How I've Handled Travel Insurance (Long-Term, Multi-Trip) + Global Health Insurance
When planning long-term, multi-trip travel, it took a while to determine which travel insurance I truly needed. And, now, I actually buy global (international) health insurance.
Since these two very different types of insurance are often confused with each other, I initially found it challenging to sort through all the options. I had to remind myself…
travel insurance typically offers brief emergency assistance while traveling
global (international) health insurance typically offers comprehensive healthcare around the world
And, because I like my travel to remain as fluid and flexible as possible (I love roaming free), it became clear that not all travel insurance or global health insurance could meet my needs.
In case anyone else has struggled to understand these insurance choices, too, I’m going to share how I’ve handled insurance along the way, and which insurance I’m using right now.
What It Was Like Before Travel Insurance
First, I want to share a bit about what it was like before I had any (concept of) travel insurance.
My first year of full-time (frugal) travel occurred when I was a child. My dad took a sabbatical from teaching in public schools so we could travel for a year.
This trip was for educational purposes. We visited every historical site possible as we traveled throughout North America.
We lived off my dad’s small sabbatical stipend, a little savings, and the work my parents found along the way (jobs they thought might be fun for short periods).
We still had my dad’s (public educator) health insurance, so I was able to have…
an annual checkup before we left on our year-long trip
an annual checkup when we returned from our year-long trip
While we were on the road that year, I experienced painful ear infections for the first time in my life—likely because my dad smoked his cigars in the car for the first time in my life.
My dad also quit smoking that year, after he heard a report on the car radio that announced smoking causes cancer (yay, Dad!).
So I had an emergency medical trip or two, plus I needed prescription meds. Back then, my dad’s health insurance covered all of our healthcare needs—at home and while traveling.
Then things changed.
As a young adult, when I purchased my first plane ticket to Europe (in the days of Pan Am), airfare was very expensive, and I had no concept of travel insurance.
I assumed that if I became sick right before the trip, I would miss out on the trip and lose the entire value of my plane tickets. I had no idea that I could prevent that loss.
I also assumed that if I left on my trip healthy, I would remain healthy while on vacation. I had no idea what might happen if I needed emergency help or comprehensive healthcare abroad.
I had my first asthma attack on that trip, behind East Germany’s wall.
I should have sought help, but I only took pills found over the counter, while practicing calm, shallow breathing. I didn’t know better.
A few years later, when planning a prepaid package trip to another country, I (somehow) still had no concept of travel insurance. At this point, I cannot fathom why, but…
I thought if I couldn’t start or complete the trip for any reason, I’d lose the trip, lose the money prepaid, or incur extra fees to make changes (to return home early, let’s say).
Which is exactly what happened.
On that trip, even while taking every precaution possible, I became severely ill due to accidental exposure to contaminated water (back before I carried my water filter).
I couldn’t eat, drink, or find help to stop the severe symptoms ravaging my body, so I had to return home early to recover, which took weeks. That was when I began to think…
how can I receive medical help while traveling?
how can I protect myself financially while traveling?
Travel Insurance and Residency
Once I began reviewing travel insurance, I noticed that it typically only covered brief urgent needs while traveling (not regular healthcare, not longer-term emergency healthcare).
It seemed travel insurance would stabilize me, then transfer me back to my home state’s healthcare for further treatment. Those transport efforts and costs could be insurmountable.
That meant I’d need travel insurance that provided ample emergency transportation to get me back to my home state (it shocked me that some travel insurance policies didn’t offer much).
That’s when I also understood why travel insurance required me to have an annual health insurance policy back in my home state (to cover all my comprehensive healthcare needs).
But since I no longer owned a home in my home state, I first had to research what constituted legal residency (in my home state) to ensure I purchased all my insurance legally.
And, last I checked, I’m a legal resident in my state (no matter how much I travel) because…
I have an address there
I have my driver’s license from there
I file taxes there
I’m registered to vote there
I’ve previously lived in homes there
I still spend time there (visiting, renting abodes)
I use a sailboat there
That meant I could purchase an annual health insurance policy in my home state, which (in turn) qualified me to buy travel insurance.
