health insurance

noun

Definition of health insurance

: insurance against loss through illness of the insured especially : insurance providing compensation for medical expenses

Examples of health insurance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Palmer and Meadows also introduced an amendment to stop D.C. from enforcing a mandate to purchase health insurance. — Fenit Nirappil, Washington Post, "Republicans in Congress and D.C. Democrats agree: Overturn voters on hourly wage hike," 11 July 2018 The Supreme Court eventually upheld provisions of the Affordable Care Act that required most Americans to have health insurance and authorized tax credits to help people buy it in the federal marketplace. — Robert Pear, New York Times, "A Fatal Flaw as Trump Tries to Remake Health Care: Shortcuts," 7 July 2018 Much of this spending is duplicative, since the vast majority of Michiganders already have health insurance. — The Economist, "Why Detroit is the most expensive city in America to buy car insurance," 5 July 2018 About 15 percent of Floridians under age 65 have no health insurance. — Naseem S. Miller, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Obamacare navigators unsure of funding," 27 June 2018 For the next three years, Zade had no health insurance. — Doug Hirsch, STAT, "A bygone pre-existing condition shouldn’t keep my son from getting health insurance," 25 June 2018 His father, Nick, a public high school mathematics teacher in northern Illinois, has health insurance. — Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Kenosha boy with heart defects to visit Capitol Hill to advocate for Medicaid and children's health," 22 June 2018 Texas says that without the fine in place the requirement to have health insurance is unconstitutional and that the entire law should be struck down as a result. — NBC News, "Sessions takes aim at heart of Obamacare — coverage for pre-existing conditions," 8 June 2018 The post said Caldwell doesn’t have health insurance. — Sheila Vilvens, Cincinnati.com, "Off-duty firefighter/EMT to hospitalized following motorcycle crash," 8 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'health insurance.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about health insurance

Dictionary Entries near health insurance

health maintenance organization

Statistics for health insurance

Last Updated

5 Dec 2018

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for health insurance

The first known use of health insurance was in 1901

See more words from the same year

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for health insurance

health insurance

noun

Financial Definition of health insurance

What It Is

Health insurance is insurance that covers some or all of the costs of an individuals healthcare.

How It Works

Health insurance absorbs or offsets healthcare costs associated with, but not limited to, routine health examinations, specialist referral visits, inpatient and outpatient surgery, unforeseen eventualities such as illnesses or injuries, and prescription medication. Health insurance policies are categorized as privately paid for by an individual, publicly provided as a service through Social Security, or commercially arranged by a company as part of an employee benefit package.

Broader levels of health insurance coverage generally have higher premium costs. In many cases, the insured party is responsible for paying his/her healthcare provider an up-front, tax deductible amount called co-pay. Health insurance companies then may compensate healthcare providers directly or reimburse the policy holder based on the remaining portion of an itemized bill.

Why It Matters

Health insurance primarily protects individuals from the prohibitively high costs of surgical procedures, inpatient hospital care, and emergency attention. Though health insurance itself can become costly for a family, it is only a small fraction of the potential costs associated with unforeseen illnesses and emergencies (for example, the diagnosis and treatment of cancer or a heart attack).

Source: Investing Answers

health insurance

noun

Medical Definition of health insurance

: insurance against loss through illness of the insured especially : insurance providing compensation for medical expenses

health insurance

noun

Legal Definition of health insurance

: insurance against loss through illness or injury of the insured especially : insurance providing compensation for medical expenses and often income for disability