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“Jub, do you recommend SafetyWing for travel medical insurance in New Zealand?”
In this post, I’m going to focus on finding my answer to this question.
There are dozens of insurance companies out there, and I’ve got no idea what your exact situation is. You might well be better off with another insurance plan, but I’ll be only looking at SafetyWing’s nomad insurance policy. Not how they compare to their competition.
I (from New Zealand) use SafetyWing, and there’s a bunch of reasons why I like it. But that doesn’t mean it’s automatically great for travelling in New Zealand.
BEFORE GETTING STARTED, A FEW REMINDERS
- If you can;t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel.
- This is an American company, all prices are in USD.
- You should be reading the fine print on any policy you’re considering. I know you won’t, but don’t go holding me liable. Sweet.
- p.s. this was not a paid post, I genuinely use myself. There are affiliate links in the post.
What’s my short answer to the initial questions? Yea, I recommend SafetyWing1.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. My Experience with SafetyWing
2. Do you need travel insurance in New Zealand?
3. How much does SafetyWing cost?
4. What I’m wary of in the policy
5. Final thoughts
MY EXPERIENCE WITH SAFETYWING
I remember hearing about SafetyWing towards the end of 2018 but didn’t take too much notice. Over the next few months, the name kept creeping into various groups on Facebook, and they started to reach out to bloggers which increased my interest. The subscription as a service model was becoming popular, but I hadn’t seen it applied to travel insurance before.
Most people (including me) hate dealing with insurance, especially nomads as it’s always awkward for a host of reasons. SafetyWing were targetting me, I was pretty close to their perfect buyer. So in March 2019, I found myself signing up cautiously. As a startup, they could go out of business at any moment, right?
I’ve been pretty bad in the past is sort of ignoring travel insurance (shhh, don’t tell Dad) so the subscription model and affordable pricing were the two big things that took me over the edge.
But it’s not until it comes time to make a claim that I 99.9% trust the company I’m with.
You never want to actually use your travel insurance, and I’d been doing well with that until that pesky virus showed up. When the global pandemic was announced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11th, I didn’t think it influenced my travel medical insurance with SafetyWing at all.
SafetyWing sent out an email on March 13th discussing the latest around the pandemic as people were looking to fly home now. The majority of the email was regarding countries that were at level 3 travel warning as per the CDC. What they didn’t make clear was that you were eligible for coverage under the political evacuation clause. To me, it wasn’t still 100% clear, but apparently the US Department of State means WHO, apparently. But don’t quote me on that.
This was cleared up in a follow-up email on the 17th which referred us to this page and it was clear, I had the option of going back to New Zealand under political evacuation clause which would be valid up until March 21st. It wasn’t an easy decision, but in the end I decided too call SafetyWing up and start proceedings. I won’t go into the details, but the cliff notes are:
- Ring SafetyWing and say I want political evacuation out of Vietnam.
- I was referred to a person who was part of the team helping arrange all the flights.
- I gave her my information, where I wanted to go (Wellington), departing from, name etc.
- A few hours later she emailed me two itinerary options.
- I replied with the one that was most suitable for me.
- Later that day I was on the plane back to NZ they booked!
I do know others used were subscribed to SafetyWing as the pandemic took hold. They needed flights out of the country ASAP, so they paid for the flights upfront and SafetyWing paid out on the claim afterward. That’s good to know too.
So, other than the slight miscommunication on the 13th with the email (to be fair, they didn’t have to send that email, it was nice they did and I should know my policy fine print better too) they were brilliant.
So now, I’m 99.9% happy (gotta hedge my bets haha) to recommend them based on my experience. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out if it’s any good for NZ travel.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SAFETYWING
- They came through when I needed them.
- The subscription model is unique, but it’s also flexible.
- You can cancel anytime.
- The terms and conditions are pretty clear.
- If you’re charged an extension you don’t need, you have three days to cancel and get a full refund minus the $25 cancellation fee.
- They have their own subreddit!
But, let’s move on.
SAFETYWING PRICES
For the nomad insurance plan, the subscription works on a 28-day/4 week cycle. Meaning you’ll be charged every work weeks for a maximum of 364 days/52 weeks. If you don’t cancel your subscription before the 364 days are up, it’ll be canceled again at which point you just need to login to the website and renew your program if you’d like.
Age: Excluding USA/Including USA
15 days – 9 years old2: $0/$0*
10 – 39 years old: $36.96/$67.76
40 – 49 years old: $59.92/$111.44
50 – 59 years old: $94.08/$183.68
60 – 69 years old: $127.68/$250.60
You can play around with pricing right in this widget which is cool.
If you don’t want the subscription model: If you know how long you need insurance for exactly, you can put the specific dates and pay the exact price for the total of days. Let’s say I was coming to New Zealand from Germany, my flight leaves Frankfurt on May 5th and arrives back in Frankfurt on June 17th (a 44-day trip).
