{"id":1131,"date":"2020-07-30T06:57:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T06:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/?p=1131"},"modified":"2020-07-30T06:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T06:57:51","slug":"a-simple-guide-to-health-insurance-deductibles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/a-simple-guide-to-health-insurance-deductibles\/","title":{"rendered":"A Simple Guide to Health Insurance Deductibles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"height: 333px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 500px;\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/g4lHMbIpQhg0qTZ91UEklTf8j_8Fq4sFUPObj7SgIGxVnWIBOPsuh9zxGnsVTK4NKk184CBjA3uOjBPwYePlh5LbvyuvhmExXOgehVHrOL9MYq-N43RFA3O3JZSUesNtM5OBCcsqD77OlGgnkA\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">Health insurance is confusing for many people. Most people think they understand it, but they really don\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">About <\/span><a style=\"text-decoration-line: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2016\/11\/04\/many-americans-dont-know-much-about-health-insurance--and-it-will-cost-them.html\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">74% of Americans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\"> say they know what health insurance deductibles are. Yet, only 51% were able to correctly define what they are. Only 4% of Americans understand all of the terminology related to health insurance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">That lack of understanding can be costly and leave you underinsured when you need coverage the most. Read on to find out how health insurance deductibles work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">What Is Deductible in Health Insurance?<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">You may have seen the term deductible in other insurance policies like your home or auto coverage. What does deductible mean? It refers to the amount of money you pay out of pocket for health care services before your insurance pays its share.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">For example, if you have a health insurance policy that has a $5000 deductible, you\u2019ll pay out of pocket for medical care up until the $5000. Once you reach that mark, then insurance will cover the rest of your health care costs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">There are some exceptions to this rule. Some policies only make you pay a co-pay for doctor\u2019s visits or you don\u2019t pay anything at all for preventative lab work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">This is why it\u2019s so important to understand your health insurance policy before you sign up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Premiums and Co-Pays<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">You pay a monthly amount for your health insurance, and you might be wondering why you have to pay more for your health care. Your monthly cost is your premium.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">Your co-pay, or copayment, is what you pay at your doctor\u2019s office. This could be a flat dollar amount or a percentage of your bill. Some insurance plans will have a combination of the two.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">You might pay $20 for doctor\u2019s visits, $40 for specialists, and 20% for hospital stays. Again, you may have to meet your deductible before these payments kick in, which would leave you responsible for the full bill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">Shopping for Health Insurance<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">When you shop for insurance, you\u2019ll find that most plans that have a low deductible have a high monthly premium. Plans that have a low monthly premium usually have a higher deductible to meet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">With the low monthly payment\/high premium plans, you have to be prepared to pay a lot of money out of pocket if you\u2019re in an accident or need to visit the hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">You want to make sure that you know what type of insurance you need. You can then look for sites that give you premium estimates as to how much you\u2019ll pay every month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">For instance, if you need Medigap insurance in Alabama, you can check out a site like <\/span><a style=\"text-decoration-line: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/medicarewire.com\/medigap\/plans\/alabama\/\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">MedicareWire<\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\"> that lists the premium payments for different carriers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">As you shop for insurance, you need to look at the entire cost of health care, not only the premiums.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">How Do Health Insurance Deductibles Work?<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">Health insurance policies have so many terms and conditions that it\u2019s easy to get confused. When you shop for health insurance, look at the health insurance deductibles, premiums, and co-pays.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">That will help you find an insurance plan that fits your needs that won\u2019t leave you financially broke. For more financial insights, head over to the home page of this <\/span><a style=\"text-decoration-line: none;\" href=\"http:\/\/thepublish360.com\/\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #0000ff; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\">site<\/span><\/a><span style=\"background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 12pt;\"> for the latest articles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health insurance is confusing for many people. Most people think they understand it, but they really don\u2019t. About 74% of Americans say they know what health insurance deductibles are. Yet, only 51% were able to correctly define what they are. Only 4% of Americans understand all of the terminology related to health insurance. That lack &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/a-simple-guide-to-health-insurance-deductibles\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Simple Guide to Health Insurance Deductibles&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1131\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedfinances.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}