Everything You Need to Know to Get the Best Possible Travel Insurance
A guide for both short and long-term travelers, nomads and non-nomads alike. Plus, is Genki's revamped plan any good?
This article contains affiliate links where we may earn a commission from purchases.
Yes, it’s time for another article about health insurance for travelers.
Look, do you think I like writing all these articles about travel insurance? Do you? DO YOU?
Actually, I kinda do, because, being nomads, I have to figure all this stuff out for Michael and me anyway, and this lets me really get down into the weeds.
What I don’t like is that travel insurance companies keep completely changing their products!
But hey, I have to keep track of all this for the two of us, so I’m happy to help you keep track of it too.
Incidentally, this is the first article I’ve written that also deals with travel insurance for short-term travelers — not just us nomads.
Oh, and here’s my usual caveat: I’m not an insurance expert — I’m just a guy on the internet. But I’m a traveler who uses these products, and I’ve been following this subject closely.
Five Important Facts
Here are five important facts about international healthcare that have a profound impact on the entire travel insurance industry:
Medical costs are insanely expensive in the United States, completely unlike the rest of the world, and these costs are also hard to pin down; it’s essentially impossible to know how much anything will really cost. As a result, insurance coverage in America costs travelers much more than everywhere else — often double the price, and it may be more limited coverage too. Other “expensive” countries, like Canada and Singapore, may also require a rider to be included in a “worldwide” policy.
Medical costs are much lower outside of the United States — as in, anywhere from one-fifth to one-tenth as much, in my experience. Also, it’s much easier to get a straightforward answer about costs. (That said, in certain countries, scams do exist.)
All this said, one thing that is outrageously expensive almost everywhere in the world is “medical evacuation” coverage — transportation to the necessary medical facility and, if necessary, back to your home-country for continued treatment and rehabilitation; if this transportation involves a helicopter, it can cost as much as $500,000 USD.
Even if you have health insurance, you’re probably not covered for trips outside your home-country.
In the world of international healthcare, pre-existing conditions do exist; all major international healthcare policies are regulated in the country of issuance, but the ACA/Obamacare is the result of American law, and no international healthcare policy is ACA/Obamacare-compliant.
Key Takeaway: Except in the case of major mishaps, medical costs while traveling aren’t ever that expensive outside of America. But I would never travel to America without good coverage, and I would never travel anywhere without robust medical evacuation coverage.
What Kind of Insurance Do You Need: Travel Insurance or Full International Health Insurance?
There are two kinds of health insurance for travelers. They are:
Travel Insurance, which is a temporary, term-limited policy that covers you outside your home-country. It pays only for emergencies and “medically necessary” treatments — and, hopefully, for medical evacuation. Such a policy is typically purchased in addition to more comprehensive coverage in your home-country, where you would go if you have a serious or chronic illness.
Full International Health Insurance, sometimes called “expatriate” or “long-term international” insurance, which is full coverage outside your home-country, covering even non-emergency care, and it’s not term-limited, continuing as long as you pay the premiums; these policies typically replace any other coverage you may have. You may also have partial or complete coverage in your home-country, but if you’re an American (or maybe a Canadian) and you want home-country coverage, you’ll have to pay for an expensive rider.
Companies that offer “full” coverage include Cigna, Allianz, IMG Global Medical Insurance (GMI), Genki, and SafetyWing — the last two offering coverage specifically for nomads. SafetyWing, for example, calls their plan Nomad Insurance Complete, and it covers ongoing health care, including checkups, mental health, and cancer and maternity care (and also includes some travel protections, such as lodging cancellation, burglary, delayed luggage, and more).
But this article primarily focuses on the first type of insurance: travel insurance.
I’m mentioning full international health insurance because many long-term travelers decide that if they have travel insurance, they don’t need a more expensive “full” plan.
They think: “I’m young and healthy, and I only want insurance for emergencies anyway. So I’ll just use cheaper ‘travel insurance’ for my international health care needs — until I’m done traveling, and I return home and reapply for full insurance there.”
But this is a terrible idea. Travel insurance always has a limited duration, and if you come down with a serious or chronic illness, that duration will eventually expire, and then you’ll have a major “pre-existing condition,” making it essentially impossible for you to get coverage anywhere else.
And remember: the whole point of insurance is to protect you in case of disaster — even unlikely disasters like cancer.
Also, regarding the ACA/Obamacare, don’t think you can unenroll, leave the country to travel, and then return home to reapply for “full” insurance even with a pre-existing condition. You might think that your travel is a “move” that counts as a “qualifying life event” that would allow you to reapply for coverage outside of the ACA’s November enrollment period.
