Health Insurance for Couples

It is easy to consolidate your expenses and time through health insurance for couples, yet you need to be aware of the trap that can catch you out.

You want to get couples health insurance you can trust? You’re on the right page. This article will demonstrate how to effectively find the correct policy for a couple, that suits the wishes of you and your significant other.

In only a few moments, you will learn how to bypass payment for benefits you don’t want, how much a joint couples policy costs and how to compare and contrast the features of differing policies. Without further a due, let’s begin!

Here is a quick overview of couples health insurance:

• Couples health insurance for a basic hospital and extras policy would estimate to be around $40-$60+ per week (depending upon preferences and cover).
• For top notch cover that covers your pregnancy, you’d expect to pay $100-$130 per week.
• There are still separate limits for extras benefits for you and your significant other.
• In regards to a couples policy, both you and your significant other must be covered on the same level.
• You won’t save any money by opting to pay for two individual policies than you would by buying couples insurance.

Couples health insurance, how does it work?

The cost of medical bills can be alleviated through couples health insurance. In exchange for part-coverage of your costs, you would pay a usual premium.

Typically, you will choose from the three main types of policies: extras, hospital or combined. An extras policy would assist with regular healthcare issues such as optical or dental appointments. Hospital policies cover your in-hospital care. For combined policies, they will cover both extras and hospital.

Hospital policies. There are four levels of hospital policy levels to pick from, these are as follows: gold, silver, bronze or basic. Each level corresponds to how much coverage you will receive, e.g. Gold will provide higher coverage than bronze. For you and your significant other to qualify for couples health insurance, you both need to be on the same hospital policy level.

Extras policies: When you sign up for an extras policy you are given set spending limits for each year in regards to certain benefits. These spending limits are individual. Therefore, if you are given $300 each to spend on optical appointments, your significant other is unable to access your funds, and you, their funds.

Couples health insurance, how can we compare it?

There are important aspects to be aware of when you are looking at couples health insurance.

• It’s common knowledge that the price matters. Your hospital and extras policies should only be costing you around $60-90 per month while the top tier costs would be more around the $150-190 per month range.
• There are four tiers that come with hospital policies. Specific health categories are covered by different tiers. The greater the tier, the greater the coverage. Deciding which tier to buy is one of the most vital components to evaluate when making decisions on your health insurance.
• Waiting periods. Waiting periods come with both extras and hospital policies. This is the amount of time you must spend waiting in the middle of purchasing your policy and making a claim on your particular health categories. Finding a deal that waives waiting periods completely or has shorter wait times are recommended.
• Benefits. For policies that are considered “plus” policies, they are basically “in between” the different tiers and possess more benefits. Make sure you’re aware of what benefits you are signing up for as you wouldn’t want to pay for benefits you won’t necessarily make use of.
• Hospital policies always have an excess to pay. In simple terms, this is how much you pay ahead of time previous to the assistance of the insurer. The lower the premium, the bigger the excess, which would most likely leave you destitute barring you had to make a claim.
• Annual limits. As discussed previously, there are specific limits to how much you can claim on any health service. Having higher limits can be convenient if you routinely access those services, but it does mean it’ll cost you more.

Is couples health insurance the cheaper option?

No, Not necessarily. That’s a common misunderstanding. From our research we can see that the price for two single policies equates to the same amount that you would pay for couples health insurance as long as you both have the exact same insurer and standard.

Couples policies are recommended seeing as you are able to streamline everything from applying as a couple to managing one account. However, applying as two individuals won’t incur anymore costs than it would applying for a couple.

In truth, the costs for couples health insurance could be higher than it would for two individual policies seeing as both participants must be covered on the same level.

This generally results in unnecessary spending on the more complex cover plans which are not essential and leaves you having to pay more than you should.

It is very common in couples who are looking for childbirth and pregnancy cover. The only one who needs the gold-level cover is the one carrying the baby or giving birth.

How does tax work with couples health insurance?

Couples health insurance affects tax in the following ways:

The affects couples health insurance has on tax:

• Lifetime health cover loading: For both policyholders, their lifetime health cover is averaged out and then adjusted accordingly for the policy. In short, if you have a 10% loading fee, yet your significant other does not, their couples policy will be accountable to charge of 5%. (Maybe just check to make sure what I said is true because I have no idea how this works to be honest).
• Medicare levy surcharge: Earning more than $180,000 as a couple means that you will incur payments between 1% and 1.5%. Although, purchasing a health insurance policy can save you money if it has an excess of $1,500 or less.

Pregnancy and couples health insurance 

There is no requirement for both persons to possess a gold-tier policy if the couple is planning to have a child through the private healthcare system. Only the one carrying the baby or giving birth is required to hold a gold-tier policy in order to make a claim and get their money back.

Therefore, one partner could be on a lower tier of cover while the other partner can take out a claim on a higher level of cover, resulting in saving money. This would not be possible if you were to choose couples health insurance as the requirements for said policies is for both individuals to be on the same tier of cover.

Although, the benefits of having both individuals on gold-tier policies would include cover for assisted reproductive services.

However, if gold-tier policies are something both individuals want, there’s nothing wrong with taking out a joint policy. On the plus side, you’ll receive coverage for weight-loss surgery, joint replacements and more in addition to your childbirth and pregnancy benefits.

What about families?

Having health insurance is good for families because children can be covered without extra costs if your insurer is informed and they (your children) are added to the policy officially.

If health insurance policies that are specific for families with children interests you, then here are some factors we advise you to consider:

• Hospital child admissions require no excess
• The length of time your child is on your policy
• Coverage related to orthodontics

Facts and Questions

●      Is it possible to buy two different policy levels?

Yes. Although it won’t be viewed as couples health insurance. If you’re wanting two different policy levels, you’d have to apply for two single policies in order to do so.

●      Are separate limits on extras a thing?

Yes. Having a couples health insurance policy doesn’t mean you’re able to combine both you and your partners limits on extras.

●      What happens if me and my partner separate?

Get in touch with your insurer as fast as possible. You’d most likely be able to change from a couples policy to a single policy without all the waiting periods if you get onto it straight away.