Is a Refundable Deductible Insurance an advantage for the insured? a mathematical approach

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 17;16(2):e0247030. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247030. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Most insurance policies include a deductible, so that a part of the claim is paid by the insured. In order to get full coverage of the claim, the insured has two options: purchase a Zero Deductible Insurance Policy or purchase an insurance policy with deductible together with Refundable Deductible Insurance. The objective of this paper is to analyze these two options and compare the premium paid by each. We define dif(P) as the difference between the premiums paid. This function depends on the parameters of the deductible applied, and we focus our attention on the sign of this difference and the calculation of the optimal deductible, that is, the values of the parameters of the deductible that allow us to obtain the greatest reduction in the premium.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Deductibles and Coinsurance*
  • Health Expenditures
  • Humans
  • Insurance Coverage / economics
  • Insurance, Health* / economics

Grants and funding

No specific funding was received for this study.