But this is not true. If you didn’t legally establish residency in another country, then you still have an American address: the one you use to file your taxes. If that’s the case, then technically, you never moved.
You could theoretically return home and immediately move to another state, which is a “qualifying life event,” and then you may be eligible for re-enrollment at any time of the year. But that’s a fairly major hassle, and in the meantime, you’ll still be completely uninsured.
All this said, if you’re an American (or you come from a country with nationalized healthcare), there is a very affordable way to buy only travel insurance and still be fully covered. More on this, below.
Key Takeaway: Emergency coverage is important, but coverage for both medical evacuation and long-term chronic care is absolutely essential; if you’re missing either one of these things, you’re putting yourself in a very vulnerable position.
What Exactly Does Travel Insurance Cover?
Travel insurance covers, yes, Emergency Medical coverage while you’re away from home (ideally, at least $100,000 USD). And it also almost always includes Emergency Evacuation coverage (ideally, at least $500,000 USD).
In my opinion, these are the essential parts of travel insurance, because they keep you from racking up a huge debt and possibly bankruptcy.
Also — a key feature that many people forget — many travel insurance plans include an “online medical assistance” option, to answer medical questions and also direct you to local care; sometimes it’s a paid add-on, but the cost is minor, and I think this kind of thing is always worth the money.
But many policies also offer coverage for the following issues:
Trip Delay, Interruption, or Cancellation: These coverages reimburse you if your trip is impacted due to health issues, travel mishaps, or the death of a family member.
Theft and Loss: This covers theft, or the loss or delay of luggage being delivered. If you have expensive electronics, jewelry, or a camera, you’ll likely need to purchase separate coverage.
I prefer travel insurance companies that allow you to select and customize the features you need.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when deciding exactly what you want:
Travel mishaps are rare: Michael and I have been traveling full-time for eight years, and we’ve had mishaps happen exactly twice — and one of these events, when our plane caught on fire, was fully covered by the airline.
Most travel insurance policies are very strict, requiring clear proof for reimbursement and covering only very specific things. For example, they’ll only cover you for the death or major illness of an immediate family member, not a mere friend, and you’ll need a doctor to sign off on the claim; they also probably won’t cover you for your own screw-ups.
You can dramatically lower the cost of travel insurance by setting your “total trip cost” at $0 (or whatever the company’s minimum is). Yes, you will lose coverage for Interruption or Cancellation, but Emergency Medical and Emergency Evacuation are the important coverages anyway. You can also lower your costs by choosing a higher deductible.
“Cancel For Any Reason” policies are very expensive, and usually only reimburse 75% or so of your total costs; I think they’re a terrible value and never worth it. If you’re that uncertain about a trip, book everything refundable, even if it costs a bit more.
If you travel internationally, you’ll need a “travel” credit card to avoid international transaction fees, and most of these cards include some fairly decent Delay and Interruption coverage (but not Cancellation), and maybe even some minor Emergency Medical coverage too. But remember: you need to charge all travel costs to that card. (For travel credit cards, we recommend United Gateway or Explorer or Capital One — and with those links, you’ll get 100,000 free frequent flier miles or points, and also a $100 credit.)
Most travel insurance requires you to pay for care yourself, then submit a claim for reimbursement after-the-fact. Even so, if you require treatment, you should always check in with your insurance provider as soon as possible (preferably before treatment, to find out exactly what you need to do to make a claim). Then save all receipts, and also ask the hospital for a “statement of care,” describing your treatment in detail.
Key Takeaway: When it comes to travel insurance, it’s all about those all-important Emergency Medical and Emergency Evacuation coverages. The rest is mostly for peace of mind.
There Are Two Different Kinds of “Travel” Insurance: Traditional Travel Insurance is for Short-Term Travel
All travel insurance is time-limited. Some policies max out at three months, but others have terms of up to nine months or even a year. After that, you have to buy a new policy — and anything that happened during the previous policy will be, yes, a “pre-existing condition” and not covered.
To minimize fraud, most travel insurance companies also require that you purchase the insurance before you leave home, declaring in advance exactly how long you’ll be gone; if the dates of your trip change, you’ll need to adjust this with the company.
All policies also have restrictions on where exactly you’ll be covered.
Most travel insurance policies cover anywhere in the world (excluding expensive countries like the U.S. and perhaps Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong, which can require add-ons).
In other words, if the first country you’re visiting is Spain, you’re also probably covered if you go on to Italy.
