What health insurance do you need for a digital nomad visa?

Two phrases do the heavy lifting on nomad-visa insurance rules: "full coverage" and "no co-payment". Full coverage means the policy pays for the range of care a resident would expect — outpatient visits, hospitalisation, emergencies, and often repatriation — rather than just accidents or trip interruptions. No co-payment (sin copago in Spain) means you don't pay a percentage at the point of care; the insurer covers 100%. Many countries also demand no waiting periods, so the cover is live from your start date, and coverage for the full duration of the visa, not a 90-day travel window.

These conditions exist because the host country is confirming you won't fall back on its public health system. That is also why "equivalent to the public system" shows up in the strict rulebooks: Spain, for instance, wants cover comparable to its Seguridad Social. A plan can be expensive and still fail if it carries a deductible or excludes hospitalisation, so read the exclusions, not just the coverage limit.

For any visa that involves entering the Schengen area, the anchor figure is €30,000 of medical coverage, the same minimum set for Schengen visitor visas, covering emergency treatment, hospitalisation, and repatriation across the zone. Treat it as a floor, not a target: several nomad programs want more, and the qualitative rules — no co-pay, full coverage — matter more than hitting the exact number.

Above that baseline, requirements fragment by country. Spain is among the strictest, insisting on comprehensive cover equivalent to its public system with zero co-payments and no waiting period. Portugal's D8 requires valid private or international cover for the full stay with inpatient hospital care explicitly included. Croatia and Greece require health insurance alongside their income thresholds without always publishing a fixed sum. Because the details shift, the country page for your destination is the authority — confirm the exact wording before you buy.

The most expensive mistake is buying travel insurance when the visa needs health insurance. They are different products. Travel insurance covers sudden, unexpected events for a trip and lapses when you settle; health insurance covers ongoing medical care as a resident. Germany, Spain, Portugal, and France are known to reject policies marketed as travel cover — including SafetyWing's standard Nomad Insurance, World Nomads, and AXA Schengen's low-cost tier — precisely because they read as travel, not health, products.

The fix is to match the product to the visa, not the price. For strict European nomad visas, look at full international health plans — Cigna Global, Genki's resident-grade tiers, IMG, or a compliant local policy — rather than the cheapest travel option. For looser programs and for cover between moves, a nomad travel-health hybrid can be enough. If the consulate's page uses the words "full", "comprehensive", "no co-pay", or "equivalent to the public system", assume a travel policy will be refused.

Costs vary with age, coverage depth, and whether the plan is true health insurance. As rough 2026 anchors: SafetyWing's Nomad Insurance Essential starts around $62.72 per 28 days for ages 18-39, but it is travel-grade and often rejected by strict visas. Genki's subscription plans run from about €48.30 to €180 per month depending on tier, and its higher tiers are built to satisfy visa requirements. Cigna Global, a full international health plan, typically starts near $200 a month and scales up with limits, dental, and pre-existing-condition cover.

Price the policy against what the visa demands, then against your own risk. A cheap plan that gets your application refused costs you the whole visa timeline; a compliant plan that runs €40 a month more is trivial by comparison. If you'll spend real time in-country, weigh a full health plan you can keep long term over a travel product you'll have to replace at renewal.

Consulates want a certificate or policy letter, not a marketing page. It should name you, state the coverage type and limit, confirm no co-payment and no waiting period where required, and show the validity dates covering your intended stay. Buy the policy timed to start on or before your planned entry, and make sure the paperwork explicitly uses the language the consulate asks for — a policy that is compliant but silent on "no co-pay" can still be queried.

Keep the insurance step in sync with the rest of the file. Because some policies can be cancelled or refunded within a cooling-off period, you can buy early enough to submit proof, then keep it running once approved. If you're refused for another reason and reapply, confirm the policy still covers the new dates. And retain the full policy document, not just the summary certificate, in case the consulate asks to see the exclusions.