What type of health insurance do you have?
Errol Travers
Sue and Larry respond:
First off, I need to explain our philosophy regarding insurance. We insure against catastrophic illness. We don't usually run to the doctor’s office every time we have the sniffles, so we don't insure against that sort of thing. Currently with our health insurance, we have chosen a $5,000-per-year deductible. That means our insurance kicks in at $5,000 of medical expenses, and pays 80 percent of those expenses until we have paid an out-of-pocket amount of $6,200 per year. At that point, our insurance pays 100 percent of all costs.
With this arrangement, we are comfortable knowing that if one of us has a serious problem, we will not be wiped out financially. With insurance, you need to determine what levels of risk you are willing to take. It's kind of a personal thing.
We learned that insurance for women is much higher than similar coverage for men. We've shopped other companies but haven't made any changes yet. Were we to do more international cruising, we would consider companies that are worldwide.
Regarding costs, our budget article lumped boat and health insurance together. The health insurance part of that figure is $2,028 per year.
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