Help With Health Insurance

[HotPotato]

I'm not sure if this should go in here or the Mini Mustache section but I'll just go for it.

My husband and I are trying to conceive, with the hopes that when a baby comes I'll be able to be a SAHM. But I'm already worried because of health insurance. Currently, the two of us our on my health insurance which has pretty good coverage and the premiums are ~$100 for single +1 and ~$140 per week for family. If I were to leave my job, we'd have to go on his health insurance which has phenomenal coverage but the lowest plan premium is ~$275/ week. Yikes. On top of that, he'd have to take a $5k cut in salary.

So we've been trying to figure out if we could make that situation work or find other health insurance coverage options. I think we'd be ok with a high deducible plan if it were in conjunction with a health savings account. We're in NY so idk if that limits our options at all. Does any one have any suggestions on how to make this work?

[Mongoose]

I don't have any suggestions but the $275 per week seems high. Have you looked at unsubsidized plans? I can get a bronze plan in my state for $800 per month. That's a little cheaper than the $275 at least.

[Choices]

Why would he have to take a cut in salary?
Have you researched prices for comparable plans on the open market? You can get ballbark info at ehealthinsurance.com and on the websites of the individual companies.

[HotPotato]

Why would he have to take a cut in salary?

I'm not quite sure on that. Our health insurance has always been through my employer so we didn't pay much attention to it when he switched jobs, then recently when I switched jobs we decided to look into it in case his was better. That's when HR said that they'd dock his salary. Its a small company, <50 people, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it. My other thought is that his salary includes a "bonus" for not enrolling in health insurance. After hearing that realizing how much his premiums were over mine, we didn't look into it that much. Now that we're trying for a family it's a little different though. We both think it'd be a little awkward to ask our HR departments about info for when a baby comes when we're not even pregnant yet.

I looked onto the NY health exchange website, put in some info with a fake baby and received a couple quotes that were 800-1100/ month. I also put in just his salary and it said we'd be eligible for a $200/ month subsidy. Does anyone know anything about that? Will the go off of the previous years tax return? The best quote came from Fidelis but they have a disclaimer on their website stating : You can explore plans and prices, but please check with your employer before applying for a new plan:
1. If your employer covers part of your insurance premiums these new plans may be more expensive.
2. You may not be eligible for financial assistance; and
3. Your employer may face a penalty if you choose coverage outside your job-based plan.

Does any one have private insurance even though their work covers part of the premium? How does this work? When we compare the plans through his work it's like his insurance is covering the same amount for each plan, so I guess they'd only be covering a portion of his premiums. We really have no experience with getting health insurance not from an employer hah.

[Choices]

Of course people don't always behave as they should, but your HR departments should be able to provide you with information while keeping it confidential. So many people are dealing with infertility that they should know better to say anything even if they don't keep their mouths shut for the proper ethical reasons.

[forummm]

Why would he have to take a cut in salary?
Have you researched prices for comparable plans on the open market? You can get ballbark info at ehealthinsurance.com and on the websites of the individual companies.

Use https://www.healthcare.gov/see-plans/ instead. It's the official Marketplace. They have all the plan options that are available with specific costs and coverages. You only need to enter your ZIP, ages, and tobacco status to get an accurate premium amount (no other personal data).