As a healthcare provider, you will likely encounter patients who pay co-payments or have co-insurance. The two may appear similar, but their purposes differ. You need to know the difference between the two in order to calculate payments.

You may be employed in a medical office that accepts all types of payments, such as cash, checks, debit/credit cards, or money orders to pay for services rendered. The medical office may be denied payment from time to time because of non-sufficient funds, or the patient may have already gone over his/her credit limit. You need to know what to do in case this happens.

Use your textbook, the Internet, or other resources to research the following. Write a one-page paper defining and explaining the difference between a co-payment and co-insurance.

Then answer the following questions:

1. What is a deductible? What would you do if you discovered that a patient who is waiting in the reception area to see the physician has not paid anything towards a deductible?
2. What is a premium? How is it different from a deductible?
3. What would you do if your patient paid by check, but the check came back due to “non-sufficient funds?”