SafetyWing Strikes Back!
SafetyWing Strikes Back!
SafetyWing has improved their health insurance for travelers! So how do they stack up to Genki now?
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Update: See my most recent healthcare article here!
For several years, I’ve been writing about health care insurance for nomads, expats, and long-term travelers.
There are two kinds of health insurance for such folks:
Travel Insurance, which is a temporary, term-limited policy that covers you outside your home country, and which usually only pays for emergencies and “medically necessary” treatments — and also, hopefully, for emergency evacuation. This kind of insurance is usually purchased in addition to more comprehensive coverage in your home country, which is where you get your routine medical care.
Full International Health Insurance — sometimes called “expatriate” or “long-term international” insurance — which is comprehensive coverage outside your home country and is not term-limited and continues as long as you pay the premiums. These policies typically replace any other coverage you have.
When it comes to travel insurance, there are essentially only three companies that sell travel insurance of practical use to most long-term travelers:
SafetyWing, which calls their travel insurance “Nomad Insurance.”
Genki, which calls their travel insurance “Genki Explorer.”
And World Nomads, which I do not recommend.
When it comes to full international health insurance, travelers have many more options. But two of the above three companies — SafetyWing and Genki — now offer this kind of expanded policy too.
Genki calls this their “Genki Resident” plan.
SafetyWing calls it their “Nomad Health” plan.
Update (6/25/04): Genki has reconfigured their “full” plan, which is now called Genki Native. Genki Resident is still available for existing customers, but new customers must buy a different plan — details are here. It is similar to Genki Resident in many ways, but has new limitations.
Analyzing all these plans in previous articles, I came to the conclusion that while SafetyWing was a bit more affordable, Genki’s products were fundamentally better in both categories.
But in the months since I wrote those articles, an interesting thing happened: SafetyWing announced that they’ve improved their products.
Why now?
In the category of health insurance for long-term travelers, SafetyWing was the more “established” player (despite only being founded in 2018).
Meanwhile, Genki, founded in 2021, was the young upstart — which is, I think, why their products were so superior: they were trying to make a big, attention-getting splash and capture market share.
In short, the relationship between the two companies is not entirely unlike the Empire versus the Rebel Alliance in the Star Wars universe.
And I think the “Rebel Alliance” of Genki finally got the attention of the SafetyWing “Empire,” forcing them to strike back.
And who knows? Maybe pressure from journalists like yours truly helped too.
But the more important question is: which company now has the better products?
Below, I’ll look at each of SafetyWing’s improvements: first, in their travel insurance, then in their full international health insurance. I’ll also compare them to Genki’s existing products.
And at the end, I’ll let you know if I’ve changed my overall recommendations.
(The usual caveats apply: I’m not an “expert” on this topic — I’m just a guy on the internet who asks a lot of questions. Do your own due diligence! And ask a lot of your own questions — both Genki and SafetyWing have great “chat” features — then save a record of the answers they provide.)
Nomad Insurance 2.0 (SafetyWing’s Travel Insurance)
SafetyWing’s new travel insurance policy, which they’re calling Nomad Insurance 2.0, is currently available for everyone except Americans. But they promise it will be available for everyone everywhere very soon.
What’s changed?
A New $0 Deductible
Previously, Nomad Health had — and for Americans, still has — a $250 USD deductible per term. But with Nomad Health 2.0, there is no deductible.
How is this different from Genki?
Genki Explorer — Genki’s travel insurance plan — has always had the option of either no-deductible or 50-euro deductible per claim, which is a bit cheaper.
A Streamlined Claims Process
I know from personal experience, SafetyWing’s previous claims process was very cumbersome and frustrating. They say they’ve completely revamped the system, and they also now promise a turnaround of 7-10 business days.
How is this different from Genki?
Genki Explorer’s claims process couldn’t be simpler: you fill out a very basic online form and upload a receipt. But they do have a longer turnaround that SafetyWing’s Nomad Insurance: four weeks or so.
That said, with Genki Explorer, you have the option of using the AirDoctor app, which gives free online medical advice, and can also arrange a visit with a local doctor almost anywhere in the world, in which case all fees are paid directly from Genki — no claim-filing necessary.
(My sense is that Genki is more liberal on pay-outs in general, but this is purely anecdotal, based entirely on Michael’s and my own experience with both companies.)
