Deductions & credits

thanx for the reply.  I saw this definition as well and am still confused.  My son is basically paying out of pocket but having it deducted, but it is not reducing his income, really no different than sending in a check every month.  I'm not sure why this is different than my case where I pay to the ins company directly?  I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to understand the difference.
Thanx for the quick reply.
Mark