Health Insurance for Europeans?

I'm preparing my Portuguese D7 long-term visa application and one of the required documents is proof of travel insurance with medical coverage. However, as an Australian citizen, if put that as my country of residence in many travel insurance companies' quick quote forms, I'm unable to get ANY insurance coverage at all because of the current travel ban out of Australia, and the Australian govt's 'Do Not Travel' advice to ALL countries. I know that Aussies are applying for, and successfully getting visas from the Portuguese Consulate here, so where and how are they fulfilling this insurance requirement if insurers aren't selling any coverage? Does anybody know or have any ideas?

Hi guys ! hope you are doing well.

I would love to get your feedback regarding the best insurance for digital nomads. i'm traveling around Asia since 1 year and for next 4 or 5 years. Would love to buy an insurance to cover especially :

- health

- laptop, phone ...

- Flights

I would like to avoid having to come right back home, ya know? <3

I plan to be in Bali a lot, but if this is a terrible time to go,
it could stunt my future plans of being in Bali for an extended period of time.

Would love to see you guys! <3

@valentineworld

Hi,
I’m looking for travel insurance that I can use for work. I’m in the US now, but am moving to Portugal. I’m looking for travel insurance that I can buy to recover travel costs if my plans change for any reason. World Nomad looks good, but they don’t have the ‘Any Reason’ part. I found a helpful article on The Points Guy site, but for all the policies there, you have to be a US resident and I wouldn’t be then.
Any suggestions?

Hi! I’m still struggling to figure out how to handle health insurance.

What handy guides have you found to help figure out USA health care?

I’m struggling with:

• When it’s okay/wise to go without coverage while abroad, these days.
• What other type of insurance I want while traveling, and whether it needs to be a supplement to USA insurance or if it can be a replacement.
• Etc.

Above all, I think I want out. I wonder about success stories in moving to some other system/location, and the method you’d recommend: additional citizenship, a special visa, etc.

I have searched this topic and struggled with it, so summaries and clarity are super helpful. I appreciate any and all help with this. Thanks so much!

Any US nomads found health insurance with global coverage? My current approach has been to have US health insurance, essentially a waste of money but if I ever got very sick I could go home and have coverage. My actual healthcare is a combination of travel insurance (haven’t really used it much though) and paying cash in cheap places like SE Asia and Latin America. The cobbled together approach is neither simple nor very cost-effective. Love to find a product with global coverage that also satisfies Obamacare requirements. Any leads?

I will go on a working holiday to Berlin from this October.
Maybe I will fly to Romania, Poland, Hungary or Portugal after spending several months in Germany, if my budget will get tighter.

I’m considering Safetywing/.com for my insurance because it covers anywhere in the world with a good price. The problem is, German embassy requires females to sign an insurance covers medical cost for pregnancy for a working holiday visa.

People in my country write about Care College from Care Concept (care-concept/.de) , but I think it’s valid only when you’re in Germany.

I wonder if there’s any an add-on (free-plan) insurance for pregnancy.
Alternatively, an equivalent insurance with support of pregnancy, and same price range as Safetywing/.com.

Thank you!

I’m a professional psychotherapist who is starting out in this lifestyle and I’m curious to hear what specific psychological struggles people had to overcome while making the transition to life as a DM. Also, what do you do to stay mentally healthy while traveling to foreign lands. I’m interested in hearing any insights people may have, especially since I am working on a book on psychological resilience and I can’t think of a more stressful transition than moving from a static to a nomadic lifestyle. If you’re not comfortable putting your experiences on a public forum, feel free to PM me.

I’m wondering how Digital Nomads with pre-existing conditions insure themselves.

I’m German and most of the German DNs I know keep their primary residence in Germany and go with private health insurance (~150-250€/month) + travel insurance (<50€/month). Sadly that’s not possible for people with pre-existing conditions; those (at least in Germany) are required to voluntarily insure themselves with the governmental healthcare providers at 15.7% of pretax revenue (min. ~350/month, max. ~850€/month).
Probably most other European states work in similar fashion?

The last few years I have gotten along by tricking a little (staying registered as a student), but I’m soon hitting the age limit where that’s not possible anymore and am now looking at either incorporating and paying myself a fixed salary or getting a residency in another European country with a (for self-employed people) more accessible public health system (my main focus is on Portugal’s NHR regime).

Does anyone else here have/had a similar problem? I wonder how others have solved this issue.

Ok, I was just writing a PM here on banks and the question popped in my head. I am not a digital nomad, but I am very close to that way of living, in the sense that I don’t want to commit to any specific physical location, long term investment (maybe only private pension), long term in general actually.

