SafetyWing Travel Insurance: What it Covers (& what it Doesn’t)

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SafetyWing travel insurance is becoming a well-known brand in the travel community, and although they operate slightly differently from other insurance brands I’ve used before, I had a positive experience during my time using them.

But what exactly does SafetyWing cover in its policies for travel insurance to help keep users safe? After using them for the duration of my time in Japan, I want to share the coverage list and how some of their policies work to help you be best prepared when deciding if it’s right for you.

If you want to quickly check current pricing or what’s included across their two plans while reading through my experiences with them, you can take a look here.

This article should aim to help you understand what travel-related inclusions (and exclusions) are in the two SafetyWing policies, instead of only focusing on the medical aspect (because we cover that in another post, here.

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What SafetyWing Actually Covers (and What it Doesn’t)

On paper, SafetyWing looks like it covers a lot. And to be fair, compared to many budget travel insurance options, it actually does.

But this is where most people go wrong: they skim the headline benefits and assume they’re fully covered for anything that could happen. That’s unfortunately not how this works.

SafetyWing is designed for unexpected emergencies while you’re travelling, not ongoing healthcare, long-term treatment, or anything routine (unless you’re on the “complete” plan). Once you understand that, everything else makes a lot more sense.

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SafetyWing Travel Insurance: Emergency Medical Coverage

I won’t go into much detail in this section since I go into much more detail in another post, but I wanted to give my readers some peace of mind that you’re getting more than just travel coverage.

SafetyWing covers unexpected illness and injury. That includes things like:

• Hospital treatment (inpatient and outpatient visits)
• Emergency care and getting a diagnosis
• Prescribed medication
• Medical evacuation (if needed)

This is the part of SafetyWing insurance polices that actually matters most on your end, as the traveller. If something goes wrong, you want to know you’re not stuck choosing between your health and your bank account.

From my own experience, this is exactly where SafetyWing did what it’s supposed to do. I had a torn tendon and a fractured foot (at the same time), needed multiple trips back to the hospital, lots of scans, and had a few months’ worth of weekly physiotherapy appointments that followed. The costs were 70% reimbursed (only due to a misunderstanding on my end, rather than the insurance company), and it was clearly explained to me what was and wasn’t paid for.

But it only worked because my situation clearly fell under “unexpected emergency treatment” as a broken foot and torn tendon, neither of which was ideal.

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Travel Coverage Essential Plan

So this is the main section you’re here to read about in this post. This is the surprising extra layer that many people often overlook. SafetyWing includes some basic travel-related coverage, although it isn’t the primary purpose of the policy. These include:

Delays & Disruptions

Flight delays are one of the most common travel issues, and one of the easiest places to assume you’re covered more than you actually are.

If your transport is delayed or cancelled, SafetyWing can reimburse some of your extra costs like food, accommodation, or even a lounge pass. But there are conditions.

You will only be covered if:

• The delay is at least 3 hours
• It’s with a scheduled airline, train, bus, or boat (not taxis or private transport)
• You had a valid ticket and proof of the delay

And the payout is capped:

• Around $60 for shorter delays (3-8 hours)
• $150 for delays over 8 hours, plus $150 per night if you’re stuck overnight somewhere
• Up to $450 per trip and $900 per insurance period

So realistically, this helps take the edge off and removes some of the financial stress at the time, but it’s not going to fully cover a major disruption. It can get you out of a tight spot, cover a meal, help you find last-minute accommodation and avoid being completely out of pocket if you’re stuck somewhere.

Accommodation Issues

This is one of those situations that travellers don’t actually worry about until it actually comes up, and when it does, it’s usually at the worst possible time.

If you turn up to your accommodation and something’s gone wrong, such as:

• The host cancelled at the last minute
• You can’t access the property
• Or it’s completely uninhabitable

Then SafetyWing can reimburse you for alternative accommodation and the cost of transportation to reach it. However, there are some things to consider. To be able to claim, you need to have proof from the host of the cancellation, and you must have only found out right before check-in (within 12 hours before). If you found out days in advance and did nothing about it, then they likely won’t be much help.

The limit is up to $150 per night and $300 total during your trip. This means if it’s $150 per night, then you’re only covered for 2 nights of emergency accommodation, but if you find somewhere lower cost, you may get help for more than 2 nights – up to the $300 cap.

