The term ‘excess’ relates to the amount of money you will need to pay before your insurer will contribute towards your medical bill. This can be per annum, per insurance period or it can be per accident – it all depends on your insurer. This is why it is so important to talk to your insurer beforehand to make certain you fully understand the ins and outs of your policy.

To give you a better understanding of how this works, let’s use a couple of examples…

A) Barry takes out an international medical insurance policy. He agrees to an excess of $1,000 per insurance period. What does this mean for Barry? Well, if he falls ill or ends up injured he will need to foot $1,000 of the bill. From then onwards, the insurance company will pay all medical costs until the end of the insurance period.

B) Sarah takes out a global health insurance plan. She agrees to a smaller deductible of $300 per year. In February of 2018, she is admitted to hospital and has to have a small operation, which costs $2,000. She has to pay $300 and her insurance company pays the remaining $1,700. Unfortunately, her bad luck continues, as she loses her front teeth whilst skiing in March in 2019. The total bill, including all dental visits, dental services, and the dental implant process, totals $2,550. As she has opted for a per year excess, she needs to again foot $300 of the bill and her insurer pays the remaining $2,250. If her accident were to have happened in 2018, she wouldn’t have had to pay anything, as she had already met the required excess amount for the year.