SafetyWing tells me that, in emergencies, they can also arrange payment directly with doctors or hospitals. But when Michael and I were on Nomad Insurance, I found it impossible to find out beforehand which specific treatments were covered and which were not.
They repeatedly told me: “Get the care you need, submit the claims forms and paperwork, and then we’ll let you know if we’ll cover it.”
These days, SafetyWing tells me, “Your point about not being assured ahead of time that your claim will be paid out is totally valid. I will bring this to our team as a suggestion for improvement.”
Two New Add-ons
For Nomad Insurance 2.0, SafetyWing is now offering two optional add-ons — both for additional fees.
The first covers “extreme” sports, like parachuting, ski-flying, spelunking, and cave-diving. Injuries from more conventional sports — surfing, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, mountain biking, and hiking — are covered even without the add-on.
The seconds add-on covers theft of electronics like laptops, phones, and cameras. Even without the add-on, the policy has coverage for trip interruption or delay (but not cancellation), lost luggage, theft of non-electronics, and some personal liability.
How is this different from Genki?
Genki Explorer covers conventional sports injuries, but doesn’t offer an additional rider that covers “dangerous” activities. (Both Genki Resident and SafetyWing’s Nomad Health, their “full” policies, cover everything except “professional” sports.)
They also offer only health insurance and include no other coverages (though Genki tells me they’re discussing these options as add-ons).
What Hasn’t SafetyWing Changed That They Should?
In addition to the difficulty of finding out in advance if a specific ailment or treatment is covered, some of my other frustrations with SafetyWing Nomad Insurance remain:
Their medical evacuation coverage only pays to get you to the nearest appropriate hospital, not necessarily back to your home country (unless a doctor agrees you need the transportation for additional medical care). SafetyWing tells me that they will pay for an economy ticket back to the area where you were injured or your home country, whichever you choose, even without a doctor’s approval. But this is not medical transport, which can be far more expensive.
This “emergency evacuation” coverage also maxes out at $100,000 USD — which isn’t that much when it comes to medical transport; it can involve helicopters and other bankruptcy-causing expenses. Genki, meanwhile, has no maximum payout limit here.
SafetyWing’s total maximum coverage for all other treatments is $250,000 (or $100,000 for US residents over the age of 65). Which, frankly, seems stingy. Genki has no maximum payout limit here either.
In eliminating their deductible and improving their claims process, SafetyWing has also raised their prices. They’re now generally more expensive than Genki.
It’s fine that SafetyWing eliminated their deductible, but I think they should have kept the deductible as an option, in order to get a lower premium. Genki’s optional 50-euro deductible (per claim), drives their already-cheaper prices lower still.
Learn more about SafetyWing’s Nomad insurance here.
Learn more about Genki Explorer insurance here.
Nomad Health (SafetyWing’s Full International Insurance Plan)
In addition to the recent changes to their travel insurance, SafetyWing has also made improvements to their full international health insurance plans — and these changes are already available to Americans.
A Third, Lower-Priced Tier
Nomad Health used to have two tiers of coverage; now they have three:
Standard, which doesn’t include dental and vision, and has a max pay-out of $1.5 million USD.
Premium, which includes dental (to $1500) and vision (to $500), and has a max pay-out of $1.5 million.
Premium-Plus, which includes dental (to $1500) and vision (to $500), and has a max pay-out of $2.5 million.
All three of these plans limit “outpatient” (less serious) coverage to $5000 USD.
How Is This Different From Genki?
Update (6/25/04): Genki has reconfigured their “full” plan, which is now called Genki Native. Genki Resident is still available for existing customers, but new customers must buy a different plan — details are here. It is similar to Genki Resident in many ways, but has new limitations.
Genki’s full international plan, Genki Resident, comes in two tiers:
Genki Resident, which includes most dental and vision treatments.
Genki Resident Premium, which includes even more dental and vision, and also other perks.
But unlike SafetyWing, Genki has no maximum pay-outs for almost anything (though only Resident Premium pays for dental cleanings, and dentures and some oral and vision surgeries have other limitations too).
Also, unlike SafetyWing’s outpatient $5000 maximum, even outpatient treatments have no maximum pay-out at Genki.
Alas, SafetyWing has raised their prices here too — their third “lower-priced” tier is lower than the other two tiers, but higher-priced than their bottom tier used to be.