Now, I use Deutsche Bank. Nothing against them, but:

• I hate to have an account manager that calls me telling me I should invest my money
• The online banking is good but not great
• Services are ok, but I don’t use most of them and the one I would like (online everything please) are not there

So, I was wondering if any of you is happy with any of the digital banks out there? Criteria for a good online bank:

• minimal paperwork
• no account manager
• 90% async communication (I call them, they call me only if the house is on fire)
• they don’t request a physical address and they DO NOT SEND PAPER STUFF to my mailbox

Anything like this?

Hello,

I’ve been living outside the USA (my original home) for the last 10 years. I only go back occasionally to see family for a short period of time. I’m looking for a health insurance provider that is willing to provide global coverage (USA excluded) with no reimbursement policy that will also cover preexisting conditions.

In the philippines, they will let us die if we can’t work out a payment arrangement (or at minimum pay a deposit). If the bank is closed and I can’t get the money for the deposit, we die.

My current provider (here in the philippines) is blue cross philippines . I’ve grown tired of their incompetence and general ineptitude and am searching for a replacement outside of the philippines.

There is one thing I really like about our health insurance provider. They provide us with a visa card for which we use to charge all of our necessary medical expenses. It’s not a ‘health care credit card’ but our actual ‘proof of insurance card’. The card is issued from our health insurance provider and has all of their markings / logo / information on it as well as a 16 digit visa number, magnetic stripe and visa logo on the card.

Does anyone know of a health insurance company that will direct settle by giving the insured a visa / master / amex / etc card to charge their related medical expenses to?

I have been sent a short term contract to do a remote trial for a Canadian company. I am pretty new to the contracting game and in the past I’ve only contracted locally in New Zealand and the most I ever signed was an NDA.

I’m pretty wary of the North American legal system, where people make a living off suing or encouraging people to sue. I hope this will never be the case for me, but I want to be smart and cover myself.

Who are the top local or international insurance companies offering affordable packages for NZ contractors working for NZ and international companies?

Thanks,
Dan

I’m on a RTW trip with my family for a year. We’re in a new country every few weeks or so. World Nomads seems to be the most popular company but they have horrendous reviews regarding payment of claims. I’d love to hear of other options people have experience with - or if you’ve had a positive outcome with World Nomads. Thanks all.

I’m planning to leave the US in May, travel for at least a year, maybe longer, and it is unclear, if I’m going back to the US at all, except for brief visits.

Looking at WorldNomads I seem to be covered for pretty much anything bad that could happen. But what happens, if I have to be transported back to US? If I understand correctly, WorldNomads is out at that point and I’m left with whatever insurance I have there.

How do you deal with this?

I support ObamaCare, but I don’t understand about the requirement that USA citizens must now have health insurance. I just got a new plan, and they don’t support any medical needs when I’m out of the country! So, if working abroad 6 months of year, how do I NOT pay insurance for those months and NOT get a tax penalty? FYI, I’ll be in a pretty high tax bracket in 2016.

Thanks!

Please share your tips for keeping healthy while travelling. My 2 favourites, that have helped my out numerous times are:

1. Probiotics to avoid stomach complaints (yakult, yoghurt, kimchi, etc)
2. Red/raspberry fanta to settle stomach issues. May not work all the time but a couple of bottles of red fanta early on has not failed in settling my stomach.

Hi there, anyone working as a nomad in the biotech / e-health / digital health field?
Would be interested in your story and how you are earning money.

Hey everyone,

I am brand new to this forum, so apologies if this topic has been covered elsewhere. I will be in Koh Phangan from 10 February to 9 March 2015 (1 month). I have a few questions for past or present KP nomads:

1. What’s the accommodation situation like and the best way to find it? I’d prefer a studio/one bedroom apartment, but happy with a Bungalow too, and would consider sharing a house with cool people. I’m not too precious but do need air conditioning and quiet (not a party person and I value my sleep very much). Preferably nearish to Cocohut Resort, as my friend will be staying there for a week, but this isn’t essential. Budget flexible but let’s nominate 15,000 baht to put a figure on it.

2. I’m a reformed fatty and besides working on my computer, healthy living is my biggest priority for the month. Is there a gym anyone would recommend? Just need lots of free weights and some space. What about outdoor activities, like mountain running or beach bootcamp torture? Up for anything. Also healthy eating? I’m not too fussy with food, and just try to stick primarily to lean meats, vegetables/salad and fruit.

3. From my limited research into the island, Koh Space seems like the place to work from, although this might depend on its location to my accommodation. I require a reliable but not particularly speedy internet connection, coffee and comfortable seating. Where do people work from?

4. I’m involved in the glamorous industry of editing and proofreading, mainly academic and book. Would love to connect with editors and writers, especially those looking for casual work, as I may be able to offer some value.

5. Looking forward to meeting people in general and having a productive, healthy and awesome month!

Cheers,
Brendan