USA - Health Choices

Marriage

What You Need to Know - Get all the details on your spouse's plan, and be sure you understand how it works. You'll want to know the amounts of any deductibles or copays you will be required to pay, and what you will pay for premiums.

Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you may be entitled to add yourself, a new spouse and children to your employer's plan or to your spouse's employer's plan under a special enrollment period.

What You Need to Do - To qualify for the special enrollment period, you must notify the plan and request special enrollment for everyone enrolling within 30 days of your marriage. Your plan may require that the notice be in writing and that is usually the safest course of action anyway.

If your spouse has health coverage available, compare the health benefits, cost and options under both plans, and decide which one works best for you.