What is an Excess?
When getting out private healthcare insurance there a few things you can do to reduce your premium. One of the main things ironically is being healthy. Being healthy reduces the probability that you'll make claims on your insurance and this saves your healthcare provider money. As a result the healthier you are the less your premium is going to cost you every month. However many people who get out healthcare insurance get it because they have a medical condition and they want to ensure that they can get the best care and access possible.
In this regard, being healthy isn't very helpful as a way to reduce your premium but thankfully there is another thing you can do to lower premium and that is getting an excess payment on your healthcare policy. An excess payment is when someone contributes to some of the costs of their healthcare claims directly to their provider. So if they have to get a tooth filling for example, they would contribute a set amount of money toward the cost of the measure and the healthcare provider will cover the remaining costs. By doing this they are reducing the amount of money their healthcare provider has to spend and they are rewarded by getting a lower monthly premium on their policy.
Details of Excess Payments
The detail of an insurance policy's excess payment is down to the discretion of the policy provider. They will set how much they require a customer to contribute in their excess payments as well as whether or not there are any limits to their excess payments. So although an excess payment is available for all private healthcare insurance policies, the detail of them will differ from one provider to the next. Some may ask you to contribute more than others so if you are going to get an excess payment you should think about how much you are willing to contribute.
As well the amount that they want in an excess payment, healthcare providers will also set the details of how frequently you are allowed to pay. Some may require you to contribute an excess payment for every claim you make. This can lead you to spending a lot of money if luck is not on your side because if you need to make 100 claims, in each one you will be required to make an excess payment. On the plus side by taking up this kind of excess payment you will probably get an even lower premium due to the savings it can make your provider.
Other providers will give you a set amount of excess payments a year. So the details of one policy may say that a customer can only make 30 excess payments per year and if over 30 claims are made the provider will have to foot the bill of these additional claims. Rather than talk about the number of claims, some providers will simply set a cap on the amount of money someone is allowed to give in excess payments. So instead of saying you can make up to 30 excess payments in a year, they would say you can spend up to 200 pounds on claims by means of excess payments a year.
Each provider will have different details and you should think long and hard about what you are looking for if you opt for an excesspayment in your healthcare policy. Once you have an idea of what you are looking for, shop around on the market to find out what providers will give you the best deal.