In groups of international travelers and digital nomads, mentions of Safety Wing insurance are becoming more common. The terms offered by the insurance look very attractive.
- Cost starting from $40 per month
- Coverage in all countries worldwide except for Cuba, Iran, Syria, and North Korea
- Can be purchased at any point during the trip, even if you are already abroad
- No limit on the number of days you can stay abroad for the insurance to be valid
- Coverage for unexpected illnesses or injuries, hospital expenses, doctor visits, prescription medications, emergency medical evacuation, bedside visits, trip delay, and lost registered baggage
- Coverage for scooter accidents, excluding cases where the driver was drunk or participating in races
- Coverage for non-professional sports activities such as scuba diving, surfing, gym workouts, canyoning, football, horseback riding, mountain biking, skateboarding, rollerblading, and other activities
All of this sounds very interesting, especially considering the cost of the insurance. For those who have had real experience using it, we are interested in your personal impressions.
"I had an experience, highly recommend it. There was an emergency, and they covered all expenses (around $1000)."
Review of Nataly's Safety Wing insurance:
"This is not an insurance company, it's a NIGHTMARE. As the alarm administrator at the hospital told me: 'No Russian insurance company has ever behaved like this!' I had previously left a positive comment about them in some group because everything started off fine 😄 I was surrounded by care, etc. Until they recalled the GOP. And hell began. They pushed me to close the check myself. I called all the numbers, wrote to almost the king. Until at one point, I pressured the call center operator, and she told me that they wouldn't pay at all. Can you imagine being in the middle of treatment with a drip, fever, and an infection that is not so easy to overcome, and you have to deal with America. And look for 300,000 rubles for the hospital. And the insurance, like in kindergarten: sent a guarantee letter, then withdrew the guarantee letter 😠 Can you do that? Does the word 'guarantee' mean nothing here? And then everything went downhill. I wrote a complaint to support at Tokio Marine TCC myself, according to the contract, they were supposed to respond within 3 working days. It's been 2 weeks — no response. Then I had to appeal the company's actions to the Indiana State Department of Insurance, where the insurance headquarters is located. And the next day — oh, miracle! — they woke up. Still in the process. The insurance is asking to fill out some document, but at least their auditors are not writing short letters to me like: 'You need to pay yourself. And don't forget to send the checks.' Probably, I won't forget to send you a check for 60 million.
The funny thing was that I decided not to play their game but go all the way (Russians never give up 👊😎). And I involved all my friends in this story. And here I am, with a drip in one hand, a phone in the other. In a hospital room at midnight (because of the time difference). An auditor from London, a lawyer from Dublin, guys from the States, Moscow journalists are on the line. And my friend A., a producer of one of the federal channels, who called them at my request and almost unleashed an international conflict with America.
They suspect a pre-existing condition. But you can't go to court with suspicions, and with facts — quite. I politely replied that I have a medical test clearly proving that there was no infection at the time of purchasing the policy. And what other documents do you need, I'm ready to provide any assistance. But you will pay. Payment is your responsibility, your accountability. I expect you will make a payment as my insurance company. I'm not settling this bill by myself. What needs to happen so you've made a payment to the hospital successfully? And they froze right away.
The case is still open, and the hospital is holding my passport (which is not particularly legal) and calls me every day. And against this background, I started having complications, had to continue treatment in other hospitals already with my own money."
"I haven't personally used this insurance, but I started researching this company and its partner (assistance) Tokio Marine. So, this Japanese assistance company has a lot of negative reviews, you can check them yourself on Trustpilot by entering the company name: Link to Trustpilot Reviews.
So, I think it's better to refrain from buying anything from this company, but the decision is yours. For example, if you look at reviews through Trustpilot about SafetyWing, they allegedly have about 500 reviews with a rating of 4.4.
But, as we all know, everything can be manipulated (subjectively my opinion).
The price, of course, is attractive at the time of the review, $42 per person per month, plus a $250 deductible for 1 year (read more on Google or on their website)."
