Whats a deductible? and lets say it was 5,000.what wouuld that mean to me if i purchased the health plan?

Question

Whats a deductible? and lets say it was 5,000.what wouuld that mean to me if i purchased the health plan?

Answer 1

Above poster is correct, and it resets every year. SO if it takes you say most of the year to reach your deductible, the year ends, and the deductible starts over. However, most insurance plans have a lifetime maximum. For example, I think mine is $20,000 - so after I have paid that much, I'll never have to pay a deductible again.

This is also not to be confused with co-pay. With office visits, you pay a co-pay. Again, for example, mine is $30.00. This does NOT apply to your deductible.  

The deductible kicks in when say you have to get a blood test, or an x-ray. Your insurance will cover SOME (its a negotiated rate the ins. has with the doctors), and then you pay the difference. Those fees go towards your deductible.

Answer 2

The deductible is the number that YOU pay BEFORE the insrance kicks in...so in your example you would pay $5000 before your policy pays each year.

Answer 3

It is the amount you pay before the insurance will start paying.  This does not include co pays if your policy has them.  You also need to look at the co-insurance and the maximum out of pocket.  

If you choose a $5,000 deductible that has 80% co-insurance then after you pay the first $5,000 of the claim the insurance would pick up 80% after that.  Your maximum out of pocket is basically the stop loss.  So if your maximum out of pocket is $5,000 + deductible then you would pay the first $5,000 and then be responsible for 20% of the next $25,000 (20% of $25,000 is $5,000)

Hopefully if you choose a $5,000 deductible you would also choose 100% co-insurance so your maximum out of pocket would be your deductible.

Answer 4

5,000$ Deductible mean befor the carrier pays anything you will pay 5,000.

After that you might have a 100% plan 80/20%

and so on.

The type 80/20% means that you will pay 20% up to a stop loss of lets say 2,000$ if that is what the plan has for a stop Loss. So if you have a 5,000$ Deductible and a 80/20% plan with a stop loss of 2,000$ and a claim of 90,000$ your total Out of Pocket would be 7,000$.

Answer 5

It means you would have to pay $5,000 in out-of-pocket expenses before the insurance kicks in to pay the difference.

Usually plans with a higher deductible have lower premiums.  Thus, if you're otherwise healthy, it may be worth it to do a high deductible plan which would cover you in case of a major health issue or hospitalization.  However, if you have health issues, it may make more sense to go with a lower deductible plan even though the premiums may be higher.