Just married: Dual health insurance

[anthai.lu]

Hey guys,

New member here and really enjoy reading the topics on these boards.

I had a question and was wondering what people thought.

I recently got married this year and at the same time, my wife started a new job. She was not eligible for health insurance until after 6 months so naturally, I added her to my company plan. This of course, made my insurance payment each pay period go up pretty substantially.

Now, she's eligible to join her company's insurance plan and we are unsure of what to do. I've been reading that most of the time, having dual insurance is a big waste of money and you're not getting covered any more than if you had separate insurance or just insurance under one person and it usually causes more confusion between the 2 health insurance companies.

We both have very stable jobs at great companys. Please let me know you need any other information.

Thanks.

[disneysteve]

I would not get dual coverage. It serves no purpose, costs money for no reason, and confuses billing tremendously. Check the rates from each job and figure out which is the better deal. It might be cheaper for both of you to switch to her job. It might be cheaper for both to stay with your coverage. It might be cheaper for each of you to be insured separately at your own jobs.

Also, don't just look at price. Make sure you compare coverage also. You don't want to go cheap only to find out that the coverage isn't very good and the out of pocket costs are high.

[elessar78]

Also look at copays for PCP visits, Specialist visits, and prescriptions. Hers might be cheaper out of paycheck but have higher copays and deductibles, negating the initial savings.

Also Ask HR about projected cost increases in the coming years. Some may say they don't know, some might.

[Nika]

I hope by dual you don't mean 1 person being covered by 2 different insurance plan. Because that means that you are uninsured. Neither insurer will pay.

As for which one you get - the better one. And co-pay amounts is not an indicator in this at all.
A better policy is the one that will cover the most should the catastrophic things happen, have wider coverage and is accepted by better doctor and specialists. You have to spend good amount of time reading plan materials and re-evaluate every year.
For example, if you are planning to have a baby, look at how birth and pre-natal care are covered, who is the best OB for you and what insurance they accept, etc..

Talk to your HR insurance specialist if you have any questions. Btw, a more expensive insurance is not always a better one. Often, but not always. For example, at my work there is one plan that is far more expensive. I talked to the insurance person about it (she works for the company) and discovered that it is because most oder employees are on that plan (it was the only one offered decades ago) and they don't want to change the doctors, so they stay with it. And since our insurance is self-paying, the premiums are much higher for that plan as a result (older people have much more health problems).

[thesimplemoneyblog]

It really depends on the costs, coverage (deductibles, copays (if it's not an HSA enabled High Deductible Health Plan), types of services covered, etc.), as well as whether either of your employers subsidizes the cost of the health insurance. It can make sense to have you covered under your employer and your wife covered under her employer in certain scenarios (as is my situation), but the key is to closely look at what each of the options may cost you.

There isn't really a rule of thumb for which one is best since every plan (and employer's ability/willingness to subsidize the cost) is different, so you just have to figure out the cost of the three methods (both under your employer, both under her employer, or each under your own employer) and compare overall coverages.

[muexm]

I would not get dual coverage. It serves no purpose, costs money for no reason, and confuses billing tremendously. Check the rates from each job and figure out which is the better deal. It might be cheaper for both of you to switch to her job. It might be cheaper for both to stay with your coverage. It might be cheaper for each of you to be insured separately at your own jobs.

Also, don't just look at price. Make sure you compare coverage also. You don't want to go cheap only to find out that the coverage isn't very good and the out of pocket costs are high.

Disney Steve is absolutely correct. Having two insurance is a complete nightmare. I can tell you as a healthcare administrator I have talked to a lot of patients who get stuck with a large bill because they had two insurances. They all asume two health insurances are better than one until the bill starts rolling. Save yourself the headache and look at each health insurance plan and pick the best health plan for you family. Then quickly call the companies HR Dept and tell them to cancel the health insurance plan because you will be covered by your wife/husbands plan on this date.