You want to know all about World Nomads vs Safetywing Travel Insurance? Do you have a nomadic lifestyle or do you enjoy long-term travels? Have you ever had to cancel your flight or holiday, but did not have travel insurance? This review, where I compare two travel insurances, World Nomads vs SafetyWing, is something for you.
Being born and raised in the Netherlands with Portuguese roots I not only travel to Portugal, but like to travel around the world too. The security of having it all covered during my travel is for me a reassurance while hiking, traveling and going on adventure.
In this review I will make a comparison between the two based on their insurance policy. Both Travel Insurance companies can be requested online.
With this 2022 review of the World Nomads vs SafetyWing Travel Insurance for nomads and travelers, it is my goal to inform you with all the important details you need to know. After all, you want to enjoy your travels and be reassured while doing so, that the necessary is covered.
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Why should we buy travel insurance?
Often travel insurance is seen by a lot of people as an unnecessary expense. But how would you feel when you need to cancel your holiday abruptly or when you need to cancel your flight.
Having a good travel insurance plan with an insurance company like World Nomads or SafetyWing can give you reassurance while you travel. With the many travel insurance companies around the world, it is often a challenge to choose the best insurance option for your travel.
When choosing and making a decision which travel insurance companies match your needs, it is best to consider your needs with those the insurance can offer with the insurance plans.
If you want to endeavour on an adventure around the world, traveling over sea, visiting different continents around the word and having the reassurance that all is covered. That all your health, travel plans or belongings are covered. Then read along this comparison review between World Nomads vs SafetyWing to find the right match for you.
Note: Before you buy a travel insurance plan, validate if you already have coverage through a premium travel credit card. If you do have coverage through a travel credit card premium, then please validate if the travel insurance plan is covering all your travel needs.
Why is travel insurance so expensive?
For some people travel insurance is more expensive than the amount you paid for the travel holiday in itself. But keep in mind that when you are having travel insurance, you are not only insuring yourself, but also your holiday.
Most travel insurances include medical insurance cover while you are on your trip abroad. The insurance protects you from the risk of the surprise of large medical bills, while you require urgent medical treatment.
Travel insurance provides medical insurance cover whilst you are away. Protecting you from the risk of incurring large medical bills if you require emergency medical treatment.
Therefore the cost of travel insurance is related to the likelihood of you needing medical treatment and the potential costs.
Three factors which affect the costs of your travel medical insurance are:
- Your medical history. And therefore the likelihood that you will require medical treatment abroad.
- The cost of medical treatment in the country you are traveling to
- The period of time you are staging abroad.
Is it too late to purchase travel insurance?
So what happens when you are abroad and still want to purchase a travel medical insurance. Does travel insurance cover you if you change your mind? Both SafetyWing and World Nomad have the possibility to buy travel insurance before or after you leave.
Keep in mind that purchasing a travel insurance plan might have a waiting period. If you’re not sure if a waiting period exists, you can always give a call to the insurance company or its 24/7 travel assistance hotline.
Can you get travel insurance during Covid?
Both SafetyWing and World Nomad can provide coverages for your medical bills and repatriation in the event you get ill with COVID-19 while traveling abroad.
How do I find the right travel insurance?
A Travel Insurance covers trip costs that are paid and not fully refundable in the event you have to abruptly cancel. So before purchasing a travel medical insurance plan, consider your trip costs. This can be done by adding up all costs that are non-refundable to determine the insurable amount.
Often travelers will insure their whole holiday, including flights, hotel stays and more. But did you know that some of these are refundable? It’s important to be aware that a travel medical insurance will only cover pre-paid and non-refundable bookings and arrangements. Therefore you only receive the money that you lost.
World Nomads vs SafetyWing
In this time and age, if you are a digital nomad or long-term traveler, it is easy to buy the right travel insurance that fits your needs.
SafetyWings and World Nomads created the opportunity to have more affordable travel medical insurance than most insurance companies and their insurance plans. Since their many focus are digital nomads and long-term travelers, it means that you can spend less money on your insurance policy and more on your travels!
