What is a health insurance premium?
Learn about health insurance premiums and how to pay them.
A premium is your monthly payment for health insurance.
How does my premium relate to my health plan?
The premium amount is related to your health plan’s benefits. Typically, the higher the deductible is, the lower your premium will be, and vice versa.
It’s important to consider the premium and deductible together when you are choosing a plan.
Example of a low and high-deductible plan:
High-deductible plan
Janet is healthy and rarely goes to the doctor. She decides a plan with a high deductible will work best for her.
She is choosing to pay a lower monthly premium, but will still have protection if she needs to get medical care for something major.
Low-deductible plan
David has an ongoing health condition that requires him to see his doctor regularly. He chooses a low-deductible plan.
He knows he will pay a higher monthly premium, but his health plan will start paying for his medical bills sooner than if he had to meet a high deductible.
How do I make health insurance premium payments?
You pay your premium based on how you get your plan. If you have health insurance from work, your employer will take premiums from your check automatically. If you have your own health plan, you will make payments directly to the insurance company.
Your plan is only active when you pay the premium, so it’s important to pay on time. If you pay directly, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus have payment options to pay online or to set up automatic withdrawal.
Learn more
Find out how a premium fits with other healthcare costs and learn how and who to pay for healthcare.
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.