Can someone explain insurance for me?

[sascraps]

I just got to looking up health insurance out of curiosity. I've never in my life had any health insurance and I know I can't afford it either. But I was just looking for quotes out of curiosity. So, I've always thought that what a deductible is is what you have to pay up front, right? As in, in addition to the monthly fee you pay the insurance company, you have to pay $7000 to all the doctors & hospitals you go to before they start paying a dime towards your medical care when you're deductible is $7000, right? Because if that's the case, that's absolute crap, even if it is only $35 a month on this one short term plan. I don't have $7000 laying around because if I did, then I could just walk in to the big blood lab place here and get my blood work done. 

[Robert Scott]

A deductible .. yes is what you have to pay out of your pocket first before the insurance kicks in....

However, most insurance policies do pay on preventive health care with a small co-pay.  So, for example - I have a $1500 deductible - however, I can visit my doctor as many times as I want and only pay $10 until I reach my deductible then it become $0.   She also can run all labs on me without cost to me - since labs are used to detect and prevent bigger problems with no cost to me. 

Now, I had to pay for my prescription - but at a reduced rate - the cost it is for my insurance company - until I reached my deductible.

If I needed to have emergency surgery or a hospitialization then I would have to reach my deductible before my insurance kicked in.

I reached my deductible the first week of the year ... I have a prescription that cost $2200 a month ... so I haven't had to pay anything else this year ... which will include my chest reduction surgery