Health Insurance Options To Consider After Marriage

Getting married is an exciting time. You’re making a commitment to spend the rest of your life with one person. It’s an important period of transition, and a time to change your individual health insurance plans to one with combined coverage or to even enroll in health insurance within the first two months of your marriage.



Look at the options that are available to you. Does your employer offer a health insurance plan? Do you have children together, or does your new spouse have children? If neither of your jobs offers health insurance, it may be time to contact a health insurance broker.

What a Health Insurance Broker Does

While you can also work with an insurance agent, a health insurance broker isn’t tied to one insurance company, meaning the agent will be less biased toward one particular insurance company. A health insurance broker will show you plans from several different companies, giving you a wider range of choices. Sacket Insurance Services is a health insurance broker specializing in Medicare and other health insurance services. Sacket Insurance Services can find the right plan for you.

Why You Need Health insurance

If the two of you are in great health, you may wonder why you should think about health insurance at all. If you’re living on a limited budget, you may be tempted to skip health insurance in order to save money. Keep in mind, however, that accidents could occur to anyone. If you have to go to the emergency room, the cost, if you are not insured, is on average over a thousand dollars. If you have to have emergency surgery, the price could be up to $20,000.

Consider Catastrophic Health Insurance

If you can't afford health insurance, you might consider catastrophic health insurance. These cover expenses from an unexpected injury or illness.

Whether To Share a Plan or Pay Separately

If both of you can get health care from your employer, it might make sense for each of you to have individual health insurance plans. Your out-of-pocket costs may be less that way. For example, your spouse may want to stick with a plan that has a higher premium but lower deductible if he or she needs more medical care because of a pre-existing condition. If you don’t visit the doctor often, you may prefer a plan with a higher deductible but lower premiums. The two of you would pay more if you were on one health plan together.

What To Consider When Thinking About Health Insurance

Within the first 60 days of your marriage, you and your spouse should sit down and discuss how you will pay for health insurance. Here are some things to consider.

1. How Often Do You Go to the Doctor

Pull out your calendars and take note of the number of times you each visited the doctor in the past year. If one or both of you go to the doctor often, look at a plan that offers a copay. If one of you sees a therapist or goes to a specialist regularly, that is also something you will need to discuss with your health insurance broker.

2. How Much You Can Afford

If you haven’t done this already, you and your spouse need to sit down and create a budget. Your health insurance premiums need to be a part of this budget. Look at how much it will cost if you are both covered under one person’s health insurance plan. Also, take into consideration how much you have paid in the past year for health insurance. Come up with a spending plan and an amount you both feel right about paying for health costs.

3. Who Your Doctors Are

Does one or both of you have doctors you prefer? Then you need to see if your doctors are part of a health insurance network that you can tap into. Check the policies available to you and your spouse. Or contact a health insurance broker. If you want to continue seeing a doctor who isn’t in the network, how much will it cost to see that physician?

4. If You Take Medications

If you or your spouse take medications regularly, look carefully at the prescription coverage the health plan offers. If you take several medications, and those prescriptions are expensive, see if you can find a health plan that will cover those costs.

5. What Your Future Needs Might Be

Do you and your spouse want to start a family? Look for a healthcare plan that covers maternity costs. Also, look at insurance plans that will pay for doctor’s visits for your newborn.

Whether You Need Individual Health Insurance Plans or a Combined One

A health insurance broker can help you find the right plan that works for your circumstances. For more information on how to obtain health insurance, contact us at (707) 823-3689 or click this link.