A deductible is a fixed amount you pay out of pocket before your health insurance starts contributing toward a claim, typically applied once per policy year regardless of how many separate visits or treatments occur before that threshold is reached. A co-payment is a smaller, ongoing share of the cost you continue to pay on each individual claim or visit, even after the deductible has been met, commonly expressed as a percentage of the bill, meaning the two work together rather than as alternatives to one another within the same policy.
Check your own exact figures with the Insurance Comparison Tool - free, in under a minute, no sign-up required.