Health Care Insurance Co-Pay - Don't Make Assumptions

A health care insurance  co-payment can be a unimportant insignificant price that you pay a infrequently each year.  It can also be much bigger sums that will have a real impact on your finances.  If your only understanding of health care insurance  copays is the small dollar amounts that you might pay when you buy drugs, please read on.  Your wallet may appreciate it.

Three vital details that you should comprehend include the way your medical insurance  policy limitations co-pays over the course of 12 months, how big they can be and the fact that often more than just a copay will apply to one health care treatment.  You may not know that you will probably have to continue paying copays even after you have met your health  insurance  contract's out-of-pocket maximum.  You may also be very disappointed to find that some copays can be a few hundred dollars.  Another little tidbit that you don't want to be hurt by is the fact that on some contracts both a copayment and a deductible can apply to the same medical event.

It is vital to appreciate all not just how your co-pays work but the other health care insurance  cost shares such as deductibles and coinsurance as well.  Many of us make assumptions about their health insurance and get surprised when then have a big medical bill to pay.  Don't let this happen to you.

Health insurance  co-payments are different from deductibles and coinsurance.  Both of the others are usually based on expenses over an annual time period.  Copayments are assessed on a per incident basis.

If you assume that once you have met your plan's deductible and maximum-out-of-pocket limitations that you will not have to pay any more copayments, you will probably be wrong.  Many if not most medical insurance  plans will have nothing that limits the number of copayments you can pay over the course of a year.

Another misconception is the assumption that copayments are always reasonable.  This is because the typical copayments that most of us pay are the reasonable dollar amounts that they might pay in health care professional's office or in the pharmacy.  These co-payments are relatively insignificant for most of us.

However, many health insurance contracts assess large copays for other medical services.  You may pay a $50 co-payment for each visit to a walk-in clinic.  You may pay a $100 co-pay for each visit to the ER.

When purchasing health insurance be sure that you don't assume that all copay are the same.  You may discover that you have to pay both a deductible and a copay for certain services.  You might learn that there is a separate deductible for name brand prescriptions.  These provisions aren’t in every policy, but they exist in enough of them to make it prudent to read your contract's literature closely.

Having a good knowledge how your contract works is essential to knowing if you are getting a good deal of if you should start shopping for another policy.  Health care insurance plans are often confusing and can take some effort to understand, however not knowing what you are purchasing usually means that you pay more than you should for your policy.

Health Care insurance copayments aren't always reasonable insignificant fees you pay in health care professional's office or pharmacy.  Be sure that you understand how your copays are assessed in any contract you are considering purchasing before you select and buy an insurance policy.