Marriage – a word which holds different meanings to different people. For some it is a promise of lifelong companionship while for others it is a charter into an unknown territory. Despite different perceptions, marriage has one thing constant – change. Marriage is said to be an important milestone of everyone’s life which changes everything. Those wild carefree days of bachelorhood are laid to rest and new responsibilities are shouldered - responsibility for providing for the family, both financially and emotionally. In this sea of changes, where does a health insurance policy factor? If you are already having a health cover on your life, how would it be affected post marriage? And if you are not yet covered what should be your health insurance option?

Health insurance is a mandatory planning product which should feature in your portfolio and marriage should not change this perception. For men who have an existing cover, including your spouse in the cover should be your priority and for women having an independent cover, its time you include your husband in your coverage too. However, there are multiple scenarios to consider while including your spouse from the perspective of both the sexes. Let us consider each for a relevant solution

Options for men for their wives

• Your wife may have been covered under her parent’s family floater plan which she can continue till the allowable age of 21 or 25 years. Post that, you should buy a family floater plan or an individual health plan for covering your wife. If you buy an individual plan and your wife is financially dependent on you, you can act as the proposer for the plan and even claim tax deductions on the premiums paid.
• Your wife, being financially independent, might have an independent health plan on her own. Here you have two options – either she can continue with her plan by changing her maiden name through an endorsement or you can port the plan to another individual plan with her married name.
• If you already have a family floater plan covering yourself and your dependent parents, you can include your wife in the cover either immediately post marriage or upon renewal. Immediate inclusion is possible by filling up a new proposal form and paying a pro-rated premium for your wife’s inclusion.

Options for women for their husbands

• In today’s modern age, it is no big deal that you are financially independent. If you are also smart enough to have a health insurance policy from before marriage, you can convert your plan to a family floater one with your husband included in the coverage. If your husband has a separate plan for himself, you can continue with your plan by making a name change.
• If you had a family floater plan for your parents before your marriage, you can choose to include your husband in the plan post marriage instead of your parents. You can, alternatively, also buy another family floater plan covering yourself and your husband while at the same time continuing the earlier plan. You would, however, have to inform both the insurers of your policies because in case of a claim a proportionate claim would be paid by the insurers.

Options for a couple

• If neither of you are having a health insurance cover, you can buy two separate individual plans for each of you. The husband can be the proposer in both the plans if the wife is financially dependent on her husband and vice-versa. Alternatively, the husband can be a proposer in his policy and the wife in her policy if both are financially dependent. In this way, both of them can claim a tax exemption.
• On the contrary, the couple can buy a family floater health insurance plan covering both their lives in a single plan and the husband or the wife could act as a proposer provided that the proposer is financially independent.

So, while marriage brings about a lot of changes, your health insurance policy too needs some fine-tuning so that your spouse is also included in the cover. Plan according to your situation and enjoy the peace of mind of being covered against medical contingencies.