What does 20% coinsurance mean?
A 20% coinsurance means your insurance company will pay for 80% of the total cost of the service, and you are responsible for paying the remaining 20%. Coinsurance can apply to office visits, special procedures, and medications.
Coinsurance is a percentage of a medical charge you pay, with the rest paid by your health insurance plan, which typically applies after your deductible has been met. For example, if you have 20% coinsurance, you pay 20% of each medical bill, and your health insurance will cover 80%.
Let's say the following amounts apply to your plan and you need a lot of treatment for a serious condition. Allowable costs are $12,000. You'd pay all of the first $3,000 (your deductible). You'll pay 20% of the remaining $9,000, or $1,800 (your coinsurance).
Some of the most common percentages are: 20% coinsurance: You're responsible for 20% of the total bill. 100% coinsurance: You're responsible for the entire bill. 0% coinsurance: You aren't responsible for any part of the bill — your insurance company will pay the entire claim.
Once you have met your deductible for a $100 medical bill, you would pay $20 and the insurance company would pay $80. You might see this referred to as 80/20 coinsurance. Some plans offer 0% coinsurance, meaning you'd have no coinsurance to pay.
Coinsurance Defined
A common coinsurance arrangement is that the insurance plan pays 80%, and the insured covers the remaining 20% of expenses.
Copays are generally less expensive than coinsurance, so coinsurance will comprise much more of your out-of-pocket costs than copays. For instance, a primary care visit may cost you $25 for a copay, while that visit may cost you hundreds or thousands in coinsurance for tests and services.
This amount is a discounted cost that doctors in your plan network agree to charge. Here's an example of how coinsurance costs work: John's health plan has 80/20 coinsurance. This means that after John has met his deductible, his plan pays 80% of covered costs, and John pays 20%.
Coinsurance is the percentage of costs you pay after you've met your deductible. A deductible is the set amount you pay for medical services and prescriptions before your coinsurance kicks in fully. After you have spent the out-of-pocket maximum, your healthcare plan should cover 100% of eligible expenses.
After you meet your health insurance deductible, you share medical costs with your insurer until the end of the plan year. Your percentage of those costs is called coinsurance. Your coinsurance may be high (80% to 100%) or low (0% to 20%). Typically, it will be less than 50%.
Do I want a higher or lower coinsurance?
“If you rarely go to a hospital or doctor, higher coinsurance and deductibles with lower premiums might be a better decision,” says Gross. But if you have a chronic health condition or see doctors very frequently, you might want to have a lower coinsurance and deductible with a higher premium.
Typically, the percentage that the insurer pays is higher than the individual's portion. For example, a common coinsurance ratio is 80/20, where the insurer pays 80% of the covered expenses, and the insured pays the remaining 20%.
If you are generally healthy and don't have pre-existing conditions, a plan with a higher deductible might be a better choice for you. Your monthly premium is lower since you're only visiting the doctor for annual checkups, and you're not in need of frequent health care services.
However, if you expect to have many health care costs, a plan with a lower deductible would be more cost-effective. A lower deductible means there will be a smaller amount that you will need to pay before the insurance carrier begins to pay its share of your claims: the coinsurance.
Then, when you've met the deductible, you may be responsible for a percentage of covered costs (this is called coinsurance). These payments count toward your out-of-pocket maximum. When you reach that amount, the insurance plan pays 100% of covered expenses.
- Uncertain Out-of-Pocket Costs: The main limitation of coinsurance is that it makes out-of-pocket expenses unpredictable. ...
- High Medical Costs: In cases of significant medical expenses, coinsurance can result in substantial out-of-pocket costs for the insured.
That means the amount of coinsurance can be different for each service you get. If a service does not cost that much, then the coinsurance amount will be small. However, if the healthcare service was expensive, the coinsurance will be higher, too. What's key to remember is the out-of-pocket maximum on your plan.
HMO plans typically have lower monthly premiums. You can also expect to pay less out of pocket. PPOs tend to have higher monthly premiums in exchange for the flexibility to use providers both in and out of network without a referral. Out-of-pocket medical costs can also run higher with a PPO plan.
Not all plans use copays to share in the cost of covered expenses. Or, some plans may use both copays and a deductible/coinsurance, depending on the type of covered service. Also, some services may be covered at no out-of-pocket cost to you, such as annual checkups and certain other eligible preventive care services.
No, usually you either have a copay, or a coinsurance percentage to pay after you have met your deductible. In some cases though, you may end up paying copays and coinsurance, because some plans might implement both. For example, a doctor's visit is a set $50 copay, but emergency visit costs are covered at 70%.
Is it good to have 0% coinsurance?
It's great to have 0% coinsurance. This means that your insurance company will pay for the entire cost of the visit or session.
PPOs Usually Win on Choice and Flexibility
If flexibility and choice are important to you, a PPO plan could be the better choice. Unlike most HMO health plans, you won't likely need to select a primary care physician, and you won't usually need a referral from that physician to see a specialist.
What happens if you don't meet your deductible? If you do not meet the deductible in your plan, your insurance will not pay for your medical expenses—specifically those that are subject to the deductible—until this deductible is reached.
So what does 40% coinsurance mean, for example? If you have 40% coinsurance after the deductible, you will pay the deductible first and then 40% of the costs. 50% coinsurance means the same thing; only you will pay 50% of costs. While these are higher upfront costs, you will reach your out-of-pocket limit faster.
After you meet your deductible, you pay a percentage of health care expenses known as coinsurance.
