All to know about benefits of Dual Insurance Coverage in the US

Post the Pandemic; the Indian students are again stepping towards higher education in abroad universities. Due to the widespread fear of a pandemic, many students mandatorily opted for comprehensive health insurance for them, considering a need for proper healthcare facilities in a distant land. Moreover, it has been made essential for international students to purchase health insurance to continue taking classes at the university.

While most universities and colleges in the U.S. have an individual health plan for students in association with a local health insurance provider, other universities might ask the student to purchase health insurance from the health insurance marketplace or any external source from their home country.

Although health insurance helps bear the high medical cost most of the time, when it comes to a country like the U.S, sometimes insurance also makes a student helpless even if a student can purchase a health plan at a low premium rate. The several coverage benefits in health insurance would mean that the premium cost would ultimately increase, or at some point, the student might have to bear higher medical expenses out of their pocket.

But there could be a better option that is specifically helpful for students to save their extra premium cost and provide them with additional benefits. Such an alternative could be having two insurance plans which are known as Dual Insurance. The insurance experts from Secure Cover would explain why and how having dual insurance could help students get extra coverage and save money.

Dual Insurance Coverage

Having two health plans does not mean that every time a student visits a doctor’s clinic, they will be reimbursed or covered twice for the incurred expenses. Dual Insurance would mean having primary and secondary insurance, and both will be paying up to their limit of the coverage mentioned in policy guidelines.

Dual Insurance could help a student cover extra costs by dividing the price between two insurance plans. It means If a student’s primary insurance has covered 100% of the limit in a plan, the remaining bill amount would be transferred to the secondary insurance.

Benefits of Dual Insurance Coverage

Insurance Cost Benefit

Generally, an ACA (Affordable Care Act) compliant student health insurance plan costs around $2,000 per year. But buyingStudent Cover’s overseas health insurance plans over would cost less than $1,000. Therefore, the plan would benefit the students who are essentially asked to purchase ACA-compliant plans by the university. Instead of buying university-sponsored plans, they can buy the plan from external sources such as Secure Cover, where they won’t have to pay a high cost.

Although the ACA compliant plans provide comprehensive cover for treatment of sickness and injury, including treatment of disease caused due to pre-existing illness, these compliant plans do not provide another benefit such as:

A) Sponsor Protection Benefit

If the student is studying in a distant land, either in the US or any other country, where a relative sponsors them, then the insurance provides compensation to the student to pay pending tuition fees if some mishap occurs to the sponsor. This ensures that the student’s education is not affected due to a lack of funds.

B) Travel Insurance Benefit

If a student loses their passport or luggage while traveling, having a travel insurance benefit in their health plan would enable them to obtain reimbursement/financial assistance for the lost luggage or passport.

C) A Two-way Compassionate Visit Benefit

Having a compassionate visit benefit would mean that an insurance company would pay for the visit of one of the family members to the U.S/study destination if the student falls ill and is hospitalized. The insurance company covers the cost of the situation is reversed, and one of the student’s parents falls sick. The insurance company would pay for the student’s journey to their home country to see the ailing parent.

D) Medical Evacuation and Repatriation of Remains Benefit

If the student is sick and required to be evacuated for treatment to their home country, the insurance company would bear the cost of such evacuation. Also, suppose the student dies due to any unforeseen event. In that case, the insurance company also pays for the repatriation of mortal remains of that student back to their home country or for the student’s burial/cremation in the US.

No Cost Sharing

Unlike American insurance plans, Secure Cover’s dual insurance plans do not require the student to bear the cost of medical expenditure as Co-Pay or Co-Insurance or deductible. Students who purchase the overseas health plan can avail of 100% benefit on cost of treatment by paying only $100 deductible per claim, which is way less than the plan offered by the US university-sponsored health plans.

No requirement to search for In-Network Hospital

Health insurance providers in the US have hospitals and medical institutions that either fall in-network or out-of-network. If insured patients undergo treatment in an in-network hospital, their co-pays and deductibles cost less and they get higher co-insurance benefits.

However, insured patients undergo treatment in a medical institution that is out-of-network, they will have to pay more in terms of deductibles and co-pays and their co-insurance will also be lower. This significantly increases their out-of-pocket costs even though it has a limit. But the overseas health plan offered by Secure Cover does not have any such condition as no co-pay or co-insurance is involved. Hence, a patient/student has only to pay a deductible of $ 100.

Helpful for non-insurance providing universities

Universities in the U.S do not mandatorily ask international students to purchase a health plan for a better healthcare facility in the country. buying dual insurance coverage from Secure Cover would make it easier for the students to survive any healthcare facility expense in the U.S

Let’s Wrap Up!

Due to a very high cost of treatment in the US, students going to the US for higher studies are advised to purchase overseas insurance to get additional cover and save costs. These overseas health plans are cheaper and provide cover such as sponsor protection, travel insurance benefits and 2-way compassionate visit among others. Hence, not asking the student to share cost for medical treatment through co-pay and co-insurance. They get 100% coverage by paying a deductible of only $100.

For more details on dual insurance coverage, visit our website, www.securecover.in or reach out to us at: info@securecover.in

Disclaimer: The content of this blog is based on personal research of the writer. Readers’ discretion is advised. Neither Student Cover nor the writer will be held responsible for any wrongful interpretation of the content of this blog.