This is a useful short-term safety net, not a long-term solution.

Lost Luggage

Luggage issues are another area where traveller expectations don’t always match reality.

If you check luggage onto a flight and it goes missing during travel, then the SafetyWing travel insurance essential plan can help.

If your bags are lost and not just delayed, you can be reimbursed for what’s inside. But this only kicks in if:

• The airline confirmed it’s been missing for at least 10 days
• You’ve filled out all the appropriate paperwork with the airline/airport
• You can prove what was inside (receipts, photos etc.)

The coverage for luggage goes up to $3000 per insurance period and up to $500 per individual item. You will also need proof of ownership (receipts, etc), which is something most travellers don’t think about until it’s too late. This is difficult if you have owned items for a while or you bought them in store (cause who actually keeps clothing receipts these days?), but if you bought things online, then you might have a record of your purchase receipts through emails and online accounts.

So, if you think you’ll travel with anything valuable, make sure you have ownership proof and keep copies of receipts just in case. You’ll thank yourself if you need to make a claim.

Theft (Wallets, Passports, Documents, etc.)

There is a little bit of protection here, but it’s quite limited. In the instance you experience theft of some of your belongings. This generally focuses on any important documents and money rather than any technological items.

Passport or Visa Theft

• Covers replacement costs
• Up to $100 per incident

Stolen Wallet or Purse

• Flat payout of $150

Robbery (force or threat only)

• Covers personal belongings (not electronics such as phones, etc)
• Up to $500 per item
• Lifetime cap of $10,000

Please note: You MUST make a police report within 24 hours of any incidents to qualify for reimbursement.

General “lost” items or pickpocketing without proper documentation won’t be covered. This is an unfortunate truth for those who end up in this situation, but it’s best to know beforehand (if it happens)

When you need to transfer money or check exchange rates during your overseas trip, consider using Wise. They have competitive rates and make exchanging foreign funds easy. I’ve been using them since 2015.

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Emergency Situations

This is the other aspect of the travel inclusions – emergency situations that cannot be predicted. These aren’t your everyday travel issues. These are the kind of situations you hope you never experience, but they do. This is where having insurance really matters.

Trip Interruption

In other words, an emergency trip home. If something bad happens back home to a family member, and you need to get home in a rush, SafetyWing can cover a one-way economy flight for you.

This includes situations such as a death or critical illness of close family members, or major damage to your home (fire, severe weather, flooding etc).

On both plans, you will be insured up to $5,000 per trip/year and up to $10,000 lifetime maximum.

This is one of the more valuable parts of the SafetyWing travel insurance policy inclusions, but only for very specific, serious situations. It won’t cover things like “I just want to go home early”.

Evacuation to Safe Location

If something serious happens where you are and you really need to leave before it escalates, SafetyWing travel insurance is there to help you get out safely.

Situations that are sudden and unpredictable, such as natural disasters, political unrest, wars, government travel warnings or generally anything else that becomes an unsafe place for you to be.

The included coverage has some stipulations: the start date of your policy must be before the travel warning was issued, and there must not have been a travel warning before you arrived in the area. You also need to coordinate with SafetyWing within 10 days so the sooner the better.

Regardless of which plan you have, you will have up to $10,000 in evacuation costs in your lifetime, including up to $150 per day for 5 days of emergency accommodation after a disaster.

This is not something that you book and reclaim reimbursement for later, this is actualyl something you arrange with the insurer.

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Where People Get Caught Out – This is Important

Although the health and medical aspect is the main reason people get SafetyWing travel insurance, the travel aspect is just as important, even if it’s often overlooked. So, I need to make a few things clear before you make your final decision:

SafetyWing does not offer a fully comprehensive travel insurance plan, and if you go into this expecting it to behave like one, that’s exactly where you’ll run into issues.

On the “Essential” plan, this isn’t designed for:

• Chronic conditions that you had before taking out a policy
• Long-term ongoing treatment
• Routine checkups (Dr’s, dentists, etc.)
• Preventative care

However, some of these things can be covered under the “Complete” plan. If you’re looking for long-term health coverage, this isn’t it.

If you’re still considering it, I’d recommend checking the actual policy wording and current coverage details of its two plans. You can do so on the SafetyWing travel insurance website, here.

