This is Too Adult: Health Insurance

So if we're going to start over, first off, I need to get rid of the How To-type posts, because lately I'm finding myself in extremely unfamiliar territory that even I don't know how to help anyone else navigate through, except maybe provide a little humor to those of you who have either:

1. Been there
2. Done that,
3. Need a good laugh at someone else's expense

Like choosing health insurance. What the heck. First off, let me clarify this is 100% not any sort of political post, but just how it relates to me. We've heard everyone talking about Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act, which, FYI, are the same thing. But in all honestly, not only am I confused about healthcare changes, but just IN GENERAL. At least I'm not this confused.

After getting married a few months ago, all of the sudden I was presented with way too many options.  And not just the options I was prepared for, like do I want to keep my last name or change it to his? Or maybe come up with some hybrid: Vanler? Milance? Should I change Brodie's name? Does he care? 

Now I also have to choose things like how to file our taxes, creating joint bank accounts, choosing healthcare options, cosigning loans, and a whole long list of things that baffle me. I have learned quickly that my husband really looks to me to do the research and present him with our options, as apparently he knows me well enough to know that even if he does the research, the enthusiastic Googler in me will come up with 50 of the most hair-brained questions he never would have thought of in the first place and I'll end up looking it up myself anyway. (I'm annoying. I know it. I'm glad he chose to deal with it.) 

But health insurance is where I really lost it. We are both lucky enough to have jobs that offer benefits plans that include healthcare coverage and help pay for it. But for the first time in my Almost Adult life, cost wasn't the main driving factor. All of the sudden, we have two incomes that equal a lot more than what I'm used to after living alone for so long before getting married. Now I'm presented with the choice of comparing options and looking at things like deductibles and coverage rates and stop/loss amounts. Have I lost you? Good.

Because this is where I lost myself. I learned a whole lot about my company's coverage this last year after my ACL surgery. Mostly that I didn't have enough physical therapy allowed for such a major surgery, which sucked a big one. If you're lucky, you've never had to put your health insurance coverage to the test and don't know that much about it. 

Well, here's what I've learned are the three most important financial questions when looking at health insurance plans that change the amounts of your monthly premium rates: 

1. Deductible: The amount you are required to pay before insurance kicks in to cover the majority of major medical expenses, like surgeries or associated costs. My MRIs, X-rays and stuff like that went towards the deductible, but not regular visits that you pay a co-pay for. 
2. Coinsurance Rates: This is a percentage that your insurance pays for medical expenses AFTER you've met your deductible. For instance, if your deductible is $1,000 and your coinsurance rate is listed as 80%, then after you pay your initial $1,000 in expenses, your insurance will kick in and cover 80% of your remaining expenses, leaving you with the responsibility of paying for 20% of the excess costs. I'd give you examples, but whatever, hopefully you get the gist.
3. Coinsurance Stop/Loss Amounts: This is the real kicker. The stop/loss amount is listed as the MAX that you can pay after your deductible. So, lets say your stop/loss amount is $3,000, that means AFTER you've met your deductible ($1,000), your portion of the excess expenses (20%) CANNOT exceed $3,000. That means your max out of pocket expense would be $4,000. The quicker you get to that Stop/Loss amount, the faster you pay nothin'.

This is where the real differences started to show. Our plans had big differences in deductibles and stop/loss amounts, and would definitely make a difference financially if we had an incident come up, like another torn ACL (please, no), that would put our insurance to the test.

So what do you do? Pay the higher monthly premium rate for the lower deductible? Choose the plan with the lowest stop/loss amount? Does the coverage rate make a difference? I DON'T KNOW. 

Wanna know how I chose our plan? The super-adult-ish way. I put my hand over my eyes and pointed to where the plan information was sitting on the table and yelled, "This one!" 

DISCLAIMER: Please don't yell at me if I got any of this wrong. I'm still confused. Health insurance is too adult.