And, since my health insurance in my home state didn’t typically cover emergency care out of state, I needed travel insurance to cover medical emergencies wherever I roamed.
They worked together.
Travel Insurance for Single Destinations
Once I realized the importance of having travel insurance, I bought standard travel insurance that covered my travel to single destinations.
But I soon realized that was not best for me, because once I’m at a destination, I tend to roam a bit and head to another destination (like when in Sweden, on a whim, I sailed to Finland).
This would leave me uncovered due to deviating from my original plan, as I found that few travel insurance companies allowed one to buy coverage after leaving their place of residency.
So I had to look for a new solution.
Travel Insurance as An Annual Policy
I next purchased an annual travel insurance policy to cover all trips I might take during the year. I liked that I wouldn’t need to remember to buy travel insurance for each trip.
But I soon discovered most annual travel insurance policies (including the policy I purchased) seemed to have trip length limits. Those trip length limits were noted in the small print.
However, I didn’t read the small print before purchasing (I just asked the rep over the phone). It appears I misunderstood the interpretation of the plan, even though I asked specific questions.
So, at that time, the annual travel insurance plan worked well for multiple short trips throughout the year if…
trips lasted less than 90 days
each destination started and stopped from my place of residency
Meaning, I couldn’t travel longer than 90 days, and I’d have to return to my home state after each trip before leaving for another destination.
That would definitely be a more expensive, less convenient, and less sustainable way for me to travel. I’d have to spend a lot more time on flights.
I had to find better travel insurance for my travel needs.
Travel Insurance for Multiple Destinations
After much research, I finally found travel insurance that covered multiple destinations (in the USA + internationally), for short- and long-term travel, with flexible options.
I loved having that insurance—World Nomads.
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
I loved using World Nomads for years because, at that time, their travel insurance allowed me to…
visit multiple destinations (without returning home between destinations)
purchase/repurchase while traveling (so I could roam free/travel indefinitely)
purchase USA + international coverage (more than 100 miles from home)
travel short- and long-term (I usually purchased 1-3 months at a time)
have emergency medical for accident or sickness (at least $100,000)
have emergency evacuation (at least $300,000)
pay a reasonable monthly rate (at that time)
always read the small print (as any insurance can change at any time)
To give an idea of how well World Nomads worked for me while traveling North America, here’s what happened with an (after-hours) urgent care + ER visit at a mountain town hospital…
Examined for quite a long time in the urgent care clinic, lab work was completed in the urgent care clinic plus in the hospital’s ER (down the hall, across the drive, through the ER entrance).
Emergency room bills in the USA would frighten anyone. And multiple bills were generated from this emergency care visit, with one bill arriving a year later.
The urgent care clinic and hospital first sent those bills to my home state health insurance, but that insurance wouldn’t cover everything because my emergency happened out of that state.
So I gathered all the clinic and hospital bills, plus my home state insurance responses. I sent copies of it all to World Nomads, following their submission guidelines.
I also told World Nomads that all bills might not yet be in.
I waited patiently during World Nomads’ billing reimbursement process, which took a while (I found this to be just like any other USA health insurance timeframe, so I chose patience).
World Nomads covered everything my home state health insurance would not. Even a year later, when the final bill finally arrived. I felt grateful.
I didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars for urgent/ER care (like that time in my past when I didn’t buy travel insurance, but traveled across state lines by auto, and ended up in an ER).
World Nomads was also the only travel insurance I could find during the pandemic that offered pandemic coverage at that time.
I could buy/extend my World Nomads travel insurance coverage when it seemed nobody else could assist with pandemic coverage. That felt so reassuring while I was caught overseas.
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
Travel Insurance With Different/More Benefits
In addition, many want travel insurance with different/more benefits than what I chose for myself. And those insurance plans now appear to exist. I tend to think of them as more hybrid.
I also wanted to try them. So many I know seem to have happily used them.
But, while researching them, my residency, destinations, age, and other needs were not quite the right fit at the time—though I might be the only traveler I know in that boat.
