Visitor health insurance - comprehensive and fixed benefit plans
There are mainly two types of visitors insurance plans available for visitors traveling overseas for a short time. The two types are (a) Fixed benefits or scheduled benefits plan and (b) Comprehensive plans. These plans are offered by reputed insurers, and quite often a single insurer will offer both types of plans, thus giving the customer a wider choice of plans. The main differences between the two types of insurance are
(a) Price
The fixed benefits plans are significantly cheaper than the comprehensive plans. The price difference will depend on the age of the travelers. While the difference in price will be less for younger travelers, the price variation is significant for older travelers. After the age of 50, the fixed benefits plans are usually about half the price of comprehensive plans.
(b) Coverage
The fixed benefits plans have very clearly defined coverages for different ailments. Irrespective of the maximum medical coverage of the fixed benefits plan, this plan will have specific sub-limits within the maximum coverage. For example you can purchase a fixed benefits plan for $50,000/- , with a limit of $3000/- for surgery. Should the traveler have a surgery while insured, and the surgery bill is $10,000/-, the traveler will be responsible for payments greater than the $3000/- limit of the plan. As opposed to this, in a comprehensive plan, the entire surgery bill will be covered after paying the co-insurance component.
In brief, the fixed benefits plans are more affordable when compared to comprehensive plans, however the coverages are also significantly different. Comprehensive plans are definitely recommended for younger travelers given that the price difference is not that significant to justify the lesser coverage. For older travelers, the customer has to make a decision between the lower priced plan with limited coverage with a more expensive plan but with greater coverage.