It's common to have questions regarding the details of your visitor health insurance plan. If you're not an insurance expert you don't need to know everything. But some simple things can make your life easier. Like, just what exactly is a deductible?

A deductible is the initial medical cost you are responsible for before your insurance company pays. You pay the deductible, your insurance company pays the rest. For example, if your visitor medical insurance plan has a $100 deductible, you pay the first $100 of medical expenses.

How does a deductible affect you? The higher the deductible, the lower the cost of the insurance premium, and vice versa. Consider whether you will be able to afford paying higher amounts if you get sick and balance it with how much you can afford to pay on the premium.

There are also different types of deductible – pay per incident and pay per visit as well as pay per policy period (you pay the deductible only once during the policy) and pay annually (where you pay the deductible once a year no matter how many times you need medical assistance.)