In fact, despite having fewer exclusions and higher pay-outs, Genki’s price is now comparable to SafetyWing — and Genki, unlike SafetyWing, offers three different deductible choices that can lower the price further still.
A Streamlined Claims Process
SafetyWing uses the same new, improved claims process, described above, for both their Nomad and Nomad Health plans. They promise a 7-10 business day turnaround.
How is this different from Genki?
It isn't. The claims process for Genki Resident — which is different from Genki Explorer — takes the same as SafetyWing: 7-10 days.
But here too you have the option of using the AirDoctor app, which offers free online medical advice, and also lets you bypass the claims process completely.
What Hasn’t SafetyWing Changed That They Should?
SafetyWing’s $1.5 million maximum pay-out was always on the low end of comprehensive insurance policies. They’ve upped it to $2.5 million for their Premium Plus plan, which is a bit better, but you’ll pay for that privilege.
SafetyWing and Genki both provide limited “emergency” coverage while briefly visiting America, but if you’re looking for full coverage, you’ll need an expensive add-on. Problem is, SafetyWing’s America add-on doesn’t cover Americans living even part-time in America, so it should never be purchased for this purpose. Meanwhile, Genki offers Americans six months of full coverage even without their American add-on (but you’ll need to leave the country at least once first).
Their $5000 maximum pay-out for outpatient treatment is still ridiculously low (plus they have a 10% outpatient co-payment in the standard plan), and their medical evacuation coverage has the same disappointing limitations as their Nomad travel insurance described above.
Their maternity coverage, which always involves a 20% deductible, is limited to $2500 USD with Standard, $4500 with Premium, and $7500 with Premium-Plus. Genki, meanwhile, provides full coverage with no deductible and no maximum pay-out. (Coverage for both policies doesn’t kick in until after ten months.)
Learn more about SafetyWing’s Nomad Health insurance here.
Learn more about Genki Resident insurance here.
So Which is Better, SafetyWing or Genki?
Did the Empire effectively strike back?
SafetyWing did make a few minor improvements to their products. But they also raised their prices, eliminating one of the two clear advantages they had over Genki, which was generally lower prices.
SafetyWing’s Nomad (travel) insurance still has one other advantage: basic coverage for trip interruption or delay (but not cancellation), lost luggage, theft, and some personal liability. But you probably already have some or all of these coverages through your travel credit card.
If you’re specifically looking for coverage of your electronics and/or your higher-risk activities, sure, their two new add-ons could be helpful.
But in almost every other respect, Genki’s products still seem greatly superior.
Genki also offer two features that I think are outright incredible:
That AirDoctor app that answers medical questions and also helps you locate — and directly pays for — a local doctor. This feature is available for both Genki Explore and Genki Resident.
That incredible offer to Americans of six months of full coverage even in America. But this feature is only for Genki Resident, not Explorer. (Remember: in order to be covered in America, you must first leave the country at least once. And if you are injured overseas, you can’t use their medical transport to return to America for treatment; in this case, your coverage will terminate immediately upon return to the U.S. Your claim could also be declined for seeking treatment somewhere other than where you were injured.)
But keep in mind that while I think Genki is the best travel insurance for long-term travelers, and their full international health insurance is solid, you have lots of other great options for this second kind of insurance; for this kind of expanded coverage, Genki and SafetyWing are definitely not the only players.
All this said, I’m frankly very disappointed by SafetyWing’s “improvements.”
The “Empire” of SafetyWing may have tried to strike back at the “Rebel Alliance” of Genki. But Genki is still totally destroying SafetyWing’s Death Star — and also whipping their corporate ass.
Update (6/25/04): Genki has reconfigured their “full” plan, which is now called Genki Native. Genki Resident is still available for existing customers, but new customers must buy a different plan — details are here. It is similar to Genki Resident in many ways, but has new limitations.
Learn more about SafetyWing here.
Learn more about Genki here.
My other nomad/expat health insurance articles:
Which is the Best Travel Insurance: SafetyWing, World Nomads, or Genki?
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.
Thanks for all this. Extremely helpful! Personally I'd like to see a policy that offers larger deductibles. I use insurance to protect against the catastrophic. Plus, being American, I'm used to very high deductibles. $1000, $2000, even $3000 - I'd happily trade a high deductible for lower premiums.
Thanks for this (and for both of your writing through the years)! My husband and I head out to Europe for the first time today, and I've been pouring over your articles and using tips. We can't wait!