Katie avoided doctors for 6 years....until Nomad Citizen

I became based in France in September 2025, living there full-time, working full-time. Right now I'm traveling back to the United States over the summer to see friends and family.

I work at the world's greatest remote startup that I love, and it's been all my dreams come true. It's actually kind of a crazy story.

Before I found SafetyWing, I was working at a doctor's office. The only thing getting us through the year was planning a vacation to go travel, and we could really only do it maybe once a year. I realized just how unhappy I was. I had no fulfillment. I was commuting an hour each way, spending more time with my co-workers than with my husband or my family. It took a huge toll on my mental health.

One Friday night, my husband sat me down and said, "I want you to list everything you want in a job because you're so miserable." I said I needed to feel like I'm working towards something that helps other people. My last job was as a travel agent for people going on NGO and humanitarian projects, so I had a lot of fulfillment with that. And I said, "I don't know if this is even possible, but I'd love to have a job where I could travel and work full-time."

The next day, he found SafetyWing: he was looking for travel insurance for this one vacation a year that we were going to take. He said, "Hey, have a look at this travel insurance. Let me know if it looks good." I started reading about the mission, and I'll never forget screaming from the other room, "Have you read what these people are doing? This is such a brilliant concept. I can't believe nobody's thought of this before."

I ended up getting a job at SafetyWing. At first I was nervous about working from a different location because I wanted to be sure I could still do a good job. Then my husband started studying French, we traveled to France, and he absolutely loved the country. When we had an opportunity to actually test moving there, I've just never felt so lucky in my life that I could take my job and go. The freedom and flexibility has significantly improved my creative thinking and my productivity. I feel like I've got my whole life back since I was able to work remotely. We moved to France in September of last year, and I've been able to work and still live my life.

I typically call myself a remote worker. I think what makes remote work so beautiful is that at my last job, I was commuting an hour each way and spending more time with co-workers than with my family. There was no choice. With remote work, I can have lunch with my husband. One of the things that brings me extreme joy is when I'm on a call with a coworker and I see their cat, or they bring their son on a call, and I get to meet these people from all over the world.

I think digital nomads are super cool, but when I think of that, the focus is on traveling and trying new places. There's this brand of "I can work from a beach, I can work from anywhere." And that is cool, but a lot of people think, "Am I really a part of this if I'm not traveling full-time?" There's this growing community of people who are just remote workers. I'm typically in one place, but because I work remotely, I get to have so much more freedom in my life. It really feels like I've taken my entire life back.

It's not so much that you can spend your year traveling, it's that you have full control over your time, where you spend it, how you spend it.

The number one thing is people saying, "Oh, because you work remotely, I bet you just take naps all the time. I would be in my pajamas. I wouldn't do anything." It's so funny how it has the exact opposite effect. Because I'm given so much freedom, so much autonomy, so much creativity, it drives me in a very positive way to want to work more. It gives me so much passion. There are days when I think I'm tired and have one more call, but the second I get on that call and meet somebody and hear their remote story, I have this deep passion that ignites. I often work more than I'd like — certainly more than when I worked in an office.

This is a very personal story. When I first started dating my husband, he opened up pretty early that he's a Type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at 12. Unfortunately, healthcare is so often dependent on your employment status. His parents basically told him, "We don't care what you want to do as a job. You have to get good grades, go to university, and get a job with healthcare because we can't support you forever."

His dream was to be an airline pilot, but you can't do that when you're Type 1 diabetic because you could pass out. So immediately his entire life choices were restricted. When we met and he told me this, I was super inspired to find any way I could to give him more freedom of choice in his life.

He had never left the country before we met. We went on our first international trip, and he immediately fell in love. I'll never forget seeing his face the first time we went to Iceland. He got off the plane and said, "This is everything I wanted it to be and so much more." But he was always concerned that if he ever had a health issue while traveling, it would be very expensive.

Then we found SafetyWing, and it was this crazy combination of magic happening. I started working there, and immediately I was able to give him not only freedom of choice in how to live his life but also healthcare. The simple fact that we can be anywhere and I know that if he loses his insulin or it goes bad or somebody steals his bag — it's a whole mindset change. I don't have to worry about his basic needs. It's my greatest sense of accomplishment that I get to work this job I love and give the person I love the most this huge freedom to travel and do what he wants. Unfortunately he still can't be an airline pilot, but he doesn't have to have a job he hates just for the healthcare anymore.

I was given a choice and I knew immediately that I wanted Nomad Citizen. I still have this crystal clear memory of sitting in a recliner and reading about SafetyWing's vision of building a country on the internet and screaming, "I can't believe what these people are doing. Not only is it genius, not only is it an amazing business plan, but it's actually going to change the world."

As soon as we went to France, I was able to sign up. The benefits are amazing, but it's so much more than that. I feel like I'm part of something way bigger than myself. I feel like I'm part of a community. I love the idea that I'm getting my hands dirty and building this city from the bricks.

I did have to put my husband on the plan at our own cost, but both of us were like, "This is super worth it." Not just because the benefits are amazing, but to be part of this country that's starting. I would pay for it even if it wasn't covered by SafetyWing.

About five or six years ago, I was playing rugby and injured my knee. It never got better. I talked to a couple of doctors and they just said, "If you want it to be better, you have to get surgery." That never sat well with me. I talked to yoga teachers, my massage therapist — I just never wanted to go back to a doctor because I couldn't afford it. I didn't want to pay $300 to have somebody tell me I need a $50,000 surgery. So I just dealt with the pain.

It got to the point where I couldn't do a third of my yoga classes because I was in too much pain. I had to stop running entirely. It was really bad.

When we moved to France, I met a friend at an English exchange night who is getting his PhD in biomechanics, focused on athletic podiatry. I mentioned my knee pain and he said, "Come to my clinic." I kept thinking it was going to be so expensive, but I thought, "I'll give it a try because now I have Nomad Citizen. Worst case, if he says I need surgery, I'm not out anything."

He ran a bunch of tests, made me custom insoles, gave me exercises. I used my SafetyWing card. That night I took pictures of my medical notes, and it was approved in 24 hours and my balance restored. 

I would have never done it without Nomad Citizen. Five months later, I have almost no knee pain for the first time in six years. And I didn't need surgery.

We had US insurance before with a $6,000 deductible, so we spent at least that much on healthcare every year. The two things I've used the most with Nomad Citizen are doctor's visits and the wellness therapies. The massages are great, but I also used it to visit a naturopath, which is super popular in France. She helped me clean up my diet, gave me a nutrition plan, breathing exercises. It's something I would not have tried if I didn't have Nomad Citizen. I've been on the nutrition plan for almost two months and I'm already noticing a huge difference in my health, my anxiety, and my mental clarity.

After I filed my first claim and realized how easy it was, the biggest difference is that I trust if I want or need to go to the doctor, it's going to be covered.

I'd say it's great for somebody living outside their home country, especially someone in a country without a strong social system. For me it's so much more than just healthcare because it has income protection and life insurance too.

My podiatrist friend is Guadeloupian but lives in France. He was super interested in the product, but when I told him it was $400 a month, he said he could see the value, but with France's social system he could get private coverage for less. But he's actually still interested because as a clinic owner, he's basically his own business owner. He told me that going after solo entrepreneurs would be a really good move.

My husband just filed a claim for medication and the money was back in our bank account before it was even fully processed, in less than a day. He said, "This is bananas."

The SafetyWing debit card in general is memorable. When it's my own money, I'm less likely to file a claim because I spend the money and forget about it. But I'm somehow psychologically incentivized to keep my payment card topped up to $500. It's like a game: I want to file the claim so I can get my balance back.