Their insurance products are flexible and perfectly match the needs of a long-term traveler or digital nomad. The affordable pricing is crucial in this heavy competitive market.
Both insurance companies are available for travelers all over the world and covering hundreds of countries.
Why do I compare World Nomads and SafetyWing:
- The insurance companies are operating online and have their focus on digital nomads and long-term travelers.
- They are affordable, flexibil when your situation changes and cover your travel and medical needs along the way.
- Both insurance companies have the possibility to keep on extending you travel policy whenever you decide to keep on traveling
- You can sign up for travel insurance when you are already traveling abroad.
- Although both insurance companies do need a home address, it is not required to be there since the registration is online.
By now you should have a general view on both SafetyWing and World Nomads. Let’s start on the comparison between the two World Nomads vs SafetyWing Travel Insurance for nomads review 2022. The review in itself will have it’s main focus on the nomad insurance from SafetyWing and the standard and explorer plans of World Nomads.
Review Insurance – World Nomads
As SafetyWing, World Nomads is an insurance for travelers like backpackers, long-term travelers, but also digital nomads who work as freelancers abroad.
World Nomads has tow packages:
- Standard plan
- Explorer plan*
* The explorer plan is the more expensive of the two and offers more coverage.
What does World Nomads offer?
In both Insurance plans of the World Nomads insurance company the following will be covered
- Any costs associated with death abroad
- Medical repatriation
- Unrest repatriation
- Urgent medical care
- Urgent dental care
- Lost luggage
- Cancelled travel plans
What’s not covered by World Nomads?
Like most insurances, pre-existing medical conditions are not being covered. But you are also not being covered in the following cases:
- When you are on drugs or have been drinking alcohol excessively
- When you are doing an activity not covered by the policy
- When you have been acting illegally
- When your Personal baggage is stolen from an unattended vehicle between 9pm and 9am
- When you don’t report the loss to the police and appropriate carrier or authority within 24 hours of the loss being discovered
Of course there are many more reasons than can be found on their site.
How much will a World Nomads insurance cost?
The quote of the insurance at World Nomads depends on a few factors. The insurance quote is calculated based on the period for which the insurance policy is covered, your travel location, your age and the place of your residence.
A quote can be calculated on their website.
The advantages of World Nomads
The advantages of the World Nomads Insurance covers a lot of activities that most insurers will not cover. Examples of these are: scuba diving, rock climbing and skydiving.
When you sign up for the Explorer plan the coverage for emergency medical evacuation is $500,000. In the event of non-medical emergency evacuations, like natural disaster or political or security situations the insurance policy covers up to $25,000.
Like SafetyWing, World Nomads has 24/7 travel assistance support. The biggest advantage of the policy insurance is that you can go abroad for the period that you want.
The disadvantage of World Nomads
There are a couple of disadvantages with the insurance policy at World Nomads. The insurance is expensive compared to SafetyWing. In addition they don’t cover you when you’re in your own country of residence, which is the case with the SafetyWing insurance.
In addition there is no option to purchase a “cancel for any reason” coverage and if you are 70 or older, you will have to purchase coverage at their partner company called TripAssure.
Other insurance companies might have higher policy limits, but chances are that they do not cover dangerous activities like rock climbing.
My opinion
For those travelers who have an urge for adventure and want to do activities like skydiving and mountain biking should take a look at the Wold Nomads Standaard and Explorer plans. Where most travel insurance companies won’t insure these higher risk activities, World Nomads covers more than 200 of these.
Review Insurance – SafetyWing
Like mentioned before SafetyWing has medical and travel insurance for digital nomads and long-term travelers. The three products of SafetyWings are defined as the following:
Travel & Medical insurance
- Nomad Insurance (for nomads)
Health insurance
- Remote Health (for nomads)
- Remote Health (for company startups)
What does SafetyWing offer?
Though SafetyWing has multiple products, this travel medical insurance review only focuses, and therefore contains information, on the Nomad Insurance product.
