Long-Term Health & Travel Insurance for US Citizens (& FAQs)
If you’re a US citizen like me, and thinking of taking a gap year to travel, a year to road trip the globe, or a longer 6-month sabbatical, first off, good on you! And second, let’s make sure to get you covered with a long-term travel insurance, because the home-based insurance in the USA will not cover you outside the United States.
There’s a big part of me that thinks insurance is an absolute scam, but it’s important to have something if you’re in a serious emergency, or you risk a $200K medical bill that bankrupts you.
So here I am, sharing some advice, because I found it very difficult to determine what health insurance plan to get when I started my long-term travel adventure 5 years ago.
➡️ My personal recommendation for long-term travelers like myself is SafetyWing Nomad Complete. ⬅️
What Is Long-Term Travel Insurance?
Long-term travel insurance is designed for extended trips, usually six months or more, rather than a quick trip or vacation.
It’s built for travelers who are on the road for a while – like me (and you now that you’re reading this).
Think slow travel, multi-country trips, or taking a long break from work.
Long-term travel insurance typically covers:
- Emergency medical care if you get sick or injured abroad
- Hospital stays and evacuation to another country or back home if needed
- Trip interruptions caused by illness, injury, or serious family emergencies
- Lost, stolen, or damaged luggage
- 24/7 assistance for emergencies, referrals, and logistics
Coverage limits are usually higher than short-term policies, but it’s the medical benefits that matter most.
So how is it different than regular travel or medical insurance?
It’s designed for longer stays, not fixed travel dates.
It often allows multiple countries without listing each one, so if you’re unsure where you’re gonna be for the full 6 months you’re traveling, like me, this is a benefit.
The most important part, at least for me, is that it focuses less on trip cancellation and more on medical coverage
➡️ If you’re not flying home on a set date, and you’re not completely set on where you will be for each leg of your trip, long-term policies make more sense.
Choosing the Right Long-Term Travel Insurance Plan
Here are some things to consider when choosing a long-term travel plan, according to me, a 4-year digital nomad, bouncing from mountain to vineyard all over Europe.
Who should consider it?
If you’re heading off on a one to three-month summer vacation, there’s really no need to go the long-term route.
Why? Because you don’t need to spend the extra money when you won’t be using the added benefit of medical coverage while on your shorter trip.
So who should consider long-term travel insurance?
- Slow travelers and digital nomads
- Gap-year travelers or folks heading on extended sabbaticals
- Long road trips across multiple countries (especially if you don’t know all the countries quite yet)
- Basically, anyone staying abroad longer than 6 months
What to Look for in a Travel Insurance Policy?
Based on my experience and research, here’s what to look for when you’re reviewing CIGNA/IMG Insurance, World Nomads, Allianz, or one of the many other options.
- Medical Coverage Limits – I recommend choosing a plan with at least $100,000 in medical coverage ($500,000 for medical evacuation). Also, depending on how much coverage you need, you could consider looking at plans with primary medical insurance, too.
- Pre-Existing Medical Conditions – If you have ongoing health issues, look for policies that cover pre-existing medical conditions. There are not many, and the deductible will be higher, but it’s a factor.
- Adventure Sports Coverage – If you plan to go scuba diving, skiing, or bungee jumping, or on mountains with high altitudes, make sure your insurance options include adventure sports protection (in my experience, this is usually an add-on you can purchase).
- Exclusions – Read the fine print to understand what is NOT covered, like extreme sports or travel to war zones. This is one of the reasons I put a pause (for now) on traveling to the Middle East and Ukraine recently (even though I am eager to explore the areas).
My Recommendation for Long-Term Travel Insurance
➡️ My personal recommendation for long-term travelers like myself is SafetyWing Nomad Complete, because I went traveling for a year at a time. ⬅️
I’ve written a bunch about SafetyWing as a great travel and health insurance plan, and so I want to break down their offering so you understand what option is best for your trip.
- Can choose fixed dates for short trips
- The average cost for someone like me was about $60 a month.
