Thank you for choosing Labrador Primary Care Center as your Primary Care Provider. January is always a busy time of the year for insurance benefits changes, and/or carriers. In order to avoid delay in payment from insurances companies, it is very important to update our office of any changes to your existing insurance plans. Make sure you are very familiar with your benefits. Unfortunately, nowadays, some plans won’t pay for any Preventive Care (no cost to you). If the insurance company fails to pay benefits, the unpaid balance will become the patient’s responsibility.
- Co-pay: Copays are similar to deductibles, in that it is usually a fixed amount of money you have to pay each time you need to use your insurance plan. Unlike deductibles, copays tend to be smaller dollar amounts and are applied on a per visit basis so that that you would have to pay it each visit.
- Co-Insurance: Coinsurance is usually a percentage, and represents the percentage cost that you will need to pay and the insurance plan will pay towards your eligible medical expenses. Some common coinsurance examples include: 100%, 80/20, 90/10 and 50/50 – so if you have 80/20 coinsurance on your insurance plan, it means that the insurance company will cover 80% of your medical cost and you are responsible for paying the other 20% yourself. A deductible is commonly use together with coinsurance. In this case you would pay the deductible amount first and after you would have the left over coinsurance amount.
- Deductible: A deductible is usually a fix dollar amount that you have to pay out of your own pocket before the insurance will cover the remaining eligible expenses.Depending on the insurance plan, the deductible can range from $0 all the way up to thousands of dollars. It can also be paid per sickness/injury (per condition) or per certificate period. As a rule of thumb, the higher the deductible the lower the premium (price to buy the plan), and vice versa – but always be sure to choose the deductible that is appropriate for your circumstances when purchasing an insurance policy.
If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us!
