Health insurance is growing all the time. It helps that companies are adjusting their rates, making this product much more affordable than it was years ago. One of the reasons is that they have introduced formulas that make it cheaper, among them the “co-payment”.. Today we see how it works and which segment of the population has the best acceptance.
What is a co-payment in family health insurance?
A co-payment consists of an economic amount that the insured of a health insurance policy must pay when using it.
This means that, unlike a traditional health insurance (in which the card was swiped when going to the doctor), now every time we go to a specialist or we have to undergo a diagnostic test, we will have to pay X euros per medical act.
Up to this point, we may think that health insurance with co-payment is a “handicap” and that this type of insurance is of no interest. In fact, we ourselves, as insurance brokers, were completely opposed to this type of policy when it first appeared. We thought that, since we already pay a significant monthly fee, paying something more each time you go to the doctor was “criminal”. After the evolution and improvement of this concept on the part of the companies, our position on the matter has changed considerably.
In which cases it may be advantageous to have a policy with co-payments
These would be the examples where health insurance with co-payments is worthwhile:
The key is to do the math
See how often you use the policy, and compare it to the savings you would get from a policy with co-payments versus a health insurance policy without co-payments.
For example: if you usually visit a specialist 4 times a year, with 2 tests every 12 months, for example, it means that you will have to calculate how much money it costs you in co-payments (let’s say 5 € x 6 times = 30 €). If you save 5 € per month (instead of 50 €, with co-payments it is 45 € per month), it means that you would save 30 € per year. You would already be compensated for this type of policy.
A family with several children
Which health insurance to choose in the case of a young family with children? Is it better to opt for health insurance with or without co-payments? A very clear case that can represent an important benefit. Having a health insurance for 4 or 5 people can mean more than 200 € per month between all of them.
If, for example, by inserting a co-payment you save 20% of the annual cost, it means that you are lowering the cost by 400 € per year. Even if you spend 100 in co-payments, but in any case, it pays off.
Young people
We have many policyholders between the ages of 15-35, whose use of the policy is minimal (we are talking about once or twice a year). Most likely, if they took out insurance with co-payments, they would save money that they could invest in something else.
If you want us to recommend you the best health insurance companies WITH or WITHOUT co-payments, call or write us.
If you want to learn more about health insurance, we leave you with a previous article in which we talked about the shortcomings of health insurance.
