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Paige Cerulli Last Updated On: October 4, 2024

Your guide to finding affordable family health insurance

Getting family health insurance is one of the best ways to take care of the people you love, all at once. While buying family health insurance is definitely going to be more expensive than buying individual health coverage, it also can be affordable than buying separate policies for every member of your clan. Thank the discounted rates for buying your insurance in bulk, so to speak.

Of course, there are many considerations when looking to buy family health insurance that extends beyond cost, so keep reading. We’re going to guide you through the process of finding the best family health insurance for you and your tribe.

Table of Contents

What Is family health insurance?

As the name suggests, family health insurance is a health insurance policy that covers your whole family. So, instead of getting separate plans for everyone, you get one plan, one premium, one provider, and peace of mind your loved ones are taken care of. Simple, right?

Yes, and no. There are a few more things to consider before getting a plan, a big consideration being your deductible.

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Understanding family health insurance deductibles

With family health insurance, the deductible you have to pay (i.e. the amount you pay out of pocket before insurance kicks in to help cover costs) is often paid both individually and toward the family deductible.
When an individual’s deductible is met, that person is covered. Once the family deductible is met, everyone in the family is covered even if an individual has not met their deductible. This is called an embedded deductible.

All this said, there are some family health insurance providers who will only count payments toward an individual deductible and not toward the whole family’s, and this may be okay with you, but regardless, it’s important to understand your deductible scheme because it affects how much money you are actually paying out-of-pocket before insurance kicks in.

Let’s look at an example of a family of five with an embedded deductible:

In this scenario, everyone has a deductible of $1,000 and a family deductible of $2,500. This means coverage will start when the collective sum of the deductibles paid by each separated member of the family reaches $2,500—instead of necessitating that everyone pays $5,000.

The savings are obvious.

Find the best family health insurance for you

When it comes to family health insurance, there’s no one-size-fits-all option. Yes, family health insurance can be low cost than buying separate health insurance plans for everyone, but, depending on the provider, it could also be more expensive if a family member has a health condition that’s deemed high-risk. In this case, it may be more prudent to get separate policies or to insure that person separately. With this in mind, let’s look at the best options for family health insurance.
  • Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): HMO plans boast co-pays (the fixed price you pay for certain services, such as x-rays) for as little as $10 and allow you to choose a go-to doctor for all your appointments and medical care. Should you need a specialist, your doctor will provide you with a referral. The drawback to HMOs is that you are only covered to be seen by doctors in your network.
  • Preferred Provider Organization (PPO): While PPO policies are more expensive than HMO, they’re also more flexible, allowing you to have a primary doctor but see any specialist you’d like without a referral. This said, seeing an in-network doctor will be more affordable than going out-of-network.
  • Health Savings Account (HSA): HSA-eligible health insurance plans allow you to get insurance while also saving money to put toward future medical costs. The deductibles for HSAs are higher but these policies are also often the least expensive types of health insurance.
  • Employer-Based Health Insurance: If you have health insurance through your job that covers your whole family, then this may be the best option for you. The exception would be if extending the insurance to dependents becomes too costly or doesn’t offer the extent of coverage you need. Many employers give you the option to customize your coverage, but if this is not an option or if the cost of employer-based health insurance is too much, then you’ll likely want to consider another type of plan.

What else you need to know about family coverage health insurance?

We’ve already discussed the types of family coverage health insurance, and also outlined how deductibles work with family health coverage plans, but there are a couple of other considerations that will affect the cost of your plan:
  • Co-insurance: After the deductible has been met this is the portion of the bill you pay. For instance, many policies have the insured pay 20% while the insurer pays 80%.
  • Size of your family: If you are a family of two, then it may be low cost to get two individual health insurance plans than a family plan, depending on the amount of your deductible. For instance, if we revisit that early example and the family deductible is $2,500 and the individual deductible is $1,000, it’s $500 less if you just get individual policies.
Of course, the size of your family is not the only consideration when buying family health insurance. Take all factors into account to make the best choice for you and your loved ones. Start by getting a fast and free quote for family coverage health insurance. We’ve curated a list of the top providers in your area and will match you with the best family health insurance for your needs. Request a quote now.
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FAQs

That depends on many variables, including the size of your family, health of your family and the type of family coverage health insurance you select. To give you a general idea, however, the average cost of health insurance in 2020 was $1,152.

Paige Cerulli Paige Cerulli is a freelance content writer and journalist who specializes in personal finance topics. She graduated from Westfield State University and brings more than a decade of professional writing experience to the ConsumerCoverage team. Paige’s work has appeared in outlets including USA Today, Business Insider, and more.

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