A health insurance premium is the regular amount you pay to keep your health insurance coverage active, usually every month, whether or not you use any medical services during that time.

Simple definition

  • A health insurance premium is the price of your health plan, similar to a subscription fee you pay to stay covered.
  • It is paid on a regular schedule (most commonly monthly, sometimes annually or quarterly) directly to your health insurer or through your employer.

How it works in real life

  • As long as you pay your premium on time, your policy stays active and you remain eligible for covered benefits and claims payments.
  • You may still have other costs when you get care, like deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance; the premium does not cover these out-of-pocket expenses by itself.

Premium vs other costs

  • Premium vs deductible : The premium is what you pay regularly to have insurance, while the deductible is what you must spend out of pocket on covered care before the plan starts paying a large share of costs.
  • Premium vs copay/coinsurance : Copays and coinsurance are the amounts you pay when you actually use care (like a fixed amount for a doctor visit or a percentage of a hospital bill), on top of the premium you’ve already paid.

What affects your premium

  • Common factors include your age, location, type of plan, level of coverage, tobacco use, and how many people are covered on the policy (individual vs family).
  • In many countries (including under the Affordable Care Act in the U.S.), insurers are limited in how they can vary premiums and generally cannot charge more just because of pre‑existing conditions.

Help with paying premiums

  • Many people with employer coverage have part of their premium paid by their employer, which reduces the amount they personally owe each month.
  • For marketplace plans, eligible enrollees may qualify for premium tax credits or subsidies that lower the monthly premium they pay out of pocket.

TL;DR: A health insurance premium is the ongoing fee you pay (usually monthly) to keep your health insurance active; it is separate from what you pay when you actually go to the doctor, like deductibles and copays.