PlanGoblin — Plan Optimizer for InsuranceMarket.ae

Welcome to PlanGoblin, your helper for exploring health insurance plans on InsuranceMarket.ae. This guide walks you through every feature, every setting, and how to get the best results from your simulations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. BEFORE YOU START ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What you need: • Simply open the InsuranceMarket.ae health insurance results page. • PlanGoblin automatically recognizes the data and activates itself. Required field: When you run a simulation, you must give it a label — something like: - Family of 3 — Light usage - My doctor’s network only - Diagnostic-heavy year Labels help you identify your saved simulations later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. RUNNING A SIMULATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You’ll see a tab called Simulate with three major parts: scenario weights, usage bands, and the number of simulations. PlanGoblin simulates thousands of realistic years, estimating what you might spend under each plan. To do this, you adjust your expected usage patterns. The customization happens using: A) Scenario Weights ------------------- These define how often each scenario occurs in your life. Example: • Light usage: 55% (0.55) • Medium usage: 35% (0.35) • Heavy usage: 10% (0.10) This means: "Most years I hardly use healthcare, some years more, and occasionally a heavy year." The weights must add up to 1.0. The UI shows if you're over or under. B) Usage Bands (Light / Medium / Heavy) ---------------------------------------- Each usage band defines typical annual spending for: • Consultations • Diagnostics • Pharmacy For each category, you can provide your: • Mean (average annual cost) • Standard deviation (how much it varies) Example: Light-year diagnostics: Mean = 1000 AED StdDev = 800 AED This tells the simulator: "In a light year, diagnostic costs usually fall between ~200–1800 AED." You don’t need to be a statistician — the defaults are chosen to be reasonable for a typical adult in Dubai. C) Number of Simulations ------------------------ Default: 10,000 simulations This determines how many “virtual years” the goblin runs. Effect: • Higher numbers = More simulations = smoother, more reliable statistics • Lower numbers = Fewer simulations = faster, but less precise Most users should leave this untouched unless they’re experimenting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. FILTERING PLANS BEFORE SIMULATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PlanGoblin gives you tools to narrow the 80+ plans into something manageable. 3.1 Network Filters ------------------- InsuranceMarket lets you search for specific hospitals or doctors, but it doesn’t let you filter by entire network directly. PlanGoblin adds: "Only show plans in Network A / B / C" This is useful when you: • already know the network your preferred doctor is in • only trust a certain hospital group • want predictable coverage without guesswork 3.2 Co-pay and Coverage Controls -------------------------------- Some plans split co-pays differently per category. InsuranceMarket filters co-pay values but doesn’t let you filter by them individually. PlanGoblin lets you enforce: • maximum consultation co-pay • maximum diagnostic co-pay • max/min pharmacy limits • coverage minimums • maternity limits Example: “Only show plans where diagnostics copay is ≤ 20% and pharmacy is ≤ 10%.” 3.3 Company Exclusions ---------------------- If you’ve had a bad experience, or a friend warned you, you can simply click a company pill to exclude it. This adjusts your simulation to reflect your preferences — without judging any insurer or altering their offerings. 3.4 Additional Benefit Requirements ----------------------------------- Toggle plans that include specific benefits you want, such as: • Dental • Optical • Physiotherapy • Alternative Medicine The rule is simple: If a benefit is checked, PlanGoblin only includes plans that definitely include it. 3.5 Maximum Premium Price ----------------------------------- Need to keep to a budget? PlanGoblin allows you to limit your spend to a certain maximum price, and will help you find the best coverage option that won't break your bank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. UNDERSTANDING SIMULATION RESULTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After running the simulation, you see the ranked list. 4.1 Mean (Average) ------------------ Average yearly cost across all simulated years. Good for general budgeting. If you want stability and predictability, focus on this. 4.2 Median (50th Percentile) ---------------------------- Half of the simulated years were cheaper than this number, half were more expensive. This is the “typical” year for your usage profile. 4.3 P95 (95th Percentile) -------------------------- A crucial metric: “In only 5% of simulated years, costs were higher than this.” If you want protection from rare but expensive surprises, P95 is the number to watch. Example: Plan A: cheap premium, low mean, but P95 = very high Plan B: slightly pricier premium, much lower P95 Interpretation: Plan B can be the safer long-term choice because it caps the worst-case years more effectively. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. WORKING WITH SAVED SIMULATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PlanGoblin saves every simulation you run so you can compare them later. View a saved simulation: …