Can married couple buy individual health policies on the ACA exchange?

[bob3636]

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to buy two separate individual health insurance policies, for a married couple, on the ACA exchange?
Background: DW will need cataract surgery this coming year. I am in very good health. I was thinking maybe I could buy myself a high deductible, HSA compatible plan and buy a much lower deductible plan for her. Not sure if this is allowed or if it would negatively impact subsities or possibly force us to change how we file our taxes (married jointly).

 

[user5027]

Yes.

I do not know what impact to subsidy there may be. We did not qualify for a subsidy.

We file married.

We did cancel her policy after January after she went on her work insurance. That was why we went with two policies. We were considering the possibility of her getting coverage at work and did not want the hassle of getting her off the ACA policy with me.

We did not avoid all the hassle. Aetna also cancelled my policy, at least in part of their system. I kept getting paper bills and would go online to pay my bill but could never access the online billing for Aetna. I always wound up paying over the phone and trying to get them to resolve the online bill pay for me. After a couple months they finally said they had cancelled both policies by mistake in part of their system even though they kept billing and accepting payment for my policy. It took a couple more months to get it resolved.

 

[Sue J]

Yes. When you get into the application process, after you are approved for a subsidy, there is a place to create Groups. You create one group for you and one for your spouse. Then your plans are offered for each group, which is only one person. The subsidy is split in half and applied to each of you.

That's how it was in 2015 and 2016. we'll see what it looks like in 2017.

 

[bob3636]

Thank you for the information on setting up groups during the application process. I just finished my application and it was a breeze to set up two groups (one for me, one for DW). The subsidy will pay for all of my bronze plan and pay all but $50 for a silver plan for DW.

 

[ziggy29]

Yes, absolutely.

When I first thought we might have to both be on it for 2014, when I first priced it out it recommended two separate policies for us -- mostly because as an American Indian I had no cost sharing if we stayed under 300% of FPL, so I needed my own plan to take advantage of that.

It turned out DW was covered separately by her employer for 2014 but I was on it for that year and into 2015 before a change in my job status gave me employer group coverage making me ineligible for subsidies on the exchange.

 

[FUEGO]

Good info on setting up groups, thanks!

We might do this for 2-3 different plans so I can keep my doc, DW can keep her doc, and the kids can get a more expensive plan that includes dental coverage. The only slight downside would be having to meet 2 family deductibles and max OOPs instead of 1 (which aren't huge on any of these policies at $800/1600 or $200/2400).