O-A Visa insurance deductibles.

[mhortig]

Pacific Cross insurance offers a few policies that are allegedly approved for the requirements of OA Visa. Premiums can be reduced greatly (up to 50%) by accepting a deductible of up to 300,000. For many of us with preexisting conditions and would in all likelihood never be able to benefit from the insurance, this is a good way to keep the cost down and keep immigration happy.

 

The issue is whether or not policies with deductibles from Pacific Cross will actually be OK. I've read different posts from expats who have heard directly from someone at Pacific Cross. The answer' are both yes and no. Very confusing. I've been in contact with a sales rep named Mr. Mc Dermott who says the deductibles are approved.  I'd hate to get the policy and then be denied at immigration because they are not OK. What have others heard on this from Pacific Cross and what level of management?

[JohnOFphon]

A bit off topic, but.

When I go to do an extension..O A.. do I need to pay for one year.....50K plus for me.

And I go buy the policy before I go to IMM...and I'm a week or a month short of the end of policy date matching the allowed to stay date??

 

 

[mhortig]

The wording on the directive says that the extension will be issued for the remaining duration of the policy up to one year. I interpret this to mean if you have 8 months left on the policy the extension will be for that period. You may find it difficult to get these insurers to issue the policy on the exact date you need, and you need to apply safely early as you don't know how long the underwriting, payment and certificate issuance could take.

[JohnOFphon]

So, If I have 10 or 11 months left..then my extension would only be for 10 or 11 months....?

And next extension...same...

No more one year extensions unless you buy a 13 or 14 month policy...????

[Kadilo]

5 minutes ago, JohnOFphon said:

So, If I have 10 or 11 months left..then my extension would only be for 10 or 11 months....?

And next extension...same...

No more one year extensions unless you buy a 13 or 14 month policy...????

I think the answer at the moment is no one knows how they are going to do it with regards to the length of the extension. It’s a good point and you would like to think they have a plan but as always I doubt they have and it will be consistent. 
 

Ive not seen anyone post of their experience in this case. Hopefully they will. 

Edited November 16, 2019 by Kadilo

[Mango Bob]

1 hour ago, JohnOFphon said:

A bit off topic, but.

When I go to do an extension..O A.. do I need to pay for one year.....50K plus for me.

And I go buy the policy before I go to IMM...and I'm a week or a month short of the end of policy date matching the allowed to stay date??

 

 

Your stay will be until your insurance ends.  I know Pacific Cross told me that they can work with you.  They could start a new policy when the current one end.  Then give you another year but stop it and refund your money while you take out another policy that will cover you for a full year of your stay.  I advise you to ask your insurance company on this.

[Mango Bob]

You can get the 300,000 deductible on a few of Pacific Cross policies.  I know the Standard Extra which offer 780,000 inpatient policy is one of those that offer the 50% off, but not the cheap policies.  I have a good other insurance here better than this.  But this get me at least a policy and reduce fees.  My insurance will cover everything that Pacific Cross doesn't pay.

[ianezy0]

This is true and PC will issue a certificate to produce to the IO at the time of your extension application. As long as the policy meets the minimum 400k/40k requirements, they will disregard the deductable. I confirmed this yesterday.

[jackdd]

In general there is no rule stating that such an insurance can't have a deductible. So in theory you could get a 400k insurance policy with a 400k deductible and it would be according to the rules.

 

I think the important part is who is liable for the deductible part.

The intention of this new rule is quite clear, they don't want that the hospitals treat foreigners but don't get paid.

So if you have a 300k deductable, have to be treated in hospital, but don't pay your deductable part: Will the insurance company have to pay this part to the hospital and try to reclaim it from you?

In this case i would say such a policy would be in accordance with the rules (even a 400k policy with a 400k deductible).

In case that you don't pay and the hospital also doesn't get paid by the insurance company, then such a policy should not be valid (might of course still be accepted by IOs), because this clearly circumvents the intention of this new rule.

[TheAppletons]

8 minutes ago, jackdd said:

In general there is no rule stating that such an insurance can't have a deductible. So in theory you could get a 400k insurance policy with a 400k deductible and it would be according to the rules.

 

I think the important part is who is liable for the deductible part.

The intention of this new rule is quite clear, they don't want that the hospitals treat foreigners but don't get paid.

So if you have a 300k deductable, have to be treated in hospital, but don't pay your deductable part: Will the insurance company have to pay this part to the hospital and try to reclaim it from you?

In this case i would say such a policy would be in accordance with the rules (even a 400k policy with a 400k deductible).

In case that you don't pay and the hospital also doesn't get paid by the insurance company, then such a policy should not be valid (might of course still be accepted by IOs), because this clearly circumvents the intention of this new rule.

  When there's a deductible involved, the insurance pays nothing until the policy owner pays the full deductible.  The insurance company is not a collection agency for the hospital.  

[mhortig]

I asked my Pacific Cross contact AGAIN to confirm that deductibles are OK. He reconfirmed and provided sample certificate. The certificate will not show amount of insurance, or deductible, only that it complies with requirement. He was careful to add, that immigration could change rules in the future.

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by mhortig
edit

[UKresonant]

What sequence will the Thai insurance operate, shall it always pay first if you have insurance cover from overseas, and the claim is in Thailand?

 

So could you have a 40k/400k policy from a Thai company, that will always pay first. Therefore should you have overseas cover that would pay the balance of the inpatient cover, so the overseas cover could therefore have a 400k deductible. So the Thai policy is acting like rental car excess insurance.

 

So if you had a overseas policy that only had a deductible of US$3000 circa 100kTHB, I could see that it would fill the objective of the 40/400k with a 300k deductible. 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by UKresonant

[UKresonant]

On 11/16/2019 at 3:43 PM, Mango Bob said:

You can get the 300,000 deductible on a few of Pacific Cross policies.  I know the Standard Extra which offer 780,000 inpatient policy is one of those that offer the 50% off, but not the cheap policies.  I have a good other insurance here better than this.  But this get me at least a policy and reduce fees.  My insurance will cover everything that Pacific Cross doesn't pay.

That  would seem more logical Vs what they said the objective was, still with the circa 400k cover on then Thai policy.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 11/16/2019 at 2:19 PM, mhortig said:

I'd hate to get the policy and then be denied at immigration because they are not OK. What have others heard on this from Pacific Cross and what level of management?

 

The O-A certified policies from Pacific Cross that offer deductibles will be perfectly fine for Immigration.

 

But you don't just have to believe PC about that. Once you're issued the policy, PC will also issue you an O-a visa insurance certificate that you can use to show to Immigration whenever needed. As long as you have that certificate and PC enters your policy info into a related government database, you're good to go.