Health insurance is the least exciting part of planning nomad life, and the most expensive part to get wrong. A hospital stay abroad can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the difference between a policy that covers it and one that does not often comes down to clauses nobody reads until they need them. Before you buy, check five things, in this order.

Travel insurance is designed for short trips: it covers emergencies, trip cancellations, and lost luggage, usually for a limited period and with a requirement that you have a home country to return to. Long-term nomads often fall outside its terms without realising it, because the policy assumes a return date and a home healthcare system behind it. If you have no fixed home base, travel insurance may not cover you at all.

International health insurance, sometimes called expatriate insurance, is designed for people living abroad for months or years. It covers routine care as well as emergencies, usually with a choice of coverage regions, and it does not require a return ticket. It costs more, but it covers the situations nomads actually face: a doctor's visit in month four, a dental emergency, ongoing treatment, not just a dramatic evacuation.

If you need medical care while abroad, the first call should be to your insurer's emergency line, not to the nearest hospital's billing desk. The insurer can direct you to a facility with a direct-billing arrangement, authorise treatment in advance, and arrange evacuation if needed. Calling first can be the difference between a covered bill and a rejected claim, and most policies require notification within a set window, sometimes as short as 24 hours for hospital admissions.

Keep a small emergency kit ready before you travel: your policy number and emergency number saved offline, a copy of your passport, a list of your medications and allergies in English and, if possible, the local language, and the address of the nearest reputable hospital at each base. In a real emergency you will not be calmly searching email for a policy document, so having these details on your phone's lock screen or in a printed card is a small preparation that pays for itself the one time it matters.