The health insurance is growing. It helps that companies are adjusting their tariffs, 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, such as the “co-payment”.”. Today we see how it works and what is the segment of the population where it is best accepted.
What is a co-payment in family health insurance?
A co-payment consists of a amount of money to be paid by the insured person of a health insurance policy, when you make use of it.
This means that, unlike traditional health insurance (where you would just swipe your card when you went to the doctor), now every time you go to a specialist or have a diagnostic test done, you will have to pay X euros per medical act.
Up to this point, we can think of co-pay health insurance as a “handicap” and that there is no interest in this type of insurance. In fact, we ourselves, as Insurance brokerage, When this type of policy was introduced, we were totally opposed to it. We thought that, given that you already pay a large monthly fee, paying a little more each time you go was «criminal». As the companies have evolved and improved this concept, our position has changed considerably.
In which cases it can be advantageous to have a policy with co-payments
These would be 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 this with the savings you would make on a policy with co-payments versus a health insurance policy without co-payments.
For exampleIf you usually go to a specialist 4 times a year, with 2 tests every 12 months, for example, this 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), this means that you would save €30 per year. You would be compensated for this type of policy.
A family with several children
Which health insurance to choose for 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 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 then spend 100 in co-payments, but either way, it pays off.
Young people
We have many policyholders aged 15-35, whose use of the policy is minimal (we are talking about once or twice a year). Most likely, if they were to take out insurance with co-payments, they would save money that they could invest in something else.
If you would like us to recommend you the best companies for health insurance WITH or WITHOUT co-payments, call or write us.
If you would like to know more about health insurance, here is a previous article in which we talked about the shortcomings of health insurance.
