Congratulations on your marriage. Health insurance may not be the most romantic post-wedding task, but it's one of the most important ones. Marriage is a qualifying life event that opens a 60-day Special Enrollment Period—your opportunity to review, combine, or change coverage for your new household. Here's how to make the most of it.
Your Options as a Newly Married Couple
Option 1: Stay on Separate Plans
Both spouses keep their individual plans. This makes sense if you both have strong employer coverage that's affordable as individuals, or if you use very different healthcare networks. The downside: you each pay separate deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums with no family pooling.
Option 2: Add Spouse to Employer Plan
If one spouse has an employer plan, the other can typically be added as a dependent within 30–60 days of marriage. Compare the cost of adding a spouse to your employer plan (some employers charge significantly more for dependent coverage) versus the spouse keeping their individual coverage or joining a marketplace plan.
Option 3: Join the Spouse's Marketplace Plan
If one or both spouses were on marketplace plans, marriage allows you to create a new household application reflecting your combined income and household size of two. A combined household may qualify for different subsidies than you each had individually—sometimes better, sometimes worse, depending on your incomes.
Option 4: One Employer Plan Covers Both
If one spouse has excellent employer coverage that covers dependents at a reasonable cost, both spouses may be better off on one plan. This simplifies coverage management and creates a single shared deductible and OOP maximum (with embedded or aggregate family deductible depending on the plan).
For marketplace enrollees, combining incomes after marriage can sometimes reduce or eliminate subsidy eligibility. If one partner earns a high income and the other had significant subsidies as an individual, marriage may reduce the lower-earning spouse's subsidy. Compare your pre-marriage and post-marriage subsidy scenarios carefully.
What to Compare When Evaluating Options
- Total monthly premium for both spouses under each scenario
- Whether all preferred providers are in-network on whichever plan you choose
- How prescription drugs for both spouses are covered on each plan
- The combined annual out-of-pocket exposure (deductible + max)
- Whether one plan covers both well across different geographic areas
The 60-Day Window
From your marriage date, you have 60 days to make coverage changes. For employer plans, notify HR immediately and ask for the enrollment change form. For marketplace plans, log into HealthCare.gov and report the marriage event. You'll need your marriage certificate for documentation.
Health Insurance After a Name Change
If you're changing your name after marriage, update it with your insurer promptly. Using your new legal name with your insurer ensures claims are processed correctly and avoids billing issues with providers who may bill under your old name.
The best coverage structure for a new household depends on both of your healthcare needs, incomes, and plan options. Get a free comparison from a licensed Florida advisor, or use Florida Plan Finder to model different scenarios.