Health Benefits Advisor

Marriage

Marriage is an event that may present you with several decisions affecting your health benefits. This section of the Health Benefits Advisor is for individuals who are about to get married or have recently married and need to make choices about their health care coverage. This section covers special enrollment rights you and your family may have.

It also provides information you should consider when making a choice about health plan options. You may also want to refer to the section on changing jobs if either you or your spouse are relocating or changing jobs as a result of your marriage, and are therefore losing your group health plan coverage.

Which type of coverage would you like to consider?

• Enrollment in a group health plan offered through my job
• Enrollment in a group health plan offered through my spouse's job
• Medicaid - Provides government-sponsored health coverage to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. Medicaid is administered by states, according to federal requirements.
• Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) - Provides government-sponsored health coverage to uninsured, eligible children. CHIP is administered by states, according to federal requirements. States have flexibility to design their own program within federal guidelines, so benefits vary by state and by the type of CHIP program.
• Medicare - A Federally funded health benefits program for people aged 65 and over, and for certain people under 65 who are disabled or have permanent kidney failure.
• Other Health Coverage - This category includes coverage from another source, such as health coverage purchased individually or through a club or association, or any other source not listed above.