Getting sick is one of those things that can quickly take the shine off a trip. It doesn’t need to be life-threatening to make you question what you’re doing, especially if you’re somewhere unfamiliar, far from your usual healthcare system, and without the language skills to easily explain what’s going on.
But to be clear, this wasn’t one of those dramatic stories. No ambulances, no emergency surgery or overnight hospital stays. I had a pretty nasty gastrointestinal infection while travelling in Mexico, and it knocked me sideways for a few days. But it did give me a chance to experience what it’s like to be ill thousands of miles away from home and any support, lucky me. It takes a lot for me to cave and visit the doctor, typical bloke, so this was painful enough to go through the motions.
It also gave me the opportunity to use my health insurance, Genki Explorer, for the first time — and since you rarely see people posting anything other than horror stories about nomad insurance (search for SafetyWing in r/DigitalNomad), I figured I’d share how it actually went.
Why I went with Genki
There’s no shortage of digital nomad insurance providers out there, but SafetyWing and Genki are often the two you’ll hear about the most. Genki is rarely spoken about but SafetyWing definitely dominates the conversation. Unfortunately, a lot of that conversation — especially on Reddit — isn’t great. I have seen too many stories about denied claims and difficult customer service.
So I went with Genki instead.
- Genki Explorer, which is short-term travel insurance designed for digital nomads, gap years, and extended trips up to two years (Now discontinued, see note above)
- Genki Resident, which is more like traditional health insurance, suitable if you’re living in one place long-term and want full coverage, including check-ups and pre-existing conditions
Explorer was a good fit for me. It’s affordable, covers emergencies and unexpected illness (including what you’d need for a digital nomad visa), and doesn’t require a fixed address or long-term commitment. It’s not a replacement for proper health insurance, but for short- to medium-term travel, it’s decent.
So, what actually happens when you get sick?
1. I booked a doctor through AirDoctor
AirDoctor is one of those services I never knew I needed until I started travelling full-time. It’s an app that lets you search for doctors based on your current location, language, required service and whether you want an in-person or video consultation. In my case, I needed an English-speaking doctor for a same-day visit, and AirDoctor made that possible without trawling through random Google Maps listings or sending WhatsApp messages into the void.
In the past, Genki used to integrate directly with AirDoctor, which is how I knew about it. That meant they’d pay the doctor on your behalf and you’d have no transaction to concern yourself with. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case, so you now pay the consultation fee upfront through the app when you book.
Whilst I’m sure my appointment was 3 or 4 times that of a regular doctor; I was guaranteed same-day treatment, didn’t need to register with a practice and, most importantly, no language barrier to concern myself with.
2. The doctor came to my accommodation
I selected a doctor based on language and availability, filled out a quick form with my symptoms and paid for the consultation through the app using my debit card. A few hours later, he arrived at my door.
He asked a few questions and then gave me a diagnosis and prescription. All fairly standard practice, except for the part where he pulled the exact medication I needed out of his bag like some kind of travelling pharmacy. Convenient? Yes. More expensive than a pharmacy? Almost certainly.
Because I paid cash for the medication, I asked him for a handwritten receipt to cover me for my insurance claim. If I’d only needed the consultation, the receipt from AirDoctor would’ve been enough.
Try Air Doctor (aff.)3. I gathered the receipts
So that left me with two different bits of documentation needed for the claim:
- A screenshot of the appointment confirmation from the AirDoctor app (covering the consultation fee I paid online)
- A photo of the handwritten prescription receipt (for the medication I paid for in cash)
It’s important to remember to have records of all expenses, just like any other insurance claim.
4. I submitted the claim via Genki’s platform
Later that evening, once I was vaguely functional again, I opened the Genki website on my phone. That redirected me to Dr. Walter, the insurance provider they work with behind the scenes.
The claim form was a bit long-winded — nothing too painful, but expect to fill out your personal details, dates, location of treatment, description of the incident, and attach the relevant receipts. I uploaded both the screenshot and the handwritten note, confirmed my preferred currency as MXN (more on that later), and hit submit.
5. Claim approved in three working days
I got an email from Dr. Walter confirming the claim had been accepted and letting me know how much I’d be reimbursed. They deducted the standard €50 excess, which is clearly noted in the Explorer policy and approved the rest without any pushback or follow-up.
6. Money arrived three working days after that
The reimbursement hit my account in Euros, not Mexican pesos, despite having requested MXN on the claim form. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world as I use Revolut, so I wasn’t charged any fees and got a decent exchange rate when I converted it myself.
Still, I was short-changed by around 50 pesos (about £2) in the conversion. Not a dealbreaker, but something to keep in mind if you’re relying on being made whole down to the last centavo.
Final thoughts
Would it have been better if Genki still paid directly through AirDoctor? Definitely. That would’ve made the process even smoother and avoided the cashflow and currency conversion stuff. But even without that, I can’t fault the experience.
From doctor at the door to reimbursement in six working days, everything worked as expected. No fine-print exclusions. No chasing. No back-and-forth emails. Just a straightforward process that did what it was supposed to do.
If you’re a digital nomad doing a shorter stint abroad, or you just need insurance to support a visa application, Genki Explorer is a solid choice. It’s not full health insurance, so if you want routine care and pre-existing condition coverage you’ll need Genki Resident or a local plan . But for incident-only cover while you’re on the move? It did the job.
And I lived to fight another day.