You’d pay a total of $58.04 for 44 the days. If you were on the subscription plan, you’d pay for the full two months which would end up being $73.92. An easy way to save $15.88 cents here.
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Tip: If you know you’re going to be in the USA for specific dates, you can get a non-USA policy leading up to those dates. Then before your trip to the USA, you simply cancel your existing policy and get a new policy for your time in the USA. But be careful with the preexisting condition clause, as that won’t be covered as soon as you cancel the initial policy. They cover this in their FAQ if I haven’t made it very clear 🙂
SafetyWing + NEW ZEALAND: DO YOU EVEN NEED INSURANCE THERE?
The reason I made section a question is because of New Zealand’s universal no-fault policy for accidents, which means you can’t sue a company or person! This is covered under the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), specifically:
“Our no-fault scheme covers everyone, including visitors, who are injured in an accident in New Zealand. It includes events that result in mass casualties. The scheme covers children, beneficiaries, students, if you’re working, unemployed, or retired.”
You can get full details about it
here.
Pretty neat huh. So this is something to consider as you read on. If you end up in a hospital in New Zealand, you won’t get a bill for your treatment.
Carrying on, do you legally need insurance when you travel NZ?
If you’re reading this, you’re likely going to be arriving in NZ as a tourist with the NZeTA visa or on a working holiday visa program.
NZeTA Visa holders: There’s no requirement to have travel or health insurance before arriving in New Zealand. That said, most people will say it’s a good idea to get some form of insurance right? Just in case…if you get injured in New Zealand and have ongoing costs in your home coverage, it’s nice to have some insurance to support you. And of course, you might lose your luggage, have flights canceled, and who knows what else. Oh, driving can be treacherous in NZ…
Working Holiday Visa: as part of your visa conditions you must have medical and dental insurance.
From what I see in Facebook groups no one has had any issues with providing their SafetyWing policy number as proof of this even on a subscription plan (health and dental are covered under SafetyWing). Immigration officials more concerned about proof of onward travel.
Regardless of which visa you arrive on, the travel aspect of the insurance is great as flights to New Zealand aren’t cheap! And if you decide to take a quick trip to Australia or the Pacific Islands, you’ll want insurance for that aspect of the trip too.
WHAT TO BE WARY OF
The FAQ on the website answers the majority of questions you’ll have.
A few notes:
- Anyone can use SafetyWing unless your home country is Iran, North Korea or Cuba (or have Cuba as your citizenship).
- Notable exclusions include cancer treatment, routine check-ups, and pre-existing conditions
I’ve trawled through the fine print, and have found the sections where you need to be careful specifically for New Zealand in my opinion. As the adventure capital of the world, there’s a chance you’ll be taking on some pretty extreme activities you haven’t done before.
Some ambulance services are free in NZ but some travellers have been invoiced some not so nice amounts they didn’t expect after the service (details here). On page 13 of the policy it states:
“14. Emergency local ambulance transport necessarily incurred in connection with injury or illness resulting in inpatient hospitalization.”
In regards to lost luggage, electronics such as phones, laptops, cameras are not covered in the policy.
And of course, the adventure aspect is going to be important. You can find the full list of sports that aren’t covered under the policy on page 25, but these are the ones I thought were especially relevant to NZ.
- Whitewater Rafting
- cliff jumping
- heli-sking
- kite-surfing
- luge
- Outdoor Endurance Events
- Paragliding
- Parachuting
- Rugby
Another exclusion is mountaineering at elevations of 4,500 metres or higher…the highest peak in New Zealand doesn’t even reach 4000 metres, so no problem there.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Do I recommend SafetyWing for New Zealand? Yes.
New Zealand is not the cheapest of destinations, so for peace of mind, the extra amount is not a big burden of the total expenses you’ll have on your trip.
Of course, it’s not the perfect insurance, you might have an option that’s more suitable for you which is cool. All I’m saying is I would recommend SafetyWing for people who are travelling to NZ and are considering it.
RECOMMENDED READING
The Incredible Fly by Wire
I grew up knowing about this, and in 2019 it finally reopened to the public! It’s the most bizarre yet fun alternative to bungy jumping.
The Mount Victoria Lookout
When you’re in Wellington, you really do need to check out the Mount Victoria Lookout for sunset. It’s touristy, but it’s free and you won’t regret it.
200+ Things to do in New Zealand
Ideas are worth there weight in gold…someone said that. Scan through this list, and pick out the golden activities you’ve never seen before.
Hey, it’s Jub here. I’m the guy behind Chur New Zealand, helping you have the best time hiking, trekking, walking…whatever you want to call it…in NZ. I’m based in Queenstown and am always out and about exploring trails, old & new. If you have any questions, reach out.