With a lot of help from our company's benefits department, I finally wrapped up my open enrollment for health insurance for next year. I'm so happy Jennifer was there to help me. She's my angel of the upcoming holidays. But a funny thing happened once I was done. I realized that the company had laid out a path it wanted me to follow and follow I did.

More and more companies are trying to get spouses and children off an employee's health insurance plan. It's much cheaper for them if they only have to cover the employee. Well my daughter turned 26 in August so she's off and on her own plan now. So that left me and my wife. We've pretty much had my wife on my plan for much of our marriage. But when I took a look at the cost difference between just me and the plan with me and my wife, it was a no brainer that she would have to get health insurance through her employer. It's going to be much cheaper for us and for our companies. That's the first thing I noticed.

Then I noticed my company had yet another path for me to travel so they steered me toward that one with the cost benefit. I was on the EPO, but then I looked at the cost of a health savings plan. The difference was so larged, again it was a no brainer. I opted for the health savings plan. Yes there is a deductible and yes there is an out of pocket limit to reach, but in the long run, I think I'll be better off, especially if I take care of myself and don't require a lot of health care.

So it's obvious to me that my company wanted my wife to go her separate way and they wanted me on the health saving plan. Guess what? They succeeded in both.