The benefits booklet for 2027 came home last week folded in thirds in Tyler's lunch cooler, with a greasy thumbprint on the cover and a sticky note from the plant's HR office: "Enrollment closes Nov. 13." He set it on the counter next to the jar and said, "Your turn."
A year ago I moved off my own work's health plan and onto Tyler's as his spouse. That decision was supposed to save us about $52 a month and give me a lower deductible. Now we have ten months of real use to hold up against the guesses we made last November.
What we actually used in 2026
Not much, which is the best way for a health insurance year to go. Here's everything from January through October:
| What | Who | What we paid |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly physicals | Both | $0 |
| Sick visit with my nurse practitioner, plus an antibiotic | Me | $35 |
| My one regular prescription, 10 fills at $10 | Me | $100 |
| Urgent care, three stitches in a thumb | Tyler | $75 |
| Dental cleanings, twice each | Both | $0 |
| One filling | Tyler | $68 |
| Total | $278 |
The thumb was a sharp shelf bracket in the carport in June. Tyler would like it noted that he finished hanging the shelf first.
We never got anywhere near the deductible. Every visit was a copay, and the preventive care was free. So the lower deductible I was so happy about last year never came into play. That's fine. It was there if something had gone wrong, and that's what it's for.
The premiums came out right where we guessed. Adding me to Tyler's plan cost $96 a month, which will be $1,152 for the year. My own plan would have cost $148 a month, or $1,776. That's $624 saved. My nurse practitioner stayed in network all year, and I never had a rejected-card moment at a pharmacy counter. I see enough of those for other people.
What we're changing for 2027
The new prices are a little higher, which I expected. Adding me to Tyler's plan goes from $96 to $104 a month. My own plan at work went up too, to $159. So staying on Tyler's still saves us $55 a month, $159 minus $104. We're staying. The changes we're making are small.
We're not switching to the high-deductible plan. Tyler's plant added a high-deductible option this year that comes with a health savings account. It would cost us about $38 a month less than our current plan, and in a year like this one it might have come out ahead. But 2027 is the year we plan to buy a house. We toured six houses earlier this month and liked one, and an inspection on another found cracks in the foundation, so we're still renting and aiming for spring. Right after closing, our cash will be at its thinnest. That's the worst possible time to take on a deductible several thousand dollars higher. We'll look again for 2028.
We're starting a small flexible spending account. Tyler's dentist says one old filling will need a crown next year, probably about $450 after the dental plan pays its share. Add my prescription and a few copays, and we can count on roughly $600 of costs. We're putting $600 in a flexible spending account, which comes out of Tyler's paycheck before taxes. At our tax rates, that should save us somewhere around $140. The catch is that most of the money has to be used by the end of the plan year or it's gone, so we picked an amount we're sure to spend, not a hopeful one.
We're checking the network again. Networks can change every year. I called the clinic, and my nurse practitioner is still in network for 2027. I still don't trust the online directory, and I don't think I ever will.
We're planning for an address change. If we move in the spring, the health plan needs our new address along with the car policy and everything else. I added it to the moving checklist in the sheet, right under the renters policy and the electric account.
Where the money goes
The $55 a month goes to the house fund, which hit $32,200 last week. That's $660 over the year, which will feel like more once we're paying a mortgage.
I declined my own plan at work again this week. It took five minutes and one click, and I saved a screenshot of the confirmation, because I've seen too many people at the counter who swear they enrolled. Tyler's form goes in this weekend.
I can't tell anybody which plan to pick. What helped us was looking at what we actually used this year instead of what we were afraid of, pricing the bad year too, and calling the doctor's office instead of trusting the website. Your HR office and your plan documents have the real answers for your family.
