Co-Founder, TermInsuranceBrokers.com, Goldenzweig Financial Group, Las Vegas, Nevada
A copayment for health insurance is a dollar amount you pay for an office visit, service, or procedure. For example, you go to the doctor's office for an annual checkup, they may say you owe a $15 copay for the visit.
The alternative that many people encounter is called coinsurance. Instead of a fixed dollar amount, you may be asked to pay a percentage of the cost of an office visit, service, or procedure (e.g. 20% coinsurance).
I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any other questions. Thanks very much.
Senior Commercial and Annuity Specialist, Freedom Brokers, Marion, Carbondale, Harrisburg IL
A copayment is your portion of the bill. It is a fixed dollar amount and varies by office. There may be some offices that, with qualifying insurance, require no co-pay, but typically the copay will be a significantly smaller amount than the procedure or visit would cost someone who pays cash off the street.
Why have a co-pay? It would seem to me that the reason for a co-pay is not the charge itself. To me the copay will make some people who would go to the doctor for something simple if it were free, but might think twice if they had some "skin in the game". In other words, co-pays keep down utilization for unnecessary visits, which keeps down premiums for all the rest of us.
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The alternative that many people encounter is called coinsurance. Instead of a fixed dollar amount, you may be asked to pay a percentage of the cost of an office visit, service, or procedure (e.g. 20% coinsurance).
I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any other questions. Thanks very much.
Why have a co-pay? It would seem to me that the reason for a co-pay is not the charge itself. To me the copay will make some people who would go to the doctor for something simple if it were free, but might think twice if they had some "skin in the game". In other words, co-pays keep down utilization for unnecessary visits, which keeps down premiums for all the rest of us.