What is health insurance and how does it work?
Health insurance helps protect you from the high costs of healthcare. It helps you pay for doctor visits, hospital stays, prescription drugs and important preventive care.
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Understanding healthcare costs
Learn what makes up healthcare costs and how to pay for them.
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Prescription drugs
Gain a better understanding of prescription drug benefits, search for covered drugs and more.
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Preventive care
Learn what's recommended for you and your family and how that care is covered by health insurance.
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Health insurance glossary
View definitions for common healthcare and health insurance terms.
Health plan example
Example of a health plan in action
Let’s say you’ve had a serious accident. Your medical bills are $50,000. Health insurance may make a huge difference in the amount you'll pay. In this example, all the care you receive is from doctors and hospitals in your plan network.*
Your costs
- Yearly deductible: $5,000
- Coinsurance: 20%
- Yearly out-of-pocket maximum: $6,000
How it works
- In this example, you pay the first $5,000 (your deductible) before your plan begins to pay.
- After you pay the deductible, you pay 20 percent of your healthcare costs until you reach your maximum out-of-pocket amount ($6,000). That means you only pay $2 out of every $10 for covered services until you’ve paid $6,000.
- Once you’ve paid $6,000, your health plan pays the rest of the cost for covered services you receive in-network.
Total amount you'd pay
- Bill for services: $50,000
- You pay: $6,000
- Your plan pays: $44,000
Support
It doesn't have to be hard
Our Blue Cross Advisors are here to:
- Help you learn about Medicare basics and our plans
- Assist you in finding a plan that meets your needs
- Help you enroll in a plan
*This is general information about how plan benefits work. Review the Summary of Benefits and Coverage and your specific health plan benefit booklet for information about how your plan works.
It’s up to you to always check if your provider is in your health plan network before you receive services. Not all providers are in every network. You may pay more or for all of your healthcare costs if your provider is out of your network or does not have a contract with Blue Cross (this is called a non-participating provider). You can verify if your provider is in your network by calling customer service at the number on the back of your member ID card.