Lifestyle

Webster’s dictionary defines ‘integration’ as “an act or instance of combining into an integral whole.” As the sports world has taught us many times over, the “whole” is often greater than the sum of the parts. It’s a simple concept, whether we’re talking sports or business. And yet when it comes to integrating healthcare services, there has been resistance to recognizing the inherent benefits.

According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 7% of Americans surveyed said that they or someone in their household had married within the past year to get access to their spouse�s health insurance policy. Unlike a �green card� marriage, however, where two strangers marry so that one can stay in the country legally, health insurance unions are mostly between two people who have been in a long-term relationship. Many never intended to marry or didn�t plan on getting married so soon, until health circumstances made marriage an almost inevitable fiscal choice.