With marriage come a lot of financial obligations. First there’s the wedding, then getting a car, renting an apartment, buying furniture — your money is definitely stretched thin.

Just when you think you have everything covered, you realize you’ve forgotten one “small thing” — health insurance. It can’t be that bad, right? BYU-Idaho single-student insurance is only $202, so it has to be around there somewhere — or so I thought.

Once you’re married, the cost of insurance doubles. The current BYU-I married student insurance rate is $426 per student. That is $852 per couple, per semester. If you and your spouse attend BYU-I together for two full years, insurance will cost you around $5,000.

Kind of makes you sick to your stomach, huh?

Do you know what you could do with $5,000? Buy a car, pay a year’s worth of rent or cover a semester’s tuition. I know insurance is a necessary thing, but does it really have to cost so much?

Peggy Gibson, of the BYU-I Accounting Office, explained the reason for such a high insurance cost.

“The students make a lot of claims and also have babies,” Gibson said.

But what about the students who aren’t having babies or making a lot of claims? I, myself, only went to the doctor once during fall semester and received one prescription. I’d say it is hardly worth $426.

Married students do have the option of using a different insurance, as long as it meets the school’s requirements. It needs to have 80 percent coverage, have a deductible no more than $500 and an annual plan no less than $25,000. Don’t get me wrong — I love BYU-I and I know it doesn’t intentionally rob us of all our money, but it still makes me sick that I am spending so much on insurance. So, maybe I’ll find a different insurance provider, or maybe I’ll just start having babies and making lots of claims so I’ll at least get my money’s worth.