Can my husband & I both carry health insurance cov. thru work?

Question

My questions is I guess...Can you have two health insurance coverages for the same people? Like if I got health insurance coverage through work on me & my husband and family and then he did the same thing through his work?

Answer 1

It is possible to carry 2 policies, but your work holds yours as primary and your husband's is his primary.  

There are lots of companies out right now that are making you carry a single policy on yourself if a spouse has the availability of his own policy through his employer.  This is helping keep the costs down through the employer since healh plans have skyrocketed in price. When having two policies, you also have 2 co-pays and 2 deductibles.  

I don't know why anyone would want to do this, and also spend the extra money in contributions.  Definitely a waste and not a smart move to do it.

Answer 2

you're wasting one of you're employers money -

if you go to the doctor, hospital - or get meds -

only one insurance will pay -

you can't have one pay part and the other pick up the rest -

so you are better off - picking the coverage that is best and terminating the other one and saving someone some money

Answer 3

you're wasting money if you each cover both of you and you're not allowed to have two claims on the same charge,so it's realy senseless - some companies (mine does) will pay you a small amount for refusing their medical coverage - IF you have a spouse who includes you on their plan - my company pays $100 per month so instead of you both paying probably $90-150 a month each just for spousal coverage (more if full family coverage, only one of you would have to pay that and you might get month back from the other person's company putting you a couple of $100 ahead each month

Answer 4

Yes, you can.  But YOU don't get to choose which policy is primary.  The one through YOUR employer is primary for you, the one through your HUSBAND'S employer is primary for him, and the birthday rule applies to the kids.

It also can cause problems - like both companies declining a claim, and pointing the finger at the other guy.  Between that, and the extra cost, it's probably not going to do what you want it to - you don't get 100% coverage - you STILL have copays, deductibles, etc, but you also have in network, vs out of network issues to deal with.

Answer 5

hi, i work in insurance, specialized in claims for a long time.

here is my advice in simple terms:

IF:

they are both HMOS

one HMO, one PPO

the dues out of your paycheck (and his) are high

dont do it. its a waste of your money, as it wont benefit you. if they are both PPO plans, maybe.

but, the bottom line is, to get ANYTHING to coordinate to your advantage, while keeping the monthly rate cost down will be a huge pain in the butt. i would just pick the better of the two and just have one. unless of course you pay NOTHING for one or both (not likely).

Answer 6

Yes.  The employee's coverage is primary for him/her and the coverage through the spouse's plan is secondary.  Its called "coordination of benefits."

Answer 7

You can and one would be primary and the other secondary.  Lots of people do it, but it is not always a good idea.  It depends a lot on the cost, because the seconday insurance will not pay a full benefit, it will only pay your deductibles and co-insurance and it may be cheaper to save the money you are spending for the secondary coverage and have it available to pay the out of pocket expenses.  You would have to decide which would be best in your case.