Hey guys, I’ve finally started writing an article about how to deal with insurance as a digital nomad (both travel and health ).
I’ve personally used a mix of traditional travel insurance providers (such as WorldNomads), credit card coverage, worldwide primary health insurance for expats, and now I’m using a new provider that I can tell you more about in a few days.
But to make the article as good as possible, I’d love to hear how you all are dealing with insurance!
So what travel and health insurance do you use, and why?
I’ll be paying attention to the answers to this because I currently have no health insurance. I’ve been a perpetual traveller in Europe for 5 years, with no permanent address. My British EHIC expired after 6 months, I can’t get travel insurance because my journey is longer than 1 year, and I can’t register for national insurance (currently in France) because I have no proof of address since I’m not the homeowner so don’t pay any bills. I looked at Bupa etc but they all quote me around €3,000 per year when I’m thinking more like €500. I want to do it legitimately because it would be a nightmare to be refused medical treatment because I gave a dodgy address.
Hey @pbm, as long as you get insurance with a high deductible it’s definitely possible to hit that €500 mark. While they are probably not the best provider out there, IMG is definitely cheap. For about $500 you can get Worldwide coverage (including the US) with a $2500 yearly deductible ($5000 in the US). And it definitely beats no insurance!
Perfect timing! I definitely need one before march and was about to post about this topic here. Unfortunately I can’t contribute anything, but really looking forward to the article!
Thanks for the advice Thomas! I don’t know why I was wary of raising my deductible before, it makes sense, I’m happy to pay a few thousand, so IMG looks perfect.
Can’t think of a particular question right now, but I need an insurance starting March 1st. Will you publish the article in time or should I go find one myself?
ETA is this week or next Hopefully towards the lower end of that. If I still haven’t published it in two weeks, just DM me and I’ll share my current draft!
It took a lot longer than I imagined to finish it, mostly due to a lot of traveling this year. Plus it’s a 5000 word article that required tons of research to get right, so it all added up.
I’ll see if I can finish the one dealing with long term primary health insurance soon, but I have a couple posts I’ll probably try to finish up before then.
What’s your insurance setup while traveling? - I’ve used travel insurance for students/new researchers while living in Germany
Are you still covered for health care in your home country? - Yes (I have a public insurance in my home country)
Have you ever had to make claims? What was your experience with the particular provider? - Yes, it was easy. The only drawback was that it took quite a lot of time to get the money reimbursed (about 2 months)
Have you used BrokerFish? Do you think they are trustworthy and unbiased? - No
Have you had issues getting coverage due to age or pre-existing conditions? If so, did you find a good solution? - No
Do you have any experience dealing with prescriptions while traveling full-time? How does that work? - As far as I know, there is no EU or global form for prescriptions, so I just buy medicine in advance, when I am in my home country. Some of my friends have arranged that their parents get the prescription and buy the medicine while they are away and send it with friends travelling etc. as it is the only way to get medicine, which costs are partly compensated by the state.
Have you tried to get compensation from airlines for lost luggage (in case you don’t have travel insurance covering the loss? - Yes, I did it once with Lufthansa and they covered even more expenses than it was stated in their regulation. Got new clothes and some cosmetics
Any other tips, tricks or learnings you think would be valuable for a wider audience?
[/quote] - always check the rules of the country you live in, maybe the public health system covers more services for non-citizens than you think, especially if you get the social security number of the country
If you’re relocating to another country within the EU, you can apply for the S1 form. It is a certificate of entitlement to healthcare if you don’t live in the country where you are insured. You should ask this from your health insurance authority and submit to any health insurance authority in the country where you live.
More information here: Health insurance cover in your host country - Your Europe
That’s another good point, @Graham! I checked it regarding Greece. I can actually get Greek public health insurance if I bring S1 form from my home country and register it in Greek IKA National insurance. Thanks!
Thanks for the thorough reviews @tkrunning! Really helpful article.
One thing I’m still confused on [as a US citizen] is primary health insurance: If I am planning on traveling abroad for a long-time, is all I need is travel health insurance (SafetyWing)? Or do I need primary home-country health insurance + travel health insurance (SafetyWing)?
You’d either need primary health coverage through a plan in the US, or through an international “expat health insurance”. If you opt for the latter, note that most such plans don’t qualify as “minimum essential coverage” (MEC) under the Affordable Care Act. But if you spend more than 330 days abroad/year, you are not required to maintain such coverage.
If you are required to maintain MEC, but don’t, you pay a tax penalty. For more information, click here.
I consider travel risk and insurance because insurance premium contains not only claim, internal reserves, loading (big building, good salary, reserve fund for retirement etc), tax minus yield of investment. You must not support rich CEO, if you have enough money.
For your keeping money in your pocket, you had better reduce your risk, your health and risk of destination. I refer these web site: Destinations | Travelers' Health | CDC
and Risk Outlook 2023 | Five Predictions | International SOS
for vactination schedule Travel vaccinations - NHS
Certain army web contains good information for the strategy of avoiding risks.
ok here’s my review of ACS. I have Globe Traveller insurance with that company. I wanted to make a claim and try to contact them through 1. their website form 2. their email 3. their Facebook page 4. their Instagram. Couple of days passed and still zero response. And the only phone number on the website is French so hardly useful for people abroad. THIS IS GLOBAL TRAVEL INSURANCE! should be available 24/7 in case of emergency but they dont reply AT ALL. imagine u have an accident abroad. with them you will be on your own because they dont even respond to anything. Im not even sure if its a legit company maybe its just one guy charging people for fake service, who knows.
and health 
).
Hopefully towards the lower end of that. If I still haven’t published it in two weeks, just DM me and I’ll share my current draft! 
Check it out here: