What does a deductible mean and why do you still have to spend money when you go to a doctor if you pay for insurance every month?
What are the other fancy words I need to know?
How do you know if something is a good deal?
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this is tough. you might have been offered a high deductible plan and a copay plan.
The other key words are “coinsurance” and “maximum annual out of pocket expense”.
If care is deemed covered by your insurer, after you reach your “deductible”, you are going to pay a percentage of the cost up to “maximum out of pocket”. That percentage is coinsurance.
I am going to assume others have described the deductible and copay.
What you need to do is compare your cost for four scenarios:
– what is your cost if you receive only preventative care, below the value of your deductible.
– what is your cost if you receive care exactly equal to your deductible
– what is your cost if … between the deductible and maximum out of pocket
– …. if your expenses reach the maximum out of pocket (you have a major health crisis)
This is complicated, you are going to have to spend some time evaluating. *good* high deductible plans have a lower cost across the board, for all four scenarios. If that’s not the case, you haven’t been offered a good high deductible plan.
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