But some companies also require that you declare in advance where you’re going (and if there isn’t room on the application to list all the countries you know you’re visiting, I wouldn’t buy this policy).
What happens if your itinerary shifts, and you end up visiting a country that you didn’t list? This is a question to ask the chat-support feature of any policy you’re considering buying — and always keep a copy of their answer.
Oh, and keep in mind that many policies are also immediately void if you temporarily return home or maybe even pass within 100 miles of your home address.
Key Takeaway: If you know how long you’ll be traveling and if you have a pretty good idea where you’re going, you want “traditional” travel insurance. But policies and prices vary widely, so get lots of different quotes here, here, here, here, and here.
The Second Kind of Travel Insurance is for Nomads, and the Choice is More Limited: Genki vs. SafetyWing
A “digital nomad” is someone who travels continuously, and we don’t always know where we’re going to be in a month, much less three months from now.
Also, we nomads usually go home once a year or less, making it impossible for us to buy travel insurance before we “leave home.”
As a result, we typically don’t qualify for most traditional travel insurance.
Thankfully, an increasing number of companies now offer travel insurance policies — and sometimes “full” international health insurance — specifically for nomads. These policies are still time-limited, but they let you buy them even away from home, and they don’t require you to declare in advance where you’re going to travel.
There are approximately five companies that offer such insurance, but I recommend only two: Genki and Safety Wing.
In the past, I’ve strongly recommended Genki’s “Explorer” over SafetyWing’s “Nomad Essential Insurance.”
However, Genki has discontinued Explorer and replaced it with something called Genki Traveler. And both companies have recently raised their prices — significantly.
How do the two companies and their travel insurance products stack up now?
SafetyWing Nomad Essential Insurance charges its premium every 28 days (or 13 times a year), and Genki Traveler charges monthly (12 times a year, in euros). Making those adjustments, they’re very close in price. Winner: TIE
SafetyWing offers continuing subscription coverage for up to 364 days, but then you can immediately reapply for another term. Genki offers subscription coverage for up to a year, and you can also immediately reapply with no interruption in coverage. Winner: TIE
SafetyWing has a maximum annual medical coverage limit of $250,000 USD per year, while Genki pays up to €1,000,000 (approximately $1,167,428 USD) in emergency medical costs per year — but unlike SafetyWing, they also now require prior approval for “outpatient” costs over €1,000; they say this only applies in non-urgent cases (where you’re not immediately hospitalized), but I still don’t love it. Winner: GENKI
SafetyWing has a $100,000 “lifetime” limit for medical evacuation (which I think is way too low — by far, the biggest flaw in their plan), whereas Genki’s limit is included in their annual €1,000,000 maximum. In addition, Genki also has a much more liberal definition of “medical evacuation,” transporting you to the nearest hospital and all the way back to your home-country if you want (where your coverage immediately ends); SafetyWing will only transport you home (or to a better hospital) “if recommended by your physician.” SafetyWing will pay for a traditional airline ticket home, but not “medical evacuation.” Winner: GENKI BY A MILE
Genki has a deductible of €50 (approximately $58 USD) per incident, while SafetyWing has no deductible. Winner: SAFETYWING
SafetyWing covers you for visits to your home-country for visits of up to 30 days every 90 days, except for U.S. residents, where it’s 15 days; you also need to have had coverage for 90 days, and you can only visit your home-country from abroad, and if you make a claim, you need to submit proof you were going to leave home before your home-country coverage would have ended. Meanwhile, Genki covers you in your home-country for up to six weeks, assuming you’ve been out of that country for at least four weeks; this includes U.S. residents. Winner: GENKI BY FAR (at least for U.S. residents)
For both Genki and SafetyWing, coverage in America is available to non-Americans; however, it requires a costly add-on, which almost doubles the premium. Genki does provide seven days of limited coverage even without the add-on, and you can also add and drop the U.S. add-on on a monthly basis. But with SafetyWing, you must cancel your current coverage, get an entirely new policy with the U.S. add-on, and cancellation takes 24 hours and goes into effect immediately upon receiving a cancellation email. You could immediately sign up again, but you are not covered from the time you receive the email until you subscribe again. Winner: GENKI
Genki offers only emergency medical insurance, while SafetyWing also provides some traditional travel insurance protections: trip interruption ($5000 for a ticket home) and travel delay ($100 for up to two days); theft is available as a paid add-on. Winner: SAFETYWING — but barely: they’re offering very minor protections here, considerably less good than those available on any travel credit card.
Neither Genki Traveler nor SafetyWing Nomad Essential is available for individuals over the age of 69, although some other companies offer policies to this age group. Explore your options here, here, here, here, and here.
