Determining Who's Insurance to Ride On

Anyone have any good strategies for determining who should be the insurance policy holder after getting married?

We both have the same provider (Aetna) but we're not quite sure who's paying more for their coverage, or if one would be cheaper than the other after we're both on the policy.

Any suggestions?

Not enough info, and not something we'll really be able to answer.

Employer-provided plans?

Well I meant more like, should we call Aetna and ask them what each of our policies cost, or call our respective HR folks and ask them? I'm sure I'll get a blank stare at my company.

Or do we just look our pay-stub and compare how much we're paying per week?

Yes we're both on employer-provided plans.

Each of you should start by talking to your HR contact. For most companies, annual enrollment is just concluding so I'm a little surprised you don't already have that info in your hands. What you currently pay (ie what you see on your paystubs) isn't as relevant as what you will be paying next year.

I'd talk with HR and see what the difference is between a family plan vs individual. My wife and I have the same provider, but its cheaper for us to be on individual plans as opposed to a family plan. This has been the case with Cigna, Aetna, and Humana.

and see how different, if there's any, in the coverage from each of your employer .. and like someone pointed out … what continued individual coverage would cost, compared to family

sometimes it's really not economically feasible to take the family option compared to just keeping your individual policies … now once there are kids involved that becomes a different problem

PHeller wrote: Well I meant more like, should we call Aetna and ask them what each of our policies cost, or call our respective HR folks and ask them? I'm sure I'll get a blank stare at my company. Or do we just look our pay-stub and compare how much we're paying per week? Yes we're both on employer-provided plans.

If you're on employer provided plans, your health insurance company has no idea how much you pay for their services.

Contact HR of both companies, compare from there. It'll be simple math, taking into consideration cost of premium vs. amount of care required vs. ded/oop maximums.

Also what was said prior: You're waiting too long to figure this out. My open enrollment ends.... tomorrow. We're later than most companies.

Jumping on the contact HR bandwagon. Marriage constitutes a life change so you should be able to enroll after you're married even if open enrollment has passed. In my case, my wife and I have always had separate policies and she carries the kids. It's been cheaper than having everyone on my policy (high deductible HSA- me vs. conventional PPO- her).

You will probably find that it is less expensive to stay on your respective policies. With the fact that our employers were subsidizing part of the insurance for the employee, the wife and I would have paid much more to put one of us on the others policy.

Now that we have retired we still have separate health care policies. It would double our insurance costs to have both on the same policy.

For my company when enrollment came around we were given 3 choices (ppo, hmo, pos) with the respective monthly prices and the information about how much the company pays of that.

There was a chart with prices by age, older is more expensive.

Through that my wife and I were able to pinpoint exactly what the cost would be to add her.

This is all from HR, nothing from the insurance co. itself.

Now, trying to figure out which coverage is better for us.. Thats a bigger doozy.

First off, figure out if either of you have better insurance for your particular needs. Then if that doesn't solve it, as your HR people. They should at least be able to tell you what percentage of your coverage the company pays, and you can figure the rest out from pay stubs.

A newish thing coming is that companies are refusing to cover spouses if their employer covers more than 50% of the cost. The idea is that it saves them money. The reality is that the insurance companies are now collecting more in premiums.