{"id":663,"date":"2021-04-21T09:08:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T09:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/?p=663"},"modified":"2021-05-03T02:37:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T02:37:20","slug":"some-key-health-insurance-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/some-key-health-insurance-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Key Health Insurance Terms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Trista Xiuchuan Lu \u2022\u00a0 Source: Yifeng<\/em> 2017 Summer Issue<\/p>\n

The American healthcare system is different from that\u00a0of most western countries in the\u00a0world, and the terms used in this article are therefore applicable only in America. While\u00a0the terms discussed here are not numerous, they can be very confusing to new immigrants\u00a0who are not familiar with health insurance and are not fluent in English. Even native\u00a0English speakers in the US can get confused as well.\u00a0The concepts that are discussed in this short article are the ones you will always encounter\u00a0in health insurance marketing material and coverage documents. This article hopes to\u00a0offer some help to translators who are new to this area.<\/p>\n

\n

Deductible<\/p>\n

It refers to the amount of money that the insured has to pay before insurance companies start paying. In other words, it is the amount the insurance companies can \u201cdeduct\u201d from their coverage. For example, if the deductible of your plan is $4,000, it means that the insurance company will start paying after you have finished paying $4,000. There are several ways to translate this term into Chinese to make the concept clear to a Chinese audience, such as \u201c\u6263\u9664\u989d\u201d, \u201c\u81ea\u4ed8\u989d\u201d, \u201c\u81ea\u8d1f\u989d\u201d and \u201c\u514d\u8d54\u989d.\u201c<\/p>\n

When people hear the word \u201cdeductible\u201d, they may get confused and think that a certain amount can be deducted from their medical bills. However, the deduction is in fact not applied to the insured\u2019s bill, but to insurance companies\u2019 payment. The Chinese translations of the term provided above are all acceptable; all of them appear in government literature and marketing material, etc. Personally I think \u201c\u514d\u8d54\u989d\u201d, directly back translating to \u201cthe amount not covered\u201d, is the best, as it is the clearest, and people will not confuse it with the term \u201cout-of-pocket\u201d, which will be discussed below as well.<\/p>\n

\n

Co-pay\/Copayment<\/p>\n

This refers to the fixed amount that you pay upfront for each doctor\u2019s visit. It is similar to \u201c\u6302\u53f7\u8d39\u201d in China, except that \u201c\u6302\u53f7\u8d39\u201d is determined by the hospital or the doctor, whereas the co-pay is determined by the insurance companies and it can differ from plan to plan.<\/p>\n

The common translation for this term is a literal one, \u201c\u5171\u4ed8\u6b3e\u201d. Some translators translate it as \u201c\u5b9a\u989d\u624b\u7eed\u8d39\u201d, which is more easily understandable but less common. You may also use the Chinese term \u201c\u6302\u53f7\u8d39\u201d, which is less accurate.<\/p>\n

\n

Coinsurance<\/p>\n

This term is usually literally translated as \u201c\u5171\u540c\u4fdd\u9669\u201d. It refers to the percentage of the cost covered by the insurance plan that the insured needs to pay.<\/p>\n

For example, if the covered medical bill is $100, and the coinsurance of the plan is 20%, the insured will need to pay $20 and the insurance company pays the rest.<\/p>\n

\n

Out-of-Pocket<\/p>\n

The above three terms are all \u201cout-of-pocket\u201d expenses that will be determined by each plan. As mentioned before, the insured is usually required to pay a co-pay for each doctor\u2019s visit and the portion of medical bills up to the deductible amount before the insurance starts to kick in. After the deductible is fulfilled, the insured still has to pay a part of the bill according to the coinsurance rate specified in the policy.<\/p>\n

Some plans set a maximum out-of-pocket amount. Once the insured pays the requisite out-of-pocket amount, he or she will no longer need to pay anything towards any medical expenses, not even the co-pay. And this term is usually literally translated as \u201c\u81ea\u4ed8\u989d\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

Medi-Share<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t talk about \u201cMedi-Share\u201d as often as they talk about other terms in health\u00a0insurance. That is because this term is not used in your regular health insurance but rather\u00a0in \u201ca Christian healthcare sharing ministry where members share each other’s medical\u00a0expenses\u201d. There are several Chinese translations for this term, such as \u201c\u533b\u7597\u5171\u4eab\u4f1a\u201d, \u201c\u533b\u4fdd\u4e92\u52a9\u4f1a\u201d, \u201c\u533b\u4fdd\u5171\u4eab\u4f1a\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cMedicare\u201d and\u201cMedicaid\u201d are generally not translated in government documents or insurance company marketing material. Being similar to these two, \u201cMedi-Share\u201d should probably be left untranslated.<\/p>\n

\n

Creditable Coverage<\/p>\n

This is a somewhat tricky term. People can mistake \u201ccreditable\u201d with \u201ccredible\u201d, which has a different meaning. I have known translators who translated \u201ccreditable coverage\u201d as \u201c\u597d\u7684\u627f\u4fdd\u201d, and that is just wrong.<\/p>\n

In the US, people who have pre-existing medical conditions may be denied insurance coverage or required to pay a much higher premium when they change plans. But people may have to change health insurance plans even when they like the plans they have. For example, if you are a college student about to graduate or if you change jobs, you will have to change your health insurance plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreditable coverage\u201d refers to certain types of insurance plans or coverage, such as a group plan and a student plan, that qualify a potential insured who has pre-existing conditions to switch insurance plans without having to wait for a long exclusion period or pay a monetary penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreditable\u201d here literally means \u201cdeserving public acknowledgment \u201c, or as the word itself suggests, something that \u201ccan be used as credit\u201d. My suggestion for the translation of this term is \u201c\u53d7\u8ba4\u627f\u4fdd\u201d. Below is a sentence extracted from some marketing material: People who already have creditable coverage and continue to use this coverage without purchasing a Medicare Part D plan will not be subject to the 1% per month premium penalty for late enrollment.<\/p>\n

Translating \u201ccreditable coverage\u201d as \u201cgood coverage (\u597d\u7684\u627f\u4fdd)\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to matter too much\u2014to some extent, this kind of coverage is in fact \u201cgood\u201d coverage. However, it is also very clear that changing the term to simply \u201cgood coverage\u201d neglects the nuance behind the policy and doesn\u2019t help the readers to understand their policies.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Trista Xiuchuan Lu is an ATA certified English to Chinese translator based in New York City. She has extensive experience in areas such as healthcare, insurance, business, and legal translation. Trista is also a theater aficionado.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trista Xiuchuan Lu \u2022\u00a0 Source: Yifeng 2017 Summer Issue The American healthcare system is different from that\u00a0of most western countries in the\u00a0world, and the terms used in this article are therefore applicable only in America. While\u00a0the terms discussed here are not numerous, they can be very confusing to new immigrants\u00a0who are not familiar with health […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-terminology","8":"entry"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Post-MedicalTerms-scaled-e1618995870849.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663\/revisions\/668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/CLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}