explained in a non-complicated fashion.
The SafetyWing team is available 24/7 via online chat for any queries and they also have an emergency telephone number that can be reached via Skype. This is amazing for travelers who wish to avoid expensive cellular charges.
They really have ticked the box for every aspect of health insurance which is the most important coverage to wish for. We do hope to see an extension of their policy that will cover valuables such as electronics which are essential to digital nomads.
We have never found a travel insurance policy quite like this one that suits the needs of backpackers, remote workers, and those with working holiday visas.
We are proud and grateful to be a part of the SafetyWing community and we will continue to purchase our travel health insurance with them.
Explore SafetyWing
SafetyWing has a very cool feature on their website that shows each staff member’s location on an interactive map. It’s very open and public and they have an accessible list of social media accounts including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Medium, and Reddit.
Visit the SafetyWing website for the best travel insurance for nomads.
You can also listen to SafetyWing’s Podcast ‘Building Remotely‘ to hear discussion on how to build a remote company.
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