A two-week policy is a finished object: buy, fly, come home. At day 60, 90, or 180 the product changes. Duration caps, home-country days, deductibles that reset per incident, and electronics per-item limits start to matter more than a pretty comparison chart. The ordinary two-week shortlist is Travel Insurance Comparison Guide. This page stays on long-stay and nomad-style cover.
Europe-only medical and EHIC/GHIC rules stay on travel insurance for Europe. How you pay for the long ticket is credit card points. A no-annual-fee card for the year on the road is Best Travel Credit Cards With No Annual Fee. Last-minute repositioning flights are How to Find Cheap Flights Last Minute. Live hubs: the journal and tools. This desk does not sell policies; see how we make money.
Desk note: this desk does not run a private claims lab and did not live on seven nomad policies for a year. The comparison is a research synthesis of current plan documents and published limits. Dollar figures below are research ranges, not a live quote. Confirm home-country days, deductibles, and activity lists on the certificate you are actually buying.
Before you buy — duration, home days, and skip
Long-trip pages usually rank SafetyWing against World Nomads. The useful filter is the shape of the year, not the brand.
- Write the end date, or write “none.” A fixed six-month ticket can use a traditional long-stay policy. An open ticket wants a monthly subscription you can stop.
- Count home-country days. Visiting family for three weeks in the middle of a nomad year can fall outside a 15-days-per-90 rule. If you will be home a lot, skip the nomad product and quote a policy that covers those days, or buy local cover while you are home.
- List the prepaid tours. Subscription medical plans are weak on trip cancellation. If you have already paid for a long tour or a cruise segment, skip a medical-only nomad plan as your only policy.
- List the sports. Hiking a marked trail is not paragliding. Skip paying for Explorer-class adventure lists if the year is trains, apartments, and coworking.
- Decide travel insurance versus expat health. Relocating for a year-plus with a lease and a local GP is not a “long trip.” Skip stacking travel policies and quote expat health (Cigna Global, Aetna International, Allianz Care, and peers) instead.
What Long-Trip Insurance Needs to Cover
Emergency Medical Treatment
This remains the core. Published cash costs vary wildly by country and procedure; the useful desk rule is the limit, not an invented average bill. For most destinations, look for at least $100,000 in emergency medical. If the itinerary includes the US, Canada, or Japan, quote $250,000 or higher. Do not treat a $3,000 “broken arm in Thailand” line as a quote — it is a reminder that outpatient care is not free, not a desk-measured price.
Emergency Evacuation
Airlift to an adequate hospital is usually a separate limit from treatment. Look for at least $100,000. Some policies only take you to the nearest adequate facility; others will take you home. That difference matters on a rural Southeast Asia stretch when the nearest serious hospital is in Singapore and home is still an ocean away. Skip a huge evacuation rider if every month of the trip is in capital cities with university hospitals — still keep a real medical limit.
Trip Interruption (Not Just Cancellation)
Once you have left, cancellation on the outbound ticket is a sunk story. Interruption — going home early after a family emergency, an illness, or a disaster — is the live one. Look for unused prepaid costs, not a marketing “100%” without reading the trigger list.
Skip paying for rich cancellation on an open-ended trip with few prepaid nights. Do not skip interruption if you have already paid for a long apartment or a tour block.
Baggage and Electronics
You are carrying a year of kit. Many travel policies cap electronics at a few hundred dollars per item. A modern laptop sits above that cap. Read per-item and total baggage lines. Skip buying a baggage-heavy plan if you already accept that a stolen laptop is an out-of-pocket risk, or if you travel with a cheap beater. The carry-on packing list is still the cheaper fix.
The Plans Compared
Limits move. Treat every number as a research snapshot and re-read the PDF.
SafetyWing Nomad Insurance — Best for Flexibility
Monthly cost (research range): about $45–85 depending on age (under 40 often near the low end; 50–59 nearer the high end)
Medical coverage: $250,000 per period
Deductible: $250 per injury or illness — it resets. Two unrelated visits means two deductibles.
Evacuation: $100,000
Trip interruption: $5,000
Electronics/baggage: $3,000 total, $500 per item
Adventure sports: Hiking, skiing, surfing, scuba to a stated depth, and similar. Not bungee or base jumping.