The travel insurance for digital nomads and long-term travelers contains the following coverages:
- Medical Emergencies and Treatments
- All Medical Expenses
- Dental Emergencies
- Boards and Hospital Rooms
- Transportation of your Family Member in Case You Have to Stay longer in a Hospital.
- Evacuation in Case of a Terrorist Activity
- Evacuation for Medical Emergencies
- Accommodation for Natural Disasters
- Lost Luggage Check
- Interruption of Trips
- Delay in Travel
- A Wide Range of Sport Activities
What’s not covered by SafetyWing?
It’s always important to validate all the coverages in advance, including all that is not being covered on the travel medical insurance. For a full description I can refer to the SafetyWing description of coverages.
Below we are going to discuss what limitations are present in the policies of SafetyWing .
- Lost or Stolen Electronics: SafetyWing Travel Medical Insurance will not provide coverage for lost or stolen electronics. For those of you traveling with electrical equipment this insurance might not be for you. Electronics like cameras, laptops, or any other electrical equipment is therefore not covered. Where other insurance companies can add additional coverage, SafetyWing does not have the possibility to add a separate coverage. It only provides coverage for luggage that was checked and got lost during the transit. The coverage in itself is not much and is limited to a maximum amount of $500 per item.
- Pre-Existing and chronic conditions: SafetyWing will not cover any pre-existing chronic conditions, but it will cover all the acute beginning of your condition that is pre-existing.
- Coverage for Rental Cars and Cancellations: If you have changed plans and decided to cancel your hotel bookings or tour, SafetyWing does not cover any reimbursement. Since a digital nomad or long-term traveler often stays for a longer period of time in one place, it doesn’t make that much of a difference. In the event you do rent a car for a road trip, it is advised to have separate insurance for rental cars.
How much will a SafetyWing insurance cost?
Prices for the SafetyWing Nomad Insurance costs are excluding travel in the US and are base on four weeks/28 days of coverage.
Below an overview of the price range:
- For travelers aged between 10 to 39 pay $42.00
- For travelers aged between 40 to 49 pay $68.04
- For travelers aged between 50 to 59 pay $106.68,
- For travelers aged between 60 and 69 pay $144.76
The advantages of SafetyWing Nomad Insurance
The advantages of the Nomad Insurance Product of the SafetyWing Insurance Company is that it is affordable and has a completely comprehensive and convenient policy. It’s an insurance policy with no hidden charges.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance covers almost the entire world and has a flexible policy agreement where you can extend it at any time.
At the moment of writing the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be over. Nevertheless the Nomad Insurance covers the Coronavirus pandemic.
SafetyWing will automatically deduct the premium from your account each month and in the event you need any help SafetyWing Nomad Insurance support is available 24/7.
The disadvantages of SafetyWing Nomad Insurance
The disadvantages of the travel medical insurance is the basic coverage. The greatest disadvantage for some are the lack of stolen or lost electrons coverage. It also does not cover for any pre-existing medical or mental conditions or STDs.
In addition, the plan costs doubles and triples as you get older.
My opinion
The Nomad Insurance of SafetyWing is a simple but for most of us effective policy specifically designed for digital nomads and long-term travelers. Your destination doesn’t really matter or how long you are planning to travel.
As a bonus SafetyWing also offers some coverage in the event you’re returning home for a temporary travel break. To those who travel endlessly and to not bother having an insurance policy in their own country, the Nomad Insurance of SafetyWing provides the needed coverage.
Conclusion and final advice
Before you decide which insurance policy you want, you need to think about the things you want to be covered for. SafetyWing and World Nomads both have great customer service and based on the coverage you need you can consider both of them.
Since World Nomads covers the more dangerous activities it focuses more on the backpackers and long-term travelers. SafetyWing which is cheaper, but therefore also covers less might match the needs of a freelance or digital nomads. In the end budget and needs need to be considered in its totality.
Ensure that you travel safe no matter which insurance you choose.
Bruno
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you click on them, at no additional cost to you. Hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.
