As a retired health and life insurance agent I understand insurance can be confusing. Quite frankly it is meant to be confusing. The less the consumer knows the easier it is to have them purchase whatever type of insurance is being presented. Insurance is, however, fairly easy to understand as long as you know a few key words.
As a former health and life insurance agent I know insurance can be confusing. Quite frankly it is meant to be confusing. The less the consumer knows the easier it is to have them purchase whatever type of insurance is being presented. Insurance is, however, fairly easy to understand as long as you know a few key words.
The first word you need to know is deductible. This is the amount played directly to the doctor or hospital before insurance covers anything. This money comes out of your pocket. The insurance company does not care how this portion of the bill is taken care of. Quite frankly, deductibles have no other effect other than how much your going to owe after you have been in an accident. Just know the lower the deductible the higher the monthly payment.
Co-insurance is a term almost no one knows. All co-insurance is, is more money that comes out of your pocket. An agent will tell you you have a 80/20 or a 70/30 split. All this means is if you have a 10,000 hospital bill after your deductible, the insurance company will pay 80 percent ,and you will pay 20 percent. Whatever type of plan you get make sure there is a co-insurance maximum, you don't want to pay out of pocket forever.
Lastly is copay. A copay is what you pay out of your pocket to a doctor or for prescriptions before the insurance pays for the rest. This, just like deductible, is the lower the copay, usually, the higher the cost.
