Premium
A premium is the amount you pay, typically per month, to maintain your insurance. If you have a $200 premium, you will pay $200 a month to have health insurance.
If you have a medical condition before getting insurance, insurers may not cover your pre-existing condition for a period of time—or at all. In 2014 insurers won’t be able to deny coverage due to these conditions.
Many plans only cover care up to a certain amount. Under the new law, insurers can no longer cap how much they pay for care over your lifetime; annual dollar limits on coverage are phased out by 2014.
A healthy young adult should look for a plan that covers preventive/primary care, prescription drugs, hospitalization, ER visits, and reproductive health needs. Be careful about catastrophic plans that only cover the worst cases: if you have a health condition, you...