- Subscription is on a 28-day cycle, max 364 days, after which a new policy will start automatically.
- Covered for short-term visits home
- Emergency medical coverage, medical evac, trip protection
- Add-ons for adventure sports (like high altitude hiking, scuba diving, etc), electronics theft, and US coverage
- Trip protection for delays, interruptions, or lost luggage
- Medical evac and repatriation
- ❌ NOT COVERED: Routine checkups, vision, dental, maternity leave, and extended home country coverage.
- ❌ NOT COVERED: Pre-existing conditions. he plan is not meant ot cover ongoing health conditions.
- Includes all Essential plan benefits, plus routine healthcare, mental health, and maternity.
- The average cost for someone like me is about $165 a month.
- Minimum contract of 12 months, paid monthly or yearly, renewable indefinitely
- No coverage restrictions at home
- Includes cancer screening and treatment
- Includes outpatient services and complementary therapies like chiropractic
- Works for both year-long travel and settling in one place
- Includes additional coverage for trip or accommodation cancellation, burglary, and delayed luggage
- Add-ons for dental coverage and electronics theft.
- ❌ NOT COVERED: Pre-existing conditions from before the plan starts. Any new conditions or issues that arise once you have already been covered will continue to be covered as long as the plan is renewed.
Can I buy travel insurance for long-term travel after I’ve already started my trip?
Yes — you can buy travel insurance after you’ve already started a long-term trip, but it’s not exactly the same as buying it before departure and comes with some important caveats.
Here’s what’s possible from my research:
✔️ Post-departure policies exist. Some insurers let you purchase a travel insurance plan while you’re already abroad or after your trip has started. Companies like World Nomads, Battleface, and Globelink (among others) specifically offer “already travelling” or “post-departure” coverage that you can buy online from wherever the heck you are.
✔️ Medical and emergency coverage is the most common. As I’ve talked about, these long-term policies often focus on emergency medical treatment, evacuation, repatriation, and sometimes trip interruption or baggage protection — basically the essentials for what might happen after you buy the plan.
Here’s what you WILL NOT get if you buy the insurance policy while travelling.
❌ Trip cancellation and “pre-trip” benefits. Once you’ve departed, you generally can’t buy insurance to cover things that happened before the purchase — like trip cancellation, missed flights already behind you, or things that were already in motion. Which makes sense!
❌ Pre-existing conditions won’t be covered. Any injury, illness, or event that occurred before you bought the new policy is excluded — and many insurers will treat that as a “pre-existing” event. I’ve messed up my knee hiking quite a few times and had to pay out of pocket abroad for physical therapy and a doctor to run tests – just a heads up!
❌ Waiting periods can apply. Even after you buy it overseas, most post-departure plans have a 24–72 hour waiting period before full coverage kicks in. This is insurance companies covering their ass, but I get it.
The bottom line is that you can still get coverage once your trip has started, especially for medical emergencies and ongoing protection, but it won’t replace the full suite of benefits you’d get by buying insurance before you left.
Is long-term travel insurance the same as expat or international health insurance?
Long-term travel insurance and expat or international health insurance aren’t the same, even though they overlap. Long-term travel insurance is built for people actively moving between destinations and focuses on emergencies and travel-related risks. Expat or international health insurance is designed for living abroad and functions more like a traditional health plan.
Slow travelers and digital nomads often fall into a bit of a grazy zone that sometimes requires the benefits of both. This is why I love and use SafetyWing Nomad Insurance.
Hybrid plans exist that prioritize medical coverage while staying valid across multiple countries. These work best if you’re traveling long-term but not fully settling down in one place.
Final Thoughts: Long-Term Travel Insurance
All in all, I love and use SafetyWing Nomad Insurance.
SafetyWing’s mission is to provide affordable, flexible, borderless insurance, and their new Essential and Complete plans live up to this mission.
Essential covers the basics like emergency medical for shorter-term travel, while Complete brings full-scale healthcare and is better for longer-term travelers. Both come with travel coverage.
