Definition

The amount you pay at each doctor's visit on top of your insurance premiums, because apparently one payment wasn't enough. It's a reminder that healthcare costs money at every possible opportunity.

Example Usage

My insurance has a $30 co-pay for specialist visits.

Source: Health insurance terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

sepsis

A life-threatening condition where your immune system freaks out over an infection and starts attacking your own organs—friendly fire on a molecular level. The medical emergency that turns a simple infection into multi-organ failure.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical
Advanced

dilatation

The medical term for making an opening or passage wider, whether it's a blood vessel, the cervix, or your pupils during an eye exam. This expansion process can happen naturally, surgically, or through pharmaceutical intervention, usually followed by discomfort and paperwork. Not to be confused with dilation, though doctors use them interchangeably while patients just wish it would hurry up.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical
Beginner

sphincter

A legitimate anatomical term for a circular muscle that controls the opening and closing of a bodily orifice, most commonly referenced in relation to digestive functions. Despite its clinical origins, it's become comedic gold due to the inherently funny nature of bodily function vocabulary.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical
Advanced

conformation

The physical arrangement or spatial orientation of atoms within a molecule, capable of rotating without breaking chemical bonds—chemistry's way of describing molecular flexibility and shape-shifting.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical
Advanced

Comorbidity

When you have two or more medical conditions at the same time, like your body decided that one problem was not enough and started collecting diagnoses like trading cards. The medical equivalent of "when it rains, it pours."

🏥 Healthcare / Medical
Beginner

Workup

The battery of tests a doctor orders to figure out what is wrong with you, ranging from blood draws to scans to questions about your lifestyle that make you wish you had eaten more vegetables. The medical version of a home inspection, except the home is your body and the inspector keeps finding things.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Translate This Term

See “co-pay” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on XShare on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

T_T

An emoticon representing sadness, tears, or deep disappointment—looks like a little crying face made of text character...