Deductibles are your own out of pocket expenses that you need to
pay for before the insurance companies start paying. These are the
quantum of expenses that should be paid by you, out of your own
pocket, before the insurance companies start paying.
Purpose:
- To remove the moral hazard problem: If there are no
deductibles, the insured will always try to inflate the claims and
demand higher claims for settlement with the insurance companies.
Presence of deductibles mean you have to bring in your money first.
Hence, you will not tend to inflate the claims.
- To have the skin of the insured in the game: The insured will
fraudulently produce insurance claims. Since you have to bring your
own contribution first, due to deductibles; the probability and
occurrences of such fraudulent acts will reduce.
- Higher the deductible, lower will be the premium for the
policyholder. Thus the cost of insurance will go down.