How do health insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket amounts work?

A deductible is the amount you must pay before the insurance company begins to pay any policy benefits. This is usually an annual amount per insured person, per calendar year.  Although typically there will be a maximum amount of deductibles you will have to pay per family in any given year.  For example, if your “per person” deductible is $500, and you have five people in your family covered under your health insurance, the maximum “family” deductible is usually three times the individual deductible or $1500.00 in this example.  Once three individuals have paid the $500 deductible, no more deductibles will apply to any member of the family for the remainder of the year.  (more…)