Choosing health insurance (like I'm 5)

[Deleted]

For the first time ever DH and I both have awesome jobs using our degrees and we both have great health insurance packages to choose from! Woohoo!

I have been combing over both plans and I am not sure whose employer's plan we should choose, or if we should just insure ourselves.

Basically, for $40ish/month we can each insure ourselves through our own employers. For $230ish/month either of us could insure "employee + spouse." The plans look very similar when I compare OOP costs/deductibles/coverages/etc.

His health insurance is Blue Cross in partnership with the university hospital for the university he works for. This university hospital is "the best in the state," it's close to home, and most doctors in the area are affiliated with that hospital. My health insurance is through United. I'm sure there's many doctors in my area but their website was stupidly complicated so I only half-heartedly searched for some.

I'm debating between us each just insuring ourselves only ($40ish each) or one of us doing "employee plus spouse" ($230ish total). Is there any reason we shouldn't just insure only ourselves so that we can save money? I guess that might mean we have to go to different doctors, but I rarely go to a doctor other than my gyno so that's a moot point.

If we do "employee plus spouse" on one plan, is there any reason the other person should still cover himself/herself on their own plan? How much does being double covered benefit you?

FWIW, we're young-ish, healthy, and likely won't be having kids. If any of that changes, a qualifying life event would give us the opportunity to make any changes to our healthcare.

[AllieHound]

IF you have separate plans, you'll have separate deductibles and out of pocket caps. Most employee + plans have an individual deductible and a family deductible- will that be less than the 2 individual deductibles? Of so, by how much? Is it enough to offset the cost of the increased premiums?

[goldengirlz]

DH and I have always had different insurance plans and it works out just fine for us. We even have a kid; some years she's on my plan, some years on his.

If you can't find a difference in benefits, then go with your most economical option which would be separate plans.

[tacom]

We've always had different plans without issue. Only recently did we switch over to a single plan since it's nearly free at my hospital.

[mrsdoe]

I would do different since you mention you are both healthy. the Indiv deductible / oop max is less than for a family. If something bad were to happen causing either of you to have to reach your oop it's likely it wouldn't happen to you both in the same year so you can self insure to some extent by putting a little more savings away saving the difference in premium. Where I live uhc and bcbs are widely accepted so I wouldn't even expect you would need different doctors. I've had bcbs and uhc. The uhc website is the pits and bcbs is much more user friendly. If I had to pick all other things about plans being the same I would go w bcbs but my first choice would definitely be to each have your own plans.

[Deleted]

We have always insured ourselves (separately), too.

The only thing I wanted to add is that a dermatologist visit annually or at least on the regular is important, too! Skin diseases and cancer awareness and all.

GL finding doctors - my GP was harder to find than a good therapist but SO worth it!!!!

[mich1]

One thing that you might want to check out is if you have the option of insuring a spouse if they have the ability to be insured by their employer. Some employers will not allow this.

[azalea]

DH and I each insure ourselves through our respective employers. His company has a penalty for insuring a spouse if that spouse has their own insurance available. A "family" deductible is essentially double the amount of a single deductible, so there is no downside for us.

[chimera]

We've done it both ways, but I've hit oops forgot the last few years. Some of the plans you only have to hit the individual max per person, others it's the single+ 1 or family max.

We compare premiums + oopm for each option and drug coverage

Me on my plan + him on his plan total
Vs
Both on my plan
Vs
Both on his plan.


If you insure on both plans your employer plan normally is the primary, the other plan is secondary it usually covers your out of pocket costs but you need to read the evidence of coverage books. Most people I know who do this - spouse has the family plan with the kids on it and they keep their single plan for a specific doc or benefit. (Most of those were pre ACA where maternity coverage wasn't a given. )

[jg183]

Some companies offer a cash bonus if you can prove you have other insurance
If not then it sounds like separate is fine

[sterl724]

Mar 14, 2017 18:23:26 GMT -5 mich1 said:

One thing that you might want to check out is if you have the option of insuring a spouse if they have the ability to be insured by their employer. Some employers will not allow this.

Or they charge. My h can insure me, but because I have access to insurance of my own through my employer, we would have to pay a "spousal charge" for me to be on his. It is $100 a month (plus the extra cost for it being both of us and not just him.)

[patches31709]

DH and I work for the same company, and we insured ourselves separately for years. Aside from well visits, we both rarely go to the doctor - DH especially - so we were never close to even reaching our deductible. Now that DD is here, we do pay the extra $20 a week or so to have one plan.