Key Takeaway: When it comes to nomad travel insurance, Genki Traveler is still probably better than SafetyWing Nomad Essential. Find out more at Genki and Safety Wing.
What Do I Recommend?
Michael and I used Genki’s previous travel insurance plan until last month when our policy expired. We’re currently on a temporary Patriot International travel insurance policy. In the future, we will return to Genki, subscribing to Traveler, or — upon visits home — will sometimes buy segments of traditional travel insurance, which is more affordable.
Wait. Didn’t I say before that long-term travelers need more than just a travel insurance policy?
Yes, but I also said there was a very affordable way to travel with just a travel insurance policy and still be fully covered.
Michael and I are Americans, and our income is low-ish, which means we qualify for a subsidized ACA/Obamacare policy back in the U.S.; we keep the cheapest possible policy, which is “Bronze,” and we only plan to use it in case of a very serious or chronic illness.
In other words, our Genki travel insurance policy provides international coverage and includes robust medical evacuation coverage, which we can use for transportation back to the U.S. in the event of a serious illness. Once there, we would be fully covered by our ACA/Obamacare policy (although it does have an insane $6000 deductible!).
For 2025, to be fully and generously covered all over the world, including the U.S., Michael and I will pay a total of $3,588 (or $299 a month for both of us). And that’s despite our being in our 60s!
If your income is low enough that you qualify for a subsidy, I think this is an extraordinarily good deal: almost certainly the best possible option for American nomads, especially if you’re looking to spend any significant time in the U.S.
If you’re a non-American nomad, and your country offers any kind of national healthcare, the same principle applies.
And this is also an option if you’re an American on Medicare (rather than the ACA/Obamacare), although travel insurance does become much more expensive — with stingier benefits — after the age of 69. Again, you can explore your options apart from Genki and SafetyWing here, here, here, here, and here.
Unfortunately, when it comes to ACA/Obamacare policies, all indications are that Trump and the Republicans plan to stop the “expanded” subsidies at the end of this year, which will increase the cost of an ACA policy by an average of 75%; instead, they will use the money to finance tax cuts for the ultra-rich.
Key Takeaway: If you’re an American and you qualify for an ACA/Obamacare subsidy, the combination of travel insurance with an ACA policy can be an insanely good deal, especially if you plan to spend much time in the United States.
Ready to Buy?
If you found this article helpful and you need travel insurance, we would very much appreciate your shopping through the following links. We recommend these companies and also receive small referral commissions:
Genki Traveler: Nomad travel insurance, still our top recommendation.
Safety Wing Nomad Essential: Nomad travel insurance, an alternative to Genki.
Faye Travel Insurance: Traditional travel insurance, a good, affordable plan for trips three months or less.
Heymondo: Traditional travel insurance, a good, affordable plan.
InsureMyTrip: Traditional travel insurance, a company aggregator, allowing you to compare different plans across different companies.
Squaremouth: Traditional travel insurance, a company aggregator, allowing you to compare different plans across different companies.
VisitorsCoverage: Traditional travel insurance, a company aggregator, allowing you to compare different plans across different companies.
For a travel credit card that includes some traditional travel insurance, consider United Gateway or Explorer or Capital One.
Also, if you’re not a paid subscriber to Brent and Michael Are Going Places, consider supporting our work and upgrading here:
How is Healthcare Different Outside the United States?
I Went to Istanbul for Medical Tourism! (But It Didn’t Go Exactly as I Expected)
Who Has the Best International Health Insurance: SafetyWing or Genki — or Someone Else Entirely?
Brent Hartinger is a screenwriter and author. Check out my new newsletter about my books and movies at www.BrentHartinger.com. And preorder my latest book, below.
The ACA subsidies increased during Covid are sunsetting at the end of this year, unless the government decides to fund them. This will not be happening after passage of their reconciliation bill. I will therefore fall off the cliff for subsidies in 2026. That will make coverage in the US unaffordable for me.
I also checked out the international medical policies and most/all will not cover my pre-existing conditions. And I think Safety Wing and Genki require underlying insurance coverage in your home country.
So that leaves Plan C, which is moving to another country. In this instance, France, which allows access to their healthcare plan starting at 90 days. I’ll have interim travel insurance coverage that meets France’s requirements that can then be cancelled when on the national plan.
My fingers are crossed it will all go well. Wish me luck!
Fantastic article. Perfect timing too. I was researching options and bingo, you just broke down the insurance quagmire into something managable. Thank you so much!