My first thought when seeing your subject line was "probably not!!" The US insurance system is an interesting animal, and it's about to get even more interesting with upcoming legislation.

Here's kinda the basics, though. Medical insurance is handled either by administration companies that manage the payment of doctors, and determine what benefits you will qualify for and what acceptable rates to pay the doctors are, or it's handled by government funded agencies. Typically, if you are employed, you company will sign up with an insurance administration company to provide health insurance for all employees. The employer will pay all or part of the insurance premiums (cost to the ins. company for providing the insurance). If you're self-employed, you'll typically purchase private insurance, which is handled pretty much the same as if you work for someone else, except that you have to pay the whole premium. If you're not employed, retired, or have other special circumstances, you can qualify for a government funded program.

Once you've got insurance, medical providers are divided in to "in-network" and "out of network." In network means that the provider has signed up to provide medical care to people insured via that particular ins. admin company. In network care is usually covered at either 100% of the cost by the insurance company, or the patient is required to pay a small cost, called a co-pay. Co-pays are usually around $20 or some percentage of the full fee. Out of network providers can provide you with care, and you can submit a claim to the insurance company. If the ins. company decides to cover the costs, they will usually only cover a portion of it, and you're responsible for the rest.

Some insurance plans also have what's called a deductible. In that case, the insurance coverage doesn't full kick in until you've met the deductible. So, you might have a $1000 deductible. You have to pay a portion of your care up to that $1000, and then anything over that, the ins. company covers. They often also have yearly and lifetime out of pocket costs, and if you exceed those, the company covers everything else.

For some types of medical services, the insurance company will set a "reasonable and customary" rate for the service, and if your medical provider charges more than that, you are responsible for the difference. Say - a dentist charges you $200 for a filling, but the insurance company says the fee they will cover is $150. You are left paying the remaining $50 to the dentist, in addition to any co-pays.

Oh! And, medical providers also have the option of not signing up with any insurance agency and not accepting insurance. In that case, you are responsible for the full cost of any treatment they provide. (both my T and pdoc are this way, but they're so awesome that I don't mind the cost).

Hope that helps!!! There are tons of different plans that offer different types of coverage, but that's the basics.