Choosing the right insurance for digital nomads

The term "digital nomad" usually conjures up an image of a globetrotting remote worker typing away on his laptop in a picturesque seaside café. But while this lifestyle offers undeniable benefits, it also comes with a number of challenges.

These include travel complications, social isolation and loneliness, infrastructure issues, and a pervasive sense of unpredictability. However, these challenges pale in comparison to the health issues digital nomads face.

Maintaining one's physical and mental well-being on the go can be a daunting task, ranging from finding a gym, a spot to meditate, or healthy food that suits one's dietary needs and preferences, to overcoming language barriers in seeking medical treatment, unexpected hospitalizations, and medication needs.

There are many solutions out there to ensure that digital nomads can enjoy their travels without being hindered by health issues. However, not all of them have been developed by people who have lived this lifestyle and have a thorough understanding of the health concerns of this group of travelers, especially when it comes to travel health insurance.

Genki is one of the platforms founded by digital nomads that offer travel and international health insurance specifically tailored to the needs of frequent and long-term travelers and expats.

From a scooter accident in Thailand, dengue fever in Bali, an ear infection in Vietnam to a surfing accident in South Africa, a broken foot in Spain, and COVID-19, Genki says it's got you covered, and the ability to customize your insurance plan makes it even more attractive.

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In an interview with Flatio, Neville A. Mehra, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Genki, talked about the inspiration behind their platform, their mission to be a health partner for nomads, what sets them apart from similar solutions, and what nomads should consider when choosing travel health insurance.

He also shared his experience as a long-time digital nomad, the skills needed to maintain this lifestyle, tips for finding the right accommodation for rent, and his bucket list.

Read the full interview below, which can help you make more informed decisions on your nomadic journey, especially when it comes to your most valuable asset—your health.

What was the inspiration for Genki?

Being a digital nomad is an amazing lifestyle with some incredible benefits, like getting to travel the world, experience different places and cultures, and break free from the “default path”.

But there are some challenges too, of course. As a nomad, practically everything related to your health gets more complicated and difficult.

When you spend an extended time living and traveling across different countries, you’re probably not covered by your health insurance from back home anymore.

And if you have some medical issue while traveling, it can be difficult to find a trusted doctor, especially if you don’t speak the local language. Getting medicine can be a challenge as well.

But even if nothing “goes wrong”, just taking care of your health tends to be more difficult too as a nomad. All of your healthy habits and routines, like going to the gym or your favorite local yoga class, break every time you change locations.

If you follow some special diet (keto, vegan, etc) or just like to eat healthy, it’s harder to do that in an unfamiliar place. You have to find all of the local spots that cater to your needs.

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And being a nomad can be stressful at times, which can lead to burn out. It can be lonely too. You don’t have your family nearby. And your friends from back home might not be able to understand or empathize with what you’re going through.

Our mission at Genki is to be a health partner for nomads. We want to help you be well and take great care of your health wherever you go in the world.

Why did you draw inspiration from the Japanese language when naming your company?

Genki in Japanese means “healthy and full of energy or spirit”. The “ki” is something like “lifeforce” (same as “chi” in Chinese and “prana” that you hear in Yoga classes).

That all resonates with our more holistic view of health. We all want to be full of life force!

What are three things to consider when choosing travel health insurance?

1. Your travel pattern:

Are you leaving your home country for a short trip, or are you planning to travel long-term, perhaps with an open-ended itinerary?

Most travel health insurance is designed for short trips. They expect you to know all the details in advance, like when and where you’re going, and when you’re coming back. And they often have limitations on how long you can spend outside of your home country on any given trip (read the fine print, especially if you’re planning to rely on travel insurance that was bundled in with a credit card or bank account).

As nomads, we want to be flexible!

We want to be able to travel for as long as we want. We don’t really think in terms of “trips” with defined start and end dates. And we want to be able to visit any country, even if it wasn’t in our original plans.

2. What’s covered:

Travel health insurance should cover any medical expenses that you incur while traveling, including

doctor visits
hospitalization
emergency medical care
medical evacuation
repatriation

Pre-existing conditions will normally be excluded (not covered), but keep an eye out for any other exclusions or limitations. For example, sports are often excluded. Make sure that the insurance you choose actually covers the activities you’re planning to do.

Be wary also of any cost limits or “maximum benefit amounts” for medical treatment. Note that if you’re planning to apply for a visa, you may be required to show that you have at least a certain amount of medical cover.

3. What other health cover do you have available?

For example, are you covered by a national health system in your home country, or do you have some other health insurance?

Typically, travel health insurance is meant as a supplement to these other types of health cover. It can cover you in places and situations that your other health cover does not.