The 72-Hour Rule

So this rule is actually pretty standard across the board, at least for various travel insurance companies that I have bought from. If something happens within the first 72 hours (3 days) of your policy starting, you won’t be covered.

So no, you can’t wait until you’re already injured or sick to buy travel insurance because SafetyWing will not approve any claims in this situation. This is also the case for losing luggage or travel delays.

For this reason, I would advise not starting your policy on the day you leave home or are due to travel, but instead start your policy at least a few days ahead of time. That way, if the worst should happen, you can have peace of mind that you’re covered.

Pay First for Medical, Claim then Pay with Travel

In most cases relating to medical claims, you’ll need to:

• Pay upfront all costs
• Submit your documents to the claims team
• Wait for reimbursement of the costs on invoices

This is exactly what I did, and it worked smoothly, but this can be challenging if you don’t have the disposable cash to begin with. This is why I always advocate for having a separate savings fund during your travels, away from your general spending, so you always have some accessible money in case something happens.

It’s a little bit different with the emergency travel claims as some of those would need ot be arranged with the SafetyWing team before you pay for anything, so in those extreme cases the claims process is a little different.

There’s a $100,000 USD lifetime limit

For most backpackers with the occasional sickness or injury, this is perfectly fine and more than enough.

However, if you are worried about extreme worst-case scenarios, it’s something to be aware of. The combined total of my 2 claims (same injury, but claims separated by the different treatment centres needed) came to 251,792 JPY, which was around £1,167 at the time. I was reimbursed the equivalent of £824.08.

Now, I was actually quite lucky because healthcare costs in Japan are relatively low, and the treatment was fantastic, so for a torn tendon and a fractured foot, it only cost me a little over £1,100 for all treatment (this was while I was a tourist, before I moved onto a Japanese working holiday visa). I needed no surgeries or any specialist treatment beyond general physiotherapy.

Now, if I had had a more severe injury or sickness that required multiple nights as a patient staying in the hospital, or if I’d needed surgery of some kind, the cost could have mounted up much more quickly. Japan still likely wouldn’t have been astronomical cost-wise, but if you need ambulance rides, helicopter evacuations or any form of repatriation, these costs can climb, and you may end up using your entire cost limit on one situation.

You Must Submit Claims on Time

You’ve got a 60-day window from the day your SafetyWing insurance coverage ends to submit medical claims. If you miss this deadline, even by one day, you are out of luck. However, if you are making claims relating to the travel side of the policy, you must make sure your claims are submitted ASAP as each type of claim has a different window, and emergencies can change extremely quickly.

If you are ever in doubt, the live chat feature or email contact is both quick at responding (within 2 business days), and the team should be able to advise when to submit.

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So, What Does This Actually Mean For Those Using SafetyWing Travel Insurance

By now, you’ve hopefully realised that SafetyWing travel insurance isn’t trying to be everything. It’s not fully comprehensive, and it’s definitely not designed for routine treatment, ongoing conditions, long-term health care, or every possible scenario that may or may not happen on a trip.

SafetyWing covers the things that are most likely to go wrong. But it’s not a backup for everything that could go wrong. The key difference between a smooth claim and a denied one usually comes down to one thing:

Whether you understood the limits and coverage before you bought it, but that’s the same with most insurance companies, not just SafetyWing

So, if you’re travelling long-term and want something flexible, with low costs, that covers real emergencies, SafetyWing travel insurance is a sure contender that works quite well. It works properly when those using it fully understand what is included. It’s a real business just trying to fill the gap where long-term travellers have struggled in the past.

If you’d like to take a look at the policy wording in a little more detail before committing to purchasing global medical insurance plans for travel, you can check the SafetyWing policies on their site.

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Before You Buy, One Last Thing

Coverage is only part of the decision. The real question isn’t just: What does SafetyWing cover? It’s: Does this insurance policy work with my travel style?

For some people, including me and my trip to Japan, this was the perfect insurance policy for the way I was travelling, but for others, it may not be close to being perfect for them.

It can be dependent on so many factors, the activities you plan on doing, the places you’re visiting and how long you plan to be in each place, that’s why it’s so hard to guarantee this policy is perfect for everyone.

So, if you’re still deciding, you can check out the full breakdown of my SafetyWing experience in my review post.

Or, if you have already established that this type of insurance policy suits your trip style and you’re ready to purchase your first month’s medical coverage, you can head straight to the SafetyWing homepage!