Family health insurance is where you, your spouse and your children are all on the same plan. You would purchase a personal family health plan for yourself and your family if you have no employer group plan, or if your employer’s plan is too costly.
Lately, many employers have been paying less and less for the employees dependents coverage, and in many cases, adding dependent family members must be done at the full expense of the employee. If your employer is generous enough to pay more than 50% of the premium for any family member, adding your family members to your group coverage will probably be the logical choice. However, you still should compare your total employee contribution for adding family members under a group plan to the other non-group/personal options available. If your employer does not pay any portion of the dependent premium, you will likely be able to save money by insuring your family members under a separate family health insurance policy. Rates under a group health plan can often be more expensive than those offered for individual health insurance in the same market. You may also consider family medical insurance if you are self-employed, unemployed or a student, or if you are a non-smoker or don’t need maternity coverage any longer. Family health insurance plans can include newborns on up to the seniors at age 65.
As an example,
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois offers a unique range of health insurance plans that are now available to individual adults and families. Each plan is backed by the financial strength and stability of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. Regardless of the plan you select, you will benefit from the experience, expertise and stability of the leading health insurer in Illinois.
At the present time, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois offers only Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) programs for their personal/family policies. There are two different PPO hospital and doctor lists, many deductibles with varying out of pocket costs and HSA plans. Please review the Product Comparison Chart for all the differences in the plan designs.
The following are Blue Cross specific PDF documents for individuals, families and young adults:
I would recommend that you price up three different programs.
- Select Blue with a higher deductible, $1,000 or higher depending on you preference. The Select Blue Plan includes a $20 office visit co-pay and 100%/no deductible emergency coverage. I like this plan as normal doctor visits and emergencies are taken care of, but you still have better pricing because of the higher deductible.
- The second option is the Blue Value plan, everything is the same as above, but without the $20 office visit co-pay. Any office visit charge is still a covered expense, but is subject to the deductible and co-insurance. This plan is a little less expensive than the Select Blue.On both of these plans I would recommend going with the 80% co-insurance. The way this works is you have your deductible first, then the plan either pays A) 100%, or B) 80% BlueCross, 20% you, for the next $5,000 in bills, then 100%. The 20% you pay equals $1,000 plus your deductible. I think the premium savings well offsets the risk.
- Otherwise, the last plan you should look at is the $5,000 deductible 100%, H S A plan. If you can handle the $5,000 deductible, this plan is a lot less in premium and has deductibility options from a tax stand point. Please visit the H.S.A. page for more info.
