Why Should Newly Married Couples Switch to Family Health Cover ?
Marriage is a major step towards a new beginning in the life of every individual. As romantic as it is, there comes a list of responsibilities that must be checked off while starting this new life. A key aspect couple must explore and look into with a detailed analysis is family health care insurance.
Not the most poetic sentiment, but reviewing your finances to make collective decisions to cut down on expenses is as intimate as one can get with their life partner. Getting married is an event that leads to a number of changes in one’s life and one of those transitions is health insurance.
Some insurance companies offer policies at low rates to married couples, especially if their historically safer than others when it comes to filing for claims. Insurance agents recommend couples switch from their individual plans to a family health care insurance policy and to do so; one must file for the same within 60 days of their nuptials.
If not, couples must look at temporary plans to cover them until the next enrollment period to switch to the family insurance policy.
Why Family Health Care Policy?
As per CNBC’s November 2019 survey, 71% of couples are on the same insurance plan.
(https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/08/29-percent-of-couples-have-separate-health-insurance.html)
• Out-Of-Pocket expenses
As a family, couples combine finances to balance the expenses of running a home. If they stick to their individual employer-provided policies or ones they’ve purchased from a private insurer, the out-of-pocket expenses turn out to be more than a single health care policy that covers the entire family. The spousal plan helps keep your expenses in check so that you can tie money in savings or have more cash to spend.
• Similar Health Conditions
If couples have similar health care needs i.e. they are both healthy and do not have pre-existing medical conditions or both of them have medical needs that are almost alike, it makes more sense to be on the spousal plan that is either employer-provided or purchased from a private insurance agent.
• Convenient operations
When couples are under the same family health care insurance policy, it makes it easier for them to manage operations and not be concerned to pay multiple premiums for separate policies. Keeping track of renewal dates and when to pay premiums can be an added task when you’re already adjusting and transitioning into a new life as a couple. This also makes it easier to add other members if needed in the future without having to worry to undergo another process to get them a separate insurance policy.
• Discounts/Offers
Some insurance companies offer great deals when it comes to purchasing family health insurance policies for new couples especially when their records are better than those who file for claims often. It also helps when the couple doesn’t have any pre-existing medical conditions that could possibly affect the premium and deductibles they pay. Some companies also offer embedded deductibles. This means that if one person pays their individual deductible (typically half the amount of the entire deductible), the insurance company will begin covering their costs for them while the other continues to pay for their half.