Understanding Your Insurance

Unfortunately the insurance lingo has become extremely complicated over the years and tends to be very confusing. So here is a cheat sheet of the most commonly used medical terms.

C0-pay: This is a fee you must pay per visit when seeing a health care professional.  Ex: When Mike has an appointment with his allergist, he must pay a $25 c0-pay.

Co-insurance: This is the percentage of the visit that the insurance company does not pick up. All insurance plans vary so it’s important to find out how much your specific plan will cover. Ex: When Julia goes to the ENT, her plan covers 70% of the visit and her responsibility is the other 30% of the charges.

Deductible: Just like with car insurance, health care plans usually have a deductible for the year. A deductible is the amount that the patient must pay before the insurance company covers any of the medical visit. Again, this amount varies with all plans. Ex: Carson has a $250 deductible. His medical bills won’t be covered until he has paid this much for the year.