What does "co-insurance" refer to in a health insurance policy?

Co-insurance is a key concept in health insurance that refers to the percentage of covered healthcare costs that a policyholder is responsible for paying after they have met their deductible. This means that once a patient has met the initial out-of-pocket amount specified by their health insurance policy (the deductible), they will then share the cost of any further medical services with the insurer, typically in predetermined percentages.

For example, if a health plan has a co-insurance rate of 20%, the insurer will cover 80% of the costs for covered services, and the policyholder will be responsible for the remaining 20%. This arrangement is designed to encourage policyholders to be more engaged in their healthcare decisions, as they have a financial stake in the costs incurred.

The other options describe different aspects of health insurance but do not capture the definition of co-insurance specifically. For instance, a fixed expense per visit relates to co-payment structures, the total premium pertains to the amount paid for the insurance policy itself, and the maximum out-of-pocket expense refers to the cap on what a policyholder needs to pay in a given time period for covered services. Thus, understanding co-insurance helps recipients of health insurance evaluate their potential costs in healthcare scenarios after deductibles have