However, travel health insurance is still based on the idea that you are “going back home” at some point, and that your travel health insurance cover will end when you do.

So, if you are traveling long-term, and you don’t have any other type of health cover, then you could consider International Health Insurance (like our Genki Explorer).

How is Genki’s insurance different? What are the benefits for digital nomads?

Genki offers health insurance made for nomads and long-term travelers. Our insurance covers every single country, and is available to citizens of any country.

Our travel health insurance is a flexible monthly subscription, good for 1 month up to 2 years of travel.

We make it super easy to sign up online in just a couple of minutes. You can do it from anywhere in the world, even if you’re already traveling. There’s no need for a physical address. No paperwork to mail.

We cover accidents, emergencies, and any medically necessary treatment while traveling, as well as medical transport, repatriation, medication, and even some limited cover for pregnancy, emergency dental treatment, and initial treatment of mental health.

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Almost all sports and other activities are covered as well. Surfing, kitesurfing, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking, cycling, mountain biking, and hiking, for example, are all covered.

If you need medical treatment, you can choose any locally licensed doctor or hospital wherever you are in the world. And we offer a 24/7 emergency assistance hotline. They can help with monitoring the quality of care you receive, arranging medical transport if needed, and setting up direct payment from the insurance company to the hospital.

We also offer Genki Resident, our international health insurance. It includes all of the same great benefits, as well as even more cover for things like pregnancy and childbirth, physiotherapy, alternative medicine, as well as optional additional cover for preventive care (checkups and vaccines) and much more.

Our international health insurance is perfect for expats and long-term travelers, as there is no maximum length, so you can stay covered for the rest of your life.

What are you most proud of when it comes to your work at Genki?

I’m most proud of our team for taking what tends to be a complicated topic (insurance) and making it much easier to understand, more transparent, and user-friendly. But we’re just getting started. We have lots more planned!

What are the most important soft skills and hard skills for digital nomads?

Adaptability. Becoming a nomad is all about breaking your routine. That’s both the best part and the worst part. It’s fun to visit new places and try different ways of living. But it’s frustrating when the wifi doesn’t work or the power’s out, or there’s some other issue that pops up.

Those things are going to happen. The key is learning to deal with it when it does, and be ready with plan B, C, D, etc.

At a more fundamental level, to be a digital nomad I think you need to have some kind of useful skill. That could be coding, design, writing, teaching, translating, accounting, or anything else that you can do online from wherever you are.

And you need to be able to sell. Whether that’s selling your skill to a potential employer. Or using your skills to build a business, which you then have to sell to customers.

What are the best lessons you've learned when it comes to renting accommodation as a digital nomad?

Listings and photos can be deceiving. If something is important to you (e.g. a solid internet connection or a particular piece of furniture) make sure to message the host and ask about it before booking.

This serves two purposes: it helps you avoid any problems in advance, and it gives you a sense of who you’re going to be dealing with (do they reply quickly? Are they friendly and helpful?).

What tip do you have for maintaining a healthy routine as a digital nomad?

The one thing that fixes most problems as a nomad is: travel slower.

The longer you spend in each place, the easier it will be to get into a good rhythm with work, life, enjoying your surroundings, and healthy habits.

It’s nice if you can also combine enjoying your destination and working out. Go for a run or bike ride around the city. Or, my personal favorite, try to find parks with little calisthenics stations so you can exercise outside.

On days when I’m stuck in front of a computer for long stretches of time, I try to break it up by working in pomodoros - 40 minutes of work and then a 5 min break. Do as many pushups as you can during the breaks.

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You've lived and worked in more than 50 countries. What makes a place feel like home?

Traveling with my family and being able to make my coffee, my way.

Which of those countries was most different from the environment you grew up in?

It’s hard to pick one… I grew up in the suburbs in the U.S. Life was quiet, comfortable, and boring.

So, for the sake of contrast, I love visiting bustling, chaotic cities like Delhi and Bangkok, or the medina in Marrakech.

I suppose the following way of thinking is horribly colonial, but in my mind there’s an axis that goes from undeveloped on one end to modern and familiar on the other.

And Tokyo is super fascinating because it is simultaneously very modern, but also clearly not familiar in the way that North America and Europe are to me. And that makes it all the more interesting to explore.

What's on your bucket list that you'd regret if you didn't check it off in the next two years?

More travel, of course. I’d love to visit Iran (mostly for the food!). And I would love to spend more time in India, especially in the hill stations up North.

To learn more about Genki and their products, visit their website.

Photo credits: Genki & Neville A. Mehra

Choosing the Right Insurance for Your Nomadic Journey: Insights from Genki—The Digital Nomad's ‘Health Partner’