<prompt> Human: Yesterday, my company had their annual insurance presentation where we talk about the insurance being offered for the next year, premiums, deductibles, etc. Theyve provided a decent contribution to premiums in the past, but it is always a flat amount that covers only the lowest premium High deductible employee only. Adding dependents or going to a lower deductible plan is 100 for the employee to cover the difference.This year Ill need to add my wife to my insurance, we also know that while the high deductible is fine for me, shell have significant medical expenses over the next year so a high deductible plan isnt the best option. The premium for our low deductible insurance for employee and spouse is 925 a month, her insurance through her last employer was closer to 80 a month, so having to deal with a new expense of almost 900 a month was not thrilling. I got home and checked the health care exchange, an hour later I had a health insurance plan picked out, confirmed, and paid for. The plan comes out to about 315 a month, which is way easier to swallow than 925.If youre in a similar situation where youre providing health insurance for others through your employer and your employer doesnt provide a lot of contribution to the premium past yourself, check out your options on the exchange.This wouldve been way better advice a day or two ago because the last day to sign up for coverage starting in January was yesterday, but you can still sign up for coverage that will start in February. The deadline has been extended to the 17th of December for coverage that will begin on the 1st of January, as with lots of things on personal finance, explore your options here.Edit: There seems to be a lot of discussion in the comments on whether or not my wifes coverage was eligible for a subsidy. She was not eligible for a subsidy, and the application process on healthcare.gov clearly indicated that fact. But even if youyour spouse doesnt qualify for a subsidy you can search for and buy a plan from healthcare.gov, it will just be at full price. The full price of the insurance plan is what Ive shown above.  <response>: I am enrolled in the high deductible plan at my work, shortly after I chose the cheapest plan with the highest deductible I rarely go to the doctor so I was going for the best savings I found out I was pregnant! So I was facing having to pay 6000 max out of pocket after the delivery of my new baby. SO I went to the exchange, Covered California, and ended up qualifying for pregnancy Medi-Cal free of charge! It is only a secondary insurance that will cover what my primary insurance doesnt, but that means my hospital stay while I give birth should cost me 0 instead of 6000. I was so relieved and glad I went and checked out my options! 