1k per month employee health insurance through Aetna 30F 29M married

My wife and I are currently paying nearly 12k per year under her employers Healthcare plan which includes vision and dental. We got married in 2021 and I lost my subsidy for my plan through the Healthcare marketplace, so I went ahead and got on her plan. We were allowed to sign me up through a special enrollment period and chose option two of three that does not include any kind of hsa. We had considered going with option one that includes the hsa, but it would still cost 500 a month and cover next to nothing. Since getting married we bit the bullet and tried not to let it bother us too much as the plan we are on is at least halfway decent as far as coverage is concerned. Also I would like to not that my wife's portion is matey 250 in total for health dental and vision and is subsidized. I also smoke cigarettes and am aware that plays a part in my higher premiums, however not in proportion to what I was being charged under my hc.gov plan, even without a subsidy for epo gold. 150 with subsidy and 450 without.

My concern is, we are at a point where we are ready to start having children, but it honestly does not seem financially feasible for a few reasons. The family plan would bump up the monthly payments to 1500 a month and does not cover any prenatal appointments. In fact, she has watched many of her coworkers leave for this exact reason. I won't directly say who her employer is, but she works as an Ota for an agency, so for some that may narrow it down.

An important thing to note is that I am a self employed contractor and am able to deduct 100% of my health insurance premiums. This is another issue because she pays for our insurance pre tax so even if I wanted to reimburse her I still would not be able to deduct it as it is paid for pre tax. To my understanding I would benefit more from this deduction as it would somewhat help with my income tax if it were to exceed the benefits of the standard deduction, but would also greatly help with self employment taxes. So it kind of seems we are getting screwed from any angle possible.

I would greatly appreciate any direction in navigating this matter as well as hearing other people's experiences. Ideally I would like to find a cheaper plan for just myself and find out if it would be feasible to stay on said plan while my wife and future children stay on her employers plan without the increaes cost of the family plan. They may have an employee + dependant that is cheaper, but I would have to double check. Any and all recommendations are appreciated, regarding post content and my course of action.

submitted by /u/TraditionalSuit6188
[comments]