<p>Our son has been offered health insurance through his employer-sponsored plan, but he is covered under our family health insurance for two more years. If he accepts the employers coverage, that becomes his primary insurance, and our family plan becomes his secondary insurance. Our family plan, however, has lower deductibles and better coverage. Therefore, his inclination (and mine) is to waive the insurance his employer is offering, as having two policies would appear to simply create paperwork without providing any particular benefit. Does that make sense to you health insurance gurus out there? It seems clear enough, but he and I dont know much about the pros and cons of having both primary and secondary insurance, and dont want to make a misstep. </p>
<p>I apologize for such an incredibly boring thread! I tried to get guidance the old-fashioned way, by calling our insurance company, but they were cagey, evasive, and decidedly unhelpful in their answers.</p>
<p>It makes for a little more paperwork as you have to provide the additional coverage information to both providers so that they split the costs for his services.</p>
<p>I don’t see any reason to have 2 policies. If you have a good policy, I would waive his employer’s. Insurance companies are looking to not pay if they don’t have to. By having two policies there’ll be more paperwork, more wait time to get approval. This benefits insurance companies, not you. Your son won’t get a better coverage by having two insurance policies. He would still need to pay the deductible. He’ll basically get what he is getting now, plus extra premium. It makes sense sometimes to have 2 different policies (HMO and PPO).</p>
<p>Mary, check your policy carefully before he waives the employer-sponsored plan. My husband’s employer offers wonderful coverage and we pay for family coverage (which includes me). However, because my employer offers coverage at no charge to me, I must accept this employer sponsored plan and use husband’s as a secondary. Pull out the policy, certificate of coverage, the most recent printed information you have that defines eligibility for coverage. But don’t waive coverage until you are absolutely sure there are no conditions on your family plan. Hope that was clear!</p>
<p>Two other important considerations before he turns down his employer’s coverage:</p>
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<li><p>Is there anything that his employer’s coverage covers that yours doesn’t, that might be important? For example, if he’s an athlete, physical therapy might be important. Some plans cover 20 visits per year while others cover 60 visits per year. Just something to consider.</p></li>
<li><p>If he declines his employer’s coverage, will he be able to take it when he wants to? Usually non-covered employees can elect the coverage during the Open Enrollment period (typically in the fall, for coverage to begin on January 1). He should check with his employer to make sure there won’t be an additional waiting period, etc., when he wants that coverage to begin. (And maybe he won’t even be working there by then.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>BTW: If he is working full-time, I’m very surprised he continues to be eligible for coverage under your family plan. Are you sure? Most plans cover children up to age 19, or children up to age 23 or 25 if they are unmarried and a full-time student.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, everyone! Because of the good questions you raised, we ended up doing the opposite of what we’d originally intended.</p>
<p>VeryHappy, we live in Illinois, where a new state law requires that group health insurance cover dependents up to age 26, regardless of student status. That has been wonderful during my son’s post-graduation unemployment phase, but now that he has found a job, the word “dependent” becomes key. Our family policy will only cover him if he resides with us and we provide more than half his support. That’s true at the moment, but when those paychecks start rolling in and he decides to find his own place, his dependent status will change, and with it, his eligibility for coverage. Therefore, he will enroll in his employer’s plan for his primary coverage, and our family plan will be secondary just until he is living on his own and supporting himself.</p>
<p>Thanks again for helping me to look at this issue from a fresh perspective. Everyone’s comments were very helpful.</p>
<p>Glad you solved it but I will mention that we had all kinds of problems with our son having two policies. The health insurance companies are sometimes so nonsensical it’s ridiculous. Our son had dependent coverage through our California HMO. He also had coverage through his school in Boston as it as required by the state of MA that he have coverage locally.<br>
He hurt his thumb and had radiology in Boston. The insurance in MA wouldn’t pay as they defined our CA policy as primary. Now explain to me how he was supposed to fly to CA to have a thumb xrayed…
Anyway I ended up taking him off our CA policy to avoid this idiocy in the future.
Of course, everyone has a different situation. Glad the OP had a good outcome.</p>
<p>Our experience with double coverage has been good. The secondary coverage has covered the co-pay and the patient portion that is not covered by the primary. (Except in MA, which for some reason I don’t understand (socialized medicine?) won’t allow this, so I fill D’s prescriptions in CA which are covered 100% using both plans, and mail them to her in MA). I’d check your son’s secondary coverage to see if they will do this.</p>
<p>Some policies would not let you decline based on fact that you have another coverage. I have to have a coverage at my work, my H has to have a coverage at his work. Otherwise, we do not have a chance at secondary insurance, if we decided to have 2. Most of the time it does not make sense to have 2 coverages because they of COB (coordination of benefits) which has a different name now (I forgot it) but means that if primary has covered up to what secondary would have covered, then secondary would not pick up the balance. So, basically you have 2 policies but actually covered only by one. However, it is not always the case and it all depends on individual circumstances. For example, in my specific case, it makes sense for me to have both mine and H’s Dental insuranse. All policies need to be very carefully investigated before making decision.</p>
<p>^ These comments are a perfect follow-up to something a friend just said to me: “Congratulations on making a decision, and welcome to the next phase of second-guessing yourself!”</p>
<p>Look at how complex it gets for all of us—and I’ll bet that most posters here are a bit more adept at analyzing insurance policies than the average citizen. I feel for those who are really in over their heads with this stuff, due to advanced age, language barriers, literacy issues, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry, I did not reveal that I have worked for Blue Cross for 8 years. Although it has been many years ago, terminology has change more than anything else.</p>