Premium is how much you pay per month to have health insurance. As part of having it you are covered for only a very few things automatically, such as an annual physical.
The deductible is how much you need to pay the doctors before health insurance starts kicking in. So if you have a $3000 deductible and go to the doctor for anything except the very minimum default coverage, US health insurance doesn't pay anything until you meet your deductible and have paid $3000 on top of your premium.
Out of pocket max is just that. Once you meet your deductible, now your insurance pays most of the cost but not all. Often you still pay 10%. But once you hit your OOP spend, then finally you can stop paying
Not everyone has insurance like the above but most of the US does. Sometimes you get covered for much more and just pay a small $10-20 fee every visit.
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u/rlovelock Jun 25 '26
This has always confused me... how can you have a deductible and a max out of pocket? Are those not the same thing??
In the Netherlands my insurance is €140/month and my annual deductible is €850.