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If you are going on a holiday inside the country or out of the country, you need to seriously consider travel insurance. Travel insurance is a system much like private insurance in any other industry, and much like an automobile, you are insured a certain amount. You have a deductible and a co-pay that you are accountable for, and then your insurance company will then begin to make payments towards your expenses in case of an accident. You can be insured for different things and for different amounts of time, all of which will affect your premiums, deductibles, and copays, so here are what some of those things mean.
Premiums
If you are insured, you have typically three different kinds of expenses: premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. Your premium is the amount of money you pay regularly to stay on your insurance plan, and is the amount of money you have to pay for the plan itself, essentially. For an automobile insurance plan, you’ll likely pay every month, but the premium payments for travel insurance are often lump sums.
For example, single trip insurance is more often a lump sum payment, but recurring trip insurance is usually handled in a more traditional manner with monthly payments. That’s not a hard and fast rule, though. If you compare different plans from different companies, you’ll be able to find out what is normal as well as what you can expect from different companies. You can visit a medical travel insurance comparison site to find out what types of premium plans are available.
Deductibles
The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay before you get to use your insurance at all. What that means is that a plan with a £1000 deductible will not pay for any expenses until after you pay £1000 towards the expenses you need covered. Only then will your insurance plan will start contributing to the expenses for which you purchased it. The point of a deductible is to prevent people from buying into an insurance plan and then instantly making a claim.
Insurance companies say it is a way for them to protect themselves against fraud and abuse, but in reality, it’s a way for them to take money from customers without ever paying out. In many cases, the deductibles are higher than the expected expenses. That’s why it’s so important to compare different types of insurance. You should find one with a low deductible and a low co-pay.
Co-Pays
The last type of expense is the co-pay. Co-pays are a flat fee that you have to pay for every interaction with something that would be covered by your insurance. In many cases, it is printed directly on the insurance card itself. The co-pay is a way to discourage people from going to the doctor or to getting their car repaired very frequently, which would cost the insurer money. Instead, they spread some of those costs back to the customer.
You need to look for a plan that has a low co-pay or no co-pay at all. It’s important because you should not have to pay for your insurance plan three times. There’s not much you can do about it, however. The only thing you can do is shop around.
Those are the basic expenses of an insurance plan. Those are the things you need to look for in terms of pricing, however, there are also services you need to look for.
Pre-Existing Conditions
Pre-existing conditions are health conditions that you have before you buy insurance. These are chronic conditions that will not quickly go away. In many cases, a pre-existing condition is a persistent condition that does not necessarily have to be very disruptive to your life. For example, a prior heart attack could be considered a pre-existing condition even if it no longer has much effect on your life.
There are two things you need to look for: you need to look for what counts as a pre-existing condition and whether those conditions are covered. Many companies will cover the conditions but they will charge exorbitant amounts. That goes back to their pricing and money-making model.
Insurance companies take money from customers and then pay it out when customers make claims, but they need to take more money than they pay out. Therefore, they want as many people in the pool who are unlikely to make a claim, as those with pre-existing conditions are more likely to make a claim, though that means they have to pay more. The same is true of Over-65 insurance plans.
Over-65 Insurance
Much like those with pre-existing conditions, those who are over 65 are considered more likely to make a claim. Because of that, insurance companies charge them much more if they cover them at all. When you are comparing medical travel insurance, you need to make sure you look for how those who are over 65 are handled. In most cases, they are charged more than younger people: they have higher premiums, higher deductibles, and higher co-pays, and in some cases, it is prohibitively expensive.
Dangerous Activity Coverage
Though the verbiage sometimes changes, every insurance company has some kind of provisions for what it deems to be dangerous activity. That typically means anything involving sports, automobiles, or adventure. Depending on the insurance company, hiking is considered a dangerous activity. Mountain biking, skiing, and other types of sports are also dangerous.
As stated earlier, they are looking for people unlikely to make a claim. Someone biking down a mountain is much more likely to get hurt and therefore make a claim. There are many different ways that they are charged more. In many cases, they are charged higher premiums, deductibles, and co-pays.
There are also separate plans offered, however, and you might be able to buy a separate, additional plan that covers the kind of sport you want to do. The separate plan route is chosen by many people who are seeking sports coverage or cancellation coverage. Cancellation coverage covers you in case you have to cancel your trip or cut it short. You can sometimes make a claim.
There are dozens of different kinds of insurance. What’s most important is determining what you need and comparing plans across companies.
