What Changes When You Get Married?

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post for Choosi, however, all content, opinions and tips are our own and have not been influenced by the company in any way.

Well, our wedding is done and dusted (if you didn’t see all of our Wedding Recaps, here they are) – in fact, we’ve been married for a total of 114 days (and no, I’m not a weirdo who counts days/minutes/seconds, I just recently realised our wedding countdown app is now counting up !).

As any married couple would know, the one question everyone seems to ask you is “How does it feel to be married?”. There’s no big bang firework moment when you get married and to be honest, it doesn’t feel that different – but I don’t think it should. You should be marrying someone that you’re already committed to, so marriage is just making things official.

But that said, there are quite a few things that do change…. Things like; your name (possibly), your marital status, bank accounts, insurance policies, responsibilities etc. 

Something that’s always been important to me is insurance – particularly medicalinsurance. It’s just a given in my family. We all have medical insurance policies in addition to public health insurance (which is very much needed when you have one child who’s a coeliac with a million and one GI issues and another child with an auto-immune disorder), we take out travel insurance when we go away and my parents have life insurance policies. It’s just something I don’t think twice about.

Jesse, on the other hand, only ever had private medical insurance if it was offered as part of his job – it’s just not something that’s so common in Louisiana. When we came home from Bali and Jesse got really really sick and ended up in hospital – that’s when it sunk into him that insurance is actually a good idea.

You just never know when something is going to happen.

Lately I've been really sick too (find out more here) and I've definitely rediscovered why private health insurance is so incredibly important. 

Today I was able to have Bowen Therapy, an alternative treatment to try and get me feeling a little bit better and not have me looking like I do in that picture - and it was covered by my health fund.

I've been from doctor to doctor and soon, I should hopefully be having an iron infusion which will also be completely covered by my health insurance.

You can be the fittest, healthiest person in the world – but at some time, you’re still going to need to use the health care system. Whether it be in the event of an accident or illness, simple medical appointments like visiting an optometrist or going to the dentist or even having a baby. Health insurance covers the cost of expenses that come both with preventing illness and staying healthy and also treating and managing illness and injury.

We all know that when you have a car, you need car insurance – so why wouldn’t you protect your own health and the health of your family? For us, health insurance is a must – especially as a married couple. We’re responsible for ourselves and as we’re saving for a home, the last thing we want to do is have our savings wiped thanks to an emergency hospital visit or freak accident. 

 As we’ve recently gone through the process of searching for health insurance policies to suit us as a couple, I understand how confusing it can be. So, I thought it would be a good idea to share Our Top Tips for Buying Health Insurance:

• Shop Around 
  There are dozens of different providers, all offering different covers and premiums. It’s important to shop around when choosing health insurance and websites like Choosi allow you to do just that by giving you quotes from a number of insurers and letting you compare premiums and covers to find what’s best for you. Legislation now also gives health fund members the right to switch funds on the same level of cover without serving new waiting periods, so you can also look around and switch to a different provider if they’re better suited to your needs.
• Know What You Need and Select an Excess Suited to You
  By choosing an excess on your hospital cover, you agree to pay part of the bill if you go to hospital. In return for this payment, the health fund gives you lower premiums (so you pay less each month). Excesses can range from $100-1000 and the more you agree to pay, the lower your premiums will be. Remember that it’s not all about getting the lowest premium; it’s about finding a cover that suits your needs. If you’re likely to go into hospital, you don’t want to be paying for the first $1000 of your medical bills – whereas if you’re someone who is unlikely to need to go to hospital, paying $200 may be perfectly fine.
• Be Careful of Excesses and Co-Payments
  In addition to the excesses I spoke about above, some Health Funds also have a co-payment option for hospital admissions. Generally speaking, excesses are paid on admission regardless of how long you stay, whilst co-payments are paid for each day you spend in the hospital. This means you could end up paying thousands of dollars if it’s a long term admission – so you want to make sure that you’re not getting hit twice for payment.
• Mix and Match
  A lot of people don’t realise this, but you don’t actually have to buy your hospital cover and extras cover from the same health fund if you don’t want to. You can actually access a broader range of options by mixing and matching your cover with a different fund and you’ll also benefit from better cover, rebates and premium savings.
• Talk to Your Friends and Read Reviews
  Speak to your friends and family about their own medical insurance. Find out who they’re with and what their experience has been like – and have a look at reviews and ratings on websites such as Choosi which will allow you to see what others are choosing. Here’s Choosi’sHealth Insurance Reviews if you’re interested.
• Be aware of waiting periods
  This is an important one as you may think you’re covered for something, only to find you’re not when it comes time to claim. This is also important for anyone with a pre-existing medical condition. Many funds will subject you to a waiting period before they will cover the cost of any treatment for pre-existing conditions (an illness or ailment that you’ve had for 6 months prior to taking out health insurance or upgrading cover – this can even cover conditions you don’t yet know about). Sometimes, insurers will waive waiting periods if you’re transferring over to their fund from another or if they have a special offer on.
• Look at your extras and benefits
  Often times, medical insurers will allow you to choose extras such as cover for dentistry, physiotherapy, optical etc. Every health fund is different so the services offered and the rebate you’ll receive will differ. This is why it’s important to make sure that your cover satisfies your requirements. The cost of your policy should be weighed up against what you get back in terms of services offered and benefits paid. Some may give you a % of your fee pack whilst others may pay a set amount of the service. Before you choose your health fund, check the benefits that you will receive on the services you actually use. 
  Benefits may also depend on whether your policy is a single/couple/family policy so check to see whether your limit for benefits is per person or per couple/family.
• Ambulance Cover
  You might not realise it, but calling 000 and jumping into an ambulance could cost you thousands of dollars – so it’s important to find out whether your health fund will offer you full cover (for air, land and sea transport Australia Wide) or emergency cover (which covers you only if the paramedics classify the call out as an emergency).

Choosi recently launched their Choosi Blog and they posted a fantastic post on What to Do After You Get Married. It covers everything from medical insurance, to income insurance and lifeinsurance for spouses and individuals and I think it’s something every newlywed or engaged couple should read and consider.

But tell me, how do you feel about private health insurance?
For me, it’s certainly worth it – having to visit specialists (for anaemia and GI issues) and have iron transfusions in hospital could cost me thousands but luckily, my private health insurance covers quite a lot of those fees. It’s an expense I have to pay each month – but one that saves me in the long run.