Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan

Since 1 April, 2019, taxpayers (must be Hong Kong residents) who paid the premiums of certified VHIS products for themselves or their specified family members are eligible to claim a tax deduction on qualifying premiums up to a limit of HK$8,000 per insured person each year. If you need any tax advice, please consult your tax advisor or visit the website of the Inland Revenue Department.

The VHIS Flexi Plan is based on the benefit items of the Standard Plan but offers higher protection with higher limits and additional benefits. The Flexi Plan is also under the regulation of the Health Bureau. You can click here to learn more about the differences between Standard and Flexi Plans.

Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan is a type of Flexi Plan that includes deductible options. It allows applicants to enjoy a higher coverage at a lower premium through choosing a suitable deductible.

All Bowtie VHIS Flexi Plans offer guaranteed lifetime renewal. As long as you pay your premiums on time, you will not lose your protection.

If you undergo day case surgery and the expense is covered by the surgeon’s fee benefit, you will also get day case procedure cash benefit. This is applied based on each surgery and the cash benefit is HK$500 for Flexi Regular, HK$800 for Flexi Plus, and HK$800 for Bowtie Pink.

There is no age limit for a hospital companion bed. Only one hospital companion bed is covered.

Both deductible and co-insurance are the amounts you need to pay by yourself in the event of a claim. The main difference is the calculation method.

‍Co-insurance is calculated by a percentage of the medical expense amount of each claim and applied to the corresponding benefit item(s). For example, in the Bowtie VHIS Standard Plan and Flexi Plan, the insured person is required to pay 30% of the medical expenses for the benefit item of prescribed diagnostic imaging tests (i.e. CT Scan), while the insurance company will pay the rest according to the benefit limits in the policy.

A deductible (or excess) is usually calculated per policy year. It’s the amount you need to pay by yourself in the event of claims before the insurance company pays for your eligible medical expenses. The insurance company would cover any remaining medical expenses according to the benefit limits in the policy.

For example, when you claim your medical expenses with the Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan (Semi-Private Room) Deductible HK$20,000, you need to pay the medical expenses of HK$20,000 first before you can get any reimbursement.Your deductible of HK$20,000 will be deducted from the claim(s) you make; you can only get reimbursed once the HK$20,000 has all been deducted (meaning that you have already fully paid for the deductible amount).

The deductible of Bowtie Pink is counted per policy year. For example, your policy year starts from 1 December 2021 (policy effective date) to 30 November 2022. The deductible will be reset on the renewal date (1 December of every year).

For a first-time buyer of medical plans, it’s suggested choosing a medical plan without deductibles such as Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan - Deductible HK$0. Because this minimises the chance of any out-of-pocket payments. If you’re on a tight budget, Bowtie VHIS Standard or Bowtie VHIS Flexi is a better option.

The suggested practice:

1. Submit the initial claim with your existing medical plan that has no deductibles (i.e. your company’s group medical plan/personal medical plan)
2. Submit a claim for the remaining expenses with Bowtie Pink

The benefit is that you can use the reimbursement from the existing medical plan to offset Bowtie Pink’s deductible to reduce any out-of-pocket payments.

Example: 

Let’s say you have bought the Bowtie Pink - Deductible HK$20,000 and you are hospitalised.

Total eligible medical expenses: HK$40,000
Group medical plan’s benefit limit: HK$30,000

First, you submit a claim with your group medical plan and get a reimbursement of HK$30,000, which will offset Bowtie Pink's deductible of HK$20,000 . Second, your medical expenses balance of HK$10,000 (HK$40,000 − HK$30,000) gets fully covered with Bowtie Pink. After these claims, you pay nothing for your medical expenses.

The above suggestion is for reference only and does not guarantee that there will be no out-of-pocket medical expenses. It’s better to consider the suggestion according to your actual situation and the coverage of your existing medical plans.

The policyholder of Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan can request to adjust the deductible option on any Renewal Date. If you request to reduce or remove the Deductible, re-underwriting is required.

However, where the policy has satisfied below 2 conditions, Bowtie Pink VHIS policyholder can exercise a one-off right to reduce or remove the deductible, without re-underwriting and providing further evidence of the insurability of the insured:

• Where the Insured Person has been covered under the Policy continuously for 2 consecutive Policy Years;
• The Insured Person attains the Age of 55, 60, 65, 70, 75 or 80.

The policyholder can request to exercise such right, made not less than 30 days prior to the Renewal Date on or immediately following the date that the Insured Person attains the required Age. Please notes that this right can only be exercised 1 time during the lifetime of the Insured Person.

In any case, after the change of Deductible, the premiums of the Policy willbe adjusted according to the prevailing Standard Premium schedule and the relevant Terms. For details, please refer to the policy terms and conditions Supplement No. 1.

If you would like to adjust the deductible options, please reach our CS team at 3008 8123.

Bowtie shall not reject any application by the policyholder for the transfer of ownership to 

1. the insured person who has reached the age of 18;
2. the parent or the guardian of the insured person if the insured person is a minor; or 
3. any person whose familial relationship with the insured person is accepted by Bowtie according to its prevailing underwriting practices.
   

In this case, you need to redo the underwriting process. If the declared health condition impacts the risk assessment outcome, new exclusions may be added to your policy, your premiums may be adjusted or your policy may be cancelled.

• VHIS Office,  set up under the Health Bureau, handles VHIS-related matters, including product offerings, approved product features and the code of practice for insurance companies under the ambit of the VHIS 
• Insurance Authority—regulates the conduct of insurance companies and insurance intermediaries
• Inland Revenue Department—manages matters related to tax deductions
• Bowtie—policyholders can submit their complaints by email at cs@bowtie.com.hk or call the customer service hotline on 3008 8123.

Annual renewal premiums are adjusted according to age. We do not increase premiums for individual policyholders because of the number of claims they made, their claim amounts or their health conditions.

In addition, the VHIS Standard Plan guarantees renewal up to age 100 and the VHIS Flexi Plan (including Bowtie Pink VHIS Plan) guarantees lifetime renewal. We will not reject your renewal request due to your claim history or health condition.

You can request a claim estimate or submit a claim directly on our website. After you have submitted a claim, Bowtie will assign a claims specialist to assist you throughout the claims process and follow up with you. If you have any questions about your claims, you can also call our customer service hotline at 3001 5670 or email us at cs@bowtie.com.hk

Just like traditional insurance companies, you can contact us through our customer service centre, hotline, email, WhatsApp, or Live Chat for assistance with applications, claims estimates or claims submissions.

You can call our customer service hotline or WhatsApp us at 3008 8123 anytime or email us at cs@bowtie.com.hk. We value your feedback and will follow up as soon as possible. If necessary, you can book an appointment to visit the customer service centre where our dedicated service team will serve you.

It’s completely up to you which insurer you wish to submit a claim to first. If you need to submit a claim to more than one insurer, you will need to include the claims details provided by the first insurance company along with the required documents in your claims submission to the second insurer, as well as the true copy or certified copy of the medical bills.