Mustachians,
Looking for health insurance. Just for two people, husband and wife.
Should we get a family plan? Or should we just get one separate plan for ourselves, individually, instead of a family plan? It seems like it would be cheaper that way? Just by browsing ehealthinsurance, thats what we found:
FINDINGS:
single Male: $44/month
single female, no maternity: $56/month
single female, with maternity: $181/month
Couple, NO maternity: $213/month
Couple, WITH maternity:$269/month
The above findings show the lowest rates found with ehealthinsurance. According to that, its much more mustachian for a couple to get health insurance individually, as opposed to "as a family".
If a man gets his own insurance, and a woman gets her own insurance WITH maternity, the total:44+181= $225/month
If a man and woman get insurance together as a family, the cost is: Couple, WITH maternity:$269/month
Compare the two: 225 vs 269.
This raises another question: Is maternity even necessary? If a woman is not pregnant, and has insurance with no maternity, then gets pregnant and decides to sign up for maternity, will she possibly be rejected/denied/penalized/fined/charged extra high fees? So if she plans pregnancy any time in the next 2 years, she would be better of just getting the maternity insurance to save herself from any hassle? What are your thoughts on maternity options in health insurance?
Mr. Moneymustache was able to find a deal for $237/month:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/11/01/our-new-237-per-month-health-insurance-plan/Any ideas, thoughts on this? Am I doing getting something wrong? I thought insurance as a family would have been cheaper, but I guess not. I'm no expert on this.
Coinsurance: Is it better to have 0% co-insurance or 20% co-insurance? Which one is more mustachian?
One other thing, just wondering, why do I need to go thru ehealthinsurance? what are the benefits of that? do they charge monthly for their service of helping you find an insurance policy? can't I just find my own policy and save that charge? Or how does it work? I mean, if I find a great deal at Kaiser from browsing ehealthinsurance, can't I just go to Kaiser myself and sign up for insurance there? Won't that be better and more mustachian?
Any insight is greatly appreciated!