In plain English
It is a shared spending target for everyone included on one family health plan. The covered family members' health care costs that count are added together during one plan period. After that combined amount has been paid, the insurer starts paying its share.
In context
Here, the term labels the combined amount that all covered family members must pay for covered health care costs during the plan period before the insurer pays its share.
- Situation
- Reading premium, deductible, excess, copay, limit, and out-of-pocket fields
- What it communicates
- labels the family-level deductible figure on a family plan page
Meaning limits
The term alone does not say how much any one family member must pay individually.
Examples
“By July, her surgery bills and her son's clinic visits together had met the family deductible, so the insurer began paying its share of later covered costs.”
“They tracked the children's covered therapy charges against the family deductible throughout the plan period.”