My brain just stops working when I think about health insurance… Which of these plans makes sense for my wife and I?
I (31M) got married September last year but didn't think to combine health insurance for the qualifying event. Wife(29F) and I are planning on trying for a baby soon so now considering best options for health insurance for us. We are in excellent health, take no medications or have any chronic conditions. We bring home about $115k gross, in KY.
Link lists summaries of health options. I'm currently on FEP Blue Focus, wife is on Anthem Managed Choice. Wife's plan has NO premiums for anyone (single, employee plus spouse, or employee plus family), a lower out of pocket maximum, but a higher deductible. My plan has premiums, smaller deductible but much higher out of pocket maximum. It also notes $1,500 for maternity care. If my math is mathing, my plan would cost $118.88 per pay period for wife and I (26 apply periods in a year) $3,090.88 in premiums, $1,500 maternity care, so a total of ~$4600 not including any other medical expenses that may pop up.
Where I get lost is if we consider my wife's plan… No premiums but the percentages listed as costs make little sense to me. With an annual deductible or $4,000, that means we will pay that amount guaranteed before insurance starts kicking in, but then just at 80%? So in all likelihood we would pay more than $4,600 for delivering a baby plus other random expenses that may occur? I guess the risk/reward is that the out of pocket maximum is so much lower than mine.
Then what if anything changes when baby arrives? Would it make sense to get her on my plan for the delivery then when baby is born switch our entire family to her plan?
To further complicate matters we have different open enrollment periods, hers just occured last month, mine is November.
Someone please help me make sense of this. I'm sure there are things I'm also not considering.
Health insurance options https://imgur.com/a/RJaOSaY
submitted by /u/mjcart03
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