That’s okay. We can want something and not get it if it’s not the right fit at the time. Everyone must carefully choose what works best for their situation at any given moment.
However, the two insurance options that came closest to meeting my needs on this front when I last checked were…
Genki
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for Genki using this link. We do not represent Genki. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
SafetyWing
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for SafetyWing using this link. We do not represent SafetyWing. This is not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
Global (International) Health Insurance
Ever since I learned of global (international) health insurance, I wanted it. I just never imagined I’d begin using it under the circumstances that I have.
I thought I would eventually buy global (international) health insurance when I was older—when I was consistently overseas for extra-long periods.
That is, until I received an official letter informing me I was losing my health insurance in less than three months—the health insurance I’d paid for, on time, monthly, for years.
Where I have legal citizenship and residency. Where I was born and raised. Where I pay all my taxes. Where I vote. Where I am when I’m not traveling elsewhere.
The letter urged me to use my health insurance while I still had it. With waitlists 4-6 months long, and this happening over the holidays, I couldn't book medical appointments.
Millions in the USA received such letters. I thought of all the young families in this situation. I imagined the elders. I found it psychopathic to take health insurance away from millions.
We are the employees whose employers do not provide affordable—or any—health insurance. We are the self-employed. We are the retired, too young for Medicare/Social Security.
We are the people who must purchase health insurance independently since we cannot rely on the government or employers to provide all citizens with health insurance.
I must emphasize—based on the best available data I could find—there are literally not enough jobs in the USA that provide health insurance to all citizens.
Meaning, we can’t solve this issue by telling everyone to seek new employment with employers who provide health insurance. There are not enough employers that provide health insurance.
What is a government for if not for the basic critical foundation upon which a healthy society can exist? What good is an employer if they don’t provide health insurance—the needed missing link?
But I was given an offer. I could give nearly 50% of my income to a US health insurance company. Only after I handed them all that money would they extend health coverage to me.
We’re not talking 50% taxes here—that’d make sense if it included healthcare, education, and the basics a country needs to exist. That, I could understand.
Yet I wasn’t willing to go uninsured (I could quickly lose every single thing I’ve saved due to one US medical bill). And I wasn’t willing to give away 50% of my income to one company.
So I spent precious time studying all health insurance options.
After all that studying, I decided to prioritize international travel so I could buy a global (international) health insurance policy. So I could utilize affordable healthcare.
I could only choose this option because I've made my life portable and flexible. And I know it’s a privilege. My heart is with every individual who cannot.
The first place I sought global (international) health insurance was where so many nomads appear to purchase their nomadic health insurance…
Genki (for those over 55, Genki says to ask about their Genki Resident)
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for Genki using this link. We do not represent Genki. This is not a recommendation to buy insurance.
SafetyWing
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for SafetyWing using this link. We do not represent SafetyWing. This is not a recommendation to buy insurance.
But I could see that my current age and needs required slightly different coverage. So I began investigating every other option available.
I was hoping for global health insurance that allowed more flexible options. Plus temporary healthcare coverage when I visited the States. That’s when I took a look at…
International Citizens Insurance (helped me review my best options)
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for insurance using this link. We do not represent ICI or any insurance. This is not a recommendation to buy insurance.
CignaGlobal (the global/international health insurance I chose)
As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you sign up for insurance using this link. We do not represent ICI or CignaGlobal. This is not a recommendation to buy insurance.
Over the years, I kept tabs on International Citizens Insurance. Something about their website and newsletters always calmed me.
So I utilized their expertise. And they were prompt, diligent, and thorough in assisting me. I felt less alone at such a vulnerable time.
I asked what seemed like a million questions. They provided endless answers.
Right away, they pointed out what they thought would be my best option—CignaGlobal.
However, I still independently reviewed (cross-compared) the details of every other potential health insurance company and global policy I could find. My spreadsheet was huge.
After all that work, I could see why CignaGlobal was truly the best choice for my situation.
And every situation is unique. Everyone must do their due diligence. Everyone must cross-compare every detail that matters to them. We all deserve the best health insurance.
After months of panic, I finally felt relief.