Key strength: Monthly subscription. Buy it, pause it, extend it while already abroad. No fixed end date.
Key weakness: Deductible per incident. Does not cover US residents inside the US. Home-country coverage is limited — often 15 days per 90-day period. Interruption is thin for a prepaid tour.
Skip it if you need cancellation on a large prepaid itinerary, if you will spend long stretches in your home country, or if you are a US resident whose year includes long US stays.
Best for: Digital nomads and open-ended travellers who do not know the return date.
World Nomads Explorer Plan — Best Coverage Breadth
Cost for 90 days (research range): about $200–500 depending on age and destination
Medical coverage: $100,000 on Standard; Explorer publishes unlimited medical on current marketing — confirm the certificate
Deductible: $100
Evacuation: $500,000
Trip interruption: Varies by plan
Electronics/baggage: $3,000 total, $1,000 per item on Explorer
Adventure sports: The wide list — climbing, rafting, bungee, paragliding, and many motorsports on Explorer. Confirm each activity by name.
Key strength: Activity list. Can be purchased while already traveling. Duration typically caps at 12 months per policy.
Key weakness: More expensive than SafetyWing for walking-and-laptop years. Standard’s $100,000 medical is thin if the year includes the US or Japan.
Skip Explorer if you are not doing the sports. Skip Standard if high-cost medical countries are on the map and you can afford Explorer or a higher medical-only plan.
Best for: Gap years and itineraries that go past city walking.
IMG Global Medical — Best Value Medical-Only
Cost for 90 days (research range): about $100–300 depending on age and deductible
Medical coverage: Wide published range by tier; pick the limit, not the marketing maximum
Deductible: Often $100–2,500 — you choose. Higher deductible, lower premium.
Evacuation: Varies widely by tier
Key strength: Catastrophic medical at a lower monthly cash cost. A high-deductible plan is for the hospital week, not the pharmacy run.
Key weakness: Not comprehensive travel insurance. Interruption and baggage are thin or absent. Pair with card delay cover or accept the gap.
Skip it if you still have large prepaid tours to protect. Skip the lowest deductible if you are buying this product for catastrophe only — you are paying monthly for first-dollar clinic visits.
Best for: Long-term travellers who want medical catastrophe cover and will self-insure bags and small delays.
Allianz Allyz Travel Care — Best Traditional Insurer
Cost for 90 days (research range): about $250–600 depending on age, destination, and tier
Medical coverage: $200,000 on commonly quoted tiers
Deductible: $0–250 depending on plan
Evacuation: $500,000
Trip interruption: Up to the insured trip cost on covered reasons
Electronics/baggage: $2,000 total on commonly quoted tiers
Key strength: One policy for medical plus interruption on a dated itinerary. Traditional assistance line and claims process.
Key weakness: Usually cannot be purchased after departure. Wants fixed dates. Poor fit for an open ticket.
Skip it if you do not have an end date. Skip it if a subscription medical plan plus refundable housing already matches how you travel.
Best for: Planned long trips with a calendar and prepaid blocks worth protecting.
How to Choose: Decision Framework
Open-ended, no return date → SafetyWing, unless home-country days or US-resident rules break it.
Adventure-heavy → World Nomads Explorer, and only then. Do not buy the sports list as a lifestyle accessory.
Tight budget, medical only → IMG with a deductible you can actually pay once.
Fixed dates, prepaid tours → Allianz or another traditional long-stay certificate.
Relocating → skip this page’s products and quote expat health.
What Insurance Doesn’t Cover (Read This)
- Pre-existing conditions. Usually excluded. Disclose and ask before you pay.
- High-risk countries. Advisory lists change. Check the excluded-country appendix for your dates.
- Alcohol-related incidents. Routine denial.
- Routine medical care. Emergencies, not cleanings, not prescription refills, not a new glasses prescription.
- Mental health. Often limited or absent. A long trip is exactly when that gap shows. Budget a separate conversation with a clinician at home before you go.
For two-week policies, return to the ordinary-trip comparison. For EU state-care rules, use travel insurance for Europe.