4 Easy Ways To Reduce The Cost of International Health Insurance
Leaping to either work or start living abroad can be both exciting and frightening. It can be exciting because of all the different possibilities that the new chapter in your life will open up.
And it can be frightening mainly because you will be leaving essentially everything familiar to you and plunging yourself into a different environment, and one which carries its own special set of risks.
The good news is that with a good international health insurance plan, you can significantly reduce the risks that may come with your new adventure.
This is because such a plan will give you reliable coverage concerning routine healthcare checks and emergency care, something that will go a long way towards giving you the peace of mind that is necessary to ensure that you enjoy the new chapter in your life.
However, most people who are traveling to new regions around the world tend to shy away from taking out international health insurance because of cost considerations.
As it turns out, this shouldn’t be the case because there are simple ways in which a person can significantly reduce these costs.
Here are the best tips that will come in handy in helping you to make international health insurance more affordable for you and your family.
Excluding US Coverage
International health insurance: Extending your US insurance coverage
If you are going to be living abroad for a significant part of the period in which you are seeking to get covered, then there is no need to get coverage in the US.
Including US coverage will needlessly increase the amount that you have to pay, especially when you consider the fact that healthcare costs in the US tend to rank among the highest in the world.
Furthermore, even if you aren’t planning on staying abroad for an extended period, you can always seek additional coverage once you get back to the USA.
Most companies that provide international health insurance coverage offer plans that exclude coverage in the US. These plans tend to be more affordable. Therefore, choosing such a plan can go a long way towards reducing your overall insurance costs.
Taking advantage of deductibles
When you increase your deductible, you will be essentially offering to cover a little bit more of the cost of your healthcare up to a given amount.
Doing so essentially reduces the financial risk that the insurance provider is taking in providing you with coverage.
And since the risk is something that is usually factored in when calculating the total amount of premiums, this will help to reduce the amount of the premiums that you end up paying.
Therefore, if you think that the amount you will be spending to get covered is too high, simply offer to pay a higher deductible.
Being selective about the paying plan
Be selective when choosing international health insurance
To make it more manageable for their customers, insurance companies typically offer monthly and quarterly premium payment plans. While these payment plans may seem more convenient, they tend to be more expensive.
Therefore, if you are planning on staying abroad for more than a year, opting to pay your premiums on an annual basis and upfront is a good way to save money.
Doing so will likely save you about 5% of the total cost of coverage, and if your insurer’s plans do not have the possibility of such savings, you may want to switch companies.
Opting out of extra medical options
Generally, the more aspects of your life that a given plan covers, the more the plan is likely to cost.
Therefore, you can save money by simply opting out of extras that do not apply to you, or ones that are not as central to your health.
For example, while a plan may offer attractive options such as international and dental coverage, you can opt out of such an option simply because you can cover these expenses out-of-pocket.
Furthermore, in some countries, you can get dental coverage at extremely low costs and the risks associated with a local cover for your dental health may not be as significant.
While it is great to reduce the cost of your cover, it is always good to remember not to focus on getting the cheapest coverage you can find.
Most companies that offer the cheapest insurance packages tend to provide poor and unreliable cover from the risks that come with living abroad.
Therefore, even when using these tips, your goal should always be to ensure that you get quality coverage at the most affordable rate.
