Do I Have to Take Secondary Health Insurance?
My son is 23 and just got a job that offers health insurance. He is still covered under my husbands health insurance plan and has better less expensive coverage with my husband than the plan being offered at his new job.
Does he have to take the insurance plan at his new job?
If he does take the insurance at his new job, can my husbands plan become a a secondary plan to his new plan and thus pick up costs that were not covered?
Answer
If you have two options for health insurance through two employers, you can take one and reject the other, or can take both and use one as a secondary plan. Or you could reject both and shop for private coverage (although you can't get cost assistance when you have access to affordable employer- sponsored coverage.) You could even reject them all and pay the fee, the choice is up to the consumer.
Back to the point, with two group health plans you bill whichever one you want first (different rules for Medicare). That being said, even in a case where both insurances are completely free it's silly to have two plans. When you pay out-of-pocket on your plan for covered in-network service you put money toward a deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. When you spread money between plans you pay into two separate maximums. Thus, everyone should pay into the same family plan to take advantage of maximums and deductibles.