Getting married will have no effect on your health insurance plan. You could add your spouse to your plan if you wish. Or, if your spouse is covered on an employer plan, he/she can stay on that plan. If your spouse is uninsured, he'she can remain uninsured. Any way you slice it, getting married will have no effect on your existing policy.
Getting married may or may not have an effect on your insurance policy depending upon what actions you take. Technically adding your new spouse to your policy will not change your benefits but it may have an impact on your monthly costs. If you are covered under an individual major medical policy then you would see your monthly premium increased by the amount associated with your spouse's age for the policy you have in force (this assumes you are covered under an Affordable Care Act compliant policy taken out on or after January 1, 2014 when community rating went into effect).
If you are adding a spouse to an employer based policy then the financial impact will depend upon what your employer's contribution is towards employees with dependents. Some employers contribute towards the health insurance premium costs of their employees and their covered dependents. Increasingly though, employers are contributing only towards the cost of the employee's coverage and the employee is totally financially responsible for the difference in cost for adding a dependent to their coverage. To make things even more interesting, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not define spouses as dependents! So, while the practice has not become wide spread yet, some employers are not allowing spousal coverage under their group plans (dependent children must be covered according to the ACA). What is more common is that if your spouse is employed and their employer offers health insurance and yet you still wanted to add your spouse to your coverage, the employer could assess a penalty charge above and beyond the additional premium cost for adding a spouse in this situation. Obviously the objective here is to discourage the addition of spouses whose cost and risk could be borne by another employer.
So, adding a new spouse to your health insurance coverage may not be the simple transaction that it may have been in the past. You need to explore your options and determine what the financial implications are for adding a spouse to your coverage. In some situations you may find that it makes more sense financially to purchase individual health insurance coverage for your spouse than to add them onto your group's health insurance plan. I would recommend you find a health insurance broker to assist you with this decision making process.
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If you are adding a spouse to an employer based policy then the financial impact will depend upon what your employer's contribution is towards employees with dependents. Some employers contribute towards the health insurance premium costs of their employees and their covered dependents. Increasingly though, employers are contributing only towards the cost of the employee's coverage and the employee is totally financially responsible for the difference in cost for adding a dependent to their coverage. To make things even more interesting, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) does not define spouses as dependents! So, while the practice has not become wide spread yet, some employers are not allowing spousal coverage under their group plans (dependent children must be covered according to the ACA). What is more common is that if your spouse is employed and their employer offers health insurance and yet you still wanted to add your spouse to your coverage, the employer could assess a penalty charge above and beyond the additional premium cost for adding a spouse in this situation. Obviously the objective here is to discourage the addition of spouses whose cost and risk could be borne by another employer.
So, adding a new spouse to your health insurance coverage may not be the simple transaction that it may have been in the past. You need to explore your options and determine what the financial implications are for adding a spouse to your coverage. In some situations you may find that it makes more sense financially to purchase individual health insurance coverage for your spouse than to add them onto your group's health insurance plan. I would recommend you find a health insurance broker to assist you with this decision making process.