So, working with a customer who needs a short term medical plan for his wife, who is an American citizen living abroad. I was able to find only one carrier that didn't require a recent stateside residence, and so I quoted that carrier. As always, I quoted using the maximum lifetime benefit (in this case, $1 million). The client asked about $1,000 and $2,000 deductibles (which I think is a mistake, but that's what he asked for).
So I quoted as he asked, and the premium came out to $325 per month for the $1,000 deductible plan, and $256 a month for the $2,000 version.
He balked at that, claiming that I'd previously quoted a much lower rate. I pointed out that we had been looking at a $5,000 deductible (which would have been well under $200 a month). He thought that still might be spendy, and he would check with his home country's options. I wished him well and told him that I'd be happy to write this plan if the home country option didn't pan out.
This morning, I get this in email:
"This quote sounds good to me.
What if I take insurance for 250 G instead of million and keep deductible to 1000 or so?
This [home country plan] is world wide known. May be you can also use them check it out.
The currency conversion is Rs 70 to a dollar, so the premium is about $150 for 3 month.
Please let me know your thoughts."
[ed: it was unclear if that was $150 a month for 3 months, or $150 one-time premium]
This is becoming tiresome (we make very little on Short Term plans, and he's quickly using up the commission)(and my patience).
I replied:
"Great!
No, I can’t sell for non-USA companies.
>> $250 G
No, I can’t do that: I will only sell the maximum benefit (for a number of reasons: E&O liability chief among them, also you really don’t save all that much lowering the maximum vs raising the deductible)."
We'll see what he does.
Not really on tenterhooks here.
By the way: there's another very good reason to not skimp on that policy max: insurance is, essentially a gamble (yeah, yeah, I know) and it's a lot easier to come up with an extra three or four thousand dollars than 10's or 100's of thousands.
So I quoted as he asked, and the premium came out to $325 per month for the $1,000 deductible plan, and $256 a month for the $2,000 version.
He balked at that, claiming that I'd previously quoted a much lower rate. I pointed out that we had been looking at a $5,000 deductible (which would have been well under $200 a month). He thought that still might be spendy, and he would check with his home country's options. I wished him well and told him that I'd be happy to write this plan if the home country option didn't pan out.
This morning, I get this in email:
"This quote sounds good to me.
What if I take insurance for 250 G instead of million and keep deductible to 1000 or so?
This [home country plan] is world wide known. May be you can also use them check it out.
The currency conversion is Rs 70 to a dollar, so the premium is about $150 for 3 month.
Please let me know your thoughts."
[ed: it was unclear if that was $150 a month for 3 months, or $150 one-time premium]
This is becoming tiresome (we make very little on Short Term plans, and he's quickly using up the commission)(and my patience).
I replied:
"Great!
No, I can’t sell for non-USA companies.
>> $250 G
No, I can’t do that: I will only sell the maximum benefit (for a number of reasons: E&O liability chief among them, also you really don’t save all that much lowering the maximum vs raising the deductible)."
We'll see what he does.
Not really on tenterhooks here.
By the way: there's another very good reason to not skimp on that policy max: insurance is, essentially a gamble (yeah, yeah, I know) and it's a lot easier to come up with an extra three or four thousand dollars than 10's or 100's of thousands.
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