For those unfamiliar with the world of insurance, the deductible is certainly not an evidence. Along with the benefits of the plan and the insurance premium, the deductible is one of the important things to consider when buying an insurance. Here is a short practical guide explaining what exactly a deductible is, and how it works.
Definition of a Health Insurance deductible
A deductible is an out-of-pocket expense, it can be defined as the amount of money the insured person pays from his own pocket before the insurance company starts to reimburse costs of treatments. The insured can choose the deductible he is willing to pay.
Please note that the higher the deductible is, the lower the monthly premium of the insurance plan will be, and vice versa. This is a win-win situation where the insurer will not need to process small claims until they reach a certain threshold, and the insured benefits from a lower monthly premium fee. Deductibles are perfect for anyone seeking an international health insurance that will cover mid to high-cost expenditures but willing to pay for the low cost one (until the deductible amount is reached).
A deductible should not be confused with a co-payment which is the out-of pocket participation of the insured for each and every claim.
A concrete example of how a deductible works
Deductible is something really easy to understand. Let us pretend that your insurance plan’s yearly deductible is 1.000€. This means that you will pay all medical expenses until you reach 1.000€. Above that amount, the insurance will start reimbursing expenses related to the invoices it received.
Be aware that some deductibles can be non-comprehensive, meaning that they do not apply on all medical treatments. For example, dental or vision treatments can be excluded for deductibles. Make sure to have all the necessary information before contracting with an insurance company. There could easily be limitations within some group benefits for example.
Insurance plan with no deductible?
There is of course no obligation to subscribe a health insurance plan with deductible. But, not taking advantage of it will likely have a direct impact on the premium amount.
It can also happen that people forget they have deductibles in their insurance plan. They will usually realise that when claiming as they will end up with a lower, or no, reimbursement. This will be caused by the fact that amount of the deductibles is either not reached or partly reached.
How about deductibles in Foyer Global Health plans?
We have designed our deductible conditions very simply in order to give you a clear idea of the financial impact it would have on your plans, in contrary to some products in the insurance market.
Foyer Global Health allows you to choose between 0, 250, 500 or 1000 euros of deductibles. These apply for one year of insurance enrolment and only for outpatient treatments (i.e. visit at the doctor or specialists, not hospital stay).
If you want to enrol a health insurance policy for your whole family with Foyer Global Health, then you benefit from complete freedom if you want to have different (or no) deductibles for each family member. It’s very simple, all you need to do is notify us when subscribing!
Should you already have an expatriation project and want to know how much your insurance policy would exactly cost you with, or without, deductibles, then we encourage you to compare our plans and get a quote from Foyer Global Health. It is easy, fully online, and will take less than 30 seconds.
