Deductible
Deductibles are typically used to deter the large number of claims that a consumer can be reasonably expected to bear the cost of. By restricting its coverage to events that are significant enough to incur large costs, the insurance firm expects to pay out slightly smaller amounts much less frequently, incurring much higher savings. As a result, insurance premiums are typically cheaper when they involve higher deductibles. For example, health insurance companies offer plans with high premiums and low deductibles, or plans with low premiums and high deductibles. One plan may have a premium of $1,087 a month with a $6,000 deductible, while a competitive plan may have a premium of $877 a month with a $12,700 deductible. The consumer with the $6,000 deductible will have to pay $6,000 in health care costs before the insurance plan pays anything. The consumer with the $12,700 deductible will have to pay $12,700.
Health care finance in the United States
An estimated 178 million persons under 65 obtain their insurance through their employer. Firms are often "self-insured", meaning they reimburse the insurance companies that pay the medical claims on behalf of their employees. Employers may use a stop-loss, meaning they pay the insurance company a premium to cover very expensive individual claims (e.g., the firm is self-insured up to a threshold for individual workers). Workers pay a share of their costs to their employers for coverage, basically a premium deducted from their paychecks. Workers also have deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. The structure of the insurance plan may also include a Health savings account or HSA, which enable workers to save money tax-free for health expenses.