Additional Deductible Options and Resulting Higher Discounts
Here are some additional deductible options. Before, the only options available were $50 and $250. Starting February of 2020 standard contract is issued with $0 deductible. If you chose a $100 deductible, you will receive 5% discount of the price shown in the table. There are more options with deductible in the amount of $250, $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000 and disappearing deductible (available only on $25,000 and $50,000 coverage). With a $250 deductible you will receive 10% discount, for $500 deductible your discount is 15%, for $1,000 deductible you will receive a 20% discount, with $5,000 – 35% and 40% discount with a $10,000 deductible from the price shown.
Who may be interested in these amounts of own contributions?
$10,000 will definitely interest those applying for SuperVisa (10-year visa). For example, an insurance for 77 year old parents with the required coverage of $100,000 for one year, will cost $5,037 per person ($13.80 per day x 365 days). For two people that’s $10,074 ($5,037 x 2 = $9,571 with 5% discount from the company). In order to process this invitation, we need to collect all documents and obtain visitor’s insurance ahead of time, pay over 10 thousand dollars and send it over to consulate. This is the standard procedure. But, there is an alternative way to go about this. We can start by paying $3,703.28, obtain the necessary confirmation of medical insurance, send it over to the consulate, receive SuperVisa. What we are doing is we are buying the required insurance to obtain SuperVisa, but only at minimum, without coverage on pre-existing conditions and with a $10,000 own contribution (deductible) instead of standard $0. This type of coverage will be less costy. When the visa is received and you know arrival dates, you can upgrade this coverage to a better one and pay the difference. This can only be done once, prior to your relatives’ arrival.
Another option: $1,000 deductible with the same example. In this case the company will offer you a 20% discount which would be $957. If you decide that you will be covering all the expenses not associated with a hospitalization, this may be interesting for you. As soon as hospitalization is involved, your bill will definitely be over $1,000, and everything over that amount will be covered by insurance. In this case you will cover doctor’s visits, observations, medications, emergency services, if there is no need to be hospitalized overnight. You decide what’s best for you – obtain insurance contract with a deductible of $1,000 and receive a discount of $957 or use a standard deductible option.
Disappearing deductible – only available on coverages of $25,000 (30% discount), $50,000 (25% discount) and $100,000 (20% discount) in case of illness. In case of an unfortunate event (trauma), there will be no deductible.
The disappearing deductible is processed in the amount of $2,500 and works in the following way: as expenses in case of a claim reach an amount of $2,500, the insurance company covers in full all associated medical expenses without a deductible. Meaning you do not pay anything (deductible disappears). But you have to remember that there is a difference from other deductible options. All other deductible options work on a “per policy” basis, disappearing deductible works on a “per claim” basis.
Per Policy – a relative came to visit for a few months and you chose a $1,000 deductible (for example). If the first claim is for $800 and another claim occurs, you will only have to pay $200, the rest is the responsibility of the insurance company.
Per Claim ($2,500 deductible) – means, that if there was a claim and you had to pay $2,000, for the next claim this amount is not taken into an account and you are again responsible for paying a $2,500 deductible.
Let’s look at an example with a $2,500 disappearing deductible. A 77 year old relative is visiting for 6 months. A full coverage with a standard $0 deductible will cost $2,086. The company offers you a 30% discount on a $50,000 coverage. The discount amount is $522. So you pay $1,564 with the following assumptions:
- In case of a trauma, this policy provides coverage with no deductible.
- An elderly person can take care of minor issues on their own, as they are well aware of their illnesses and have all the necessary medication to maintain an ongoing chronic condition.
- Often, even our parents, refuse to go to a doctor, to avoid spending our money. But, if something serious occurs, there are no other options, you have to go and if there is at least 1 night stay, the bill will immediately be over $2,500, as the hospitalization is usually between $2,300 and $4,000, not including necessary operations.
You decide, what is more beneficial to you – to process an insurance contract with a disappearing deductible of $2,500 in case of illness (trauma is covered without deductible) and receive a discount of $522, or a standard deductible option.