Looking for health insurance policy that will provide you with maximum coverage can be pretty tough and before getting a policy it's really important that you determine the questions you need to ask your insurance agent. Health insurance may be provided through a social program sponsored by the government or private insurance companies. You will be interested in the type of coverage you have - bad health insurance covers only very serious illnesses that are unlikely to happen. Preferred provider organization insurance is the best as it will cover any treatment you need as long as you use the service provided by a doctor on a special list you will be given. You can also qualify for Medicare and Medicaid public health insurance programs subsidized by the government although it can be pretty hard. It's also important that you learn some terminology on your policy to understand the conditions better. For instance a deductible is the amount of money you will have to pay before your bill is paid by the insurance company (for example, you may need to pay a thousand dollars a year for the services you are provided before your health insurance company will start footing the bills), while a co-pay is how much you will be expected to pay for services like getting a prescription or visiting the doctor. Your insurance policy is better when the co-pay is lower. Many companies actually pay for part of the premiums of their employees, and you can check the employer contribution section in your health insurance policy. Premium is a payment to the insurance company that will need to be made monthly to purchase health coverage. You need to read the exclusions section of your health insurance to check if some services you want to be included are covered. In case they are not, you will be expected to pay the full cost of such services. There are also coverage limits - when your company will pay for some specific service up to a certain dollar amount. Additionally, certain insurance schemes have annual or lifetime coverage maximums and once this maximum is exceeded you will be paying for the medical services yourself. There is also out-of-pocket maximum - the payment obligation of the person insured ends when it reaches a certain amount, and the rest should be paid by the insurance company. Comprehensive health insurance is generally more expensive as the amount of potential payout is high and can reach several million dollars and there is a wide array of covered benefits.