Sometimes your primary health insurance plan just isn’t enough coverage for you. In that case, you may want to find secondary health insurance. Secondary insurance is a policy designed to cover expenses that your primary insurance doesn’t cover. Many companies offer this secondary health care coverage.
Is your primary insurance just not cutting it? If not, you can enter your zip code in the area provided to obtain health insurance quotes for secondary health insurance coverage.
Most people have secondary coverage as a dependent of another person’s insurance plan. For instance, if you and your spouse both work and are both offered group coverage, one, or both of you may choose to elect secondary coverage under the other’s plan. In this case, the patient would file claims first under the primary coverage and then file whatever charges remain with the secondary carrier.
Often, someone with primary and secondary coverage will have their health insurance claims paid at 100% through coordination of benefits. This same option applies to dependent children if both parents cover them.
There are additional benefits to having secondary health insurance coverage. For instance, your primary plan may not cover certain procedures or prescriptions that your secondary coverage will pick up. Your secondary coverage may pay a higher percentage of certain charges.
You need to carefully review your plan as well as your spouse’s plan before assuming that electing both is beneficial to you. Insurance companies have begun to restructure their coordination of health insurance benefit rules in such a way that it is not always beneficial to have primary and secondary coverage. For example, if under your primary insurance you are responsible for a co-pay for doctor’s visits or prescriptions. Many insurance companies are now refusing to pick up the cost for co-payments.
Don’t just assume coverage under two plans is the best option for you. Carefully review your plan description as well as your spouse’s, or contact a benefits representative, before making such a decision. Otherwise, you may be left paying a premium for coverage you won’t get.
Many companies offer another type of secondary coverage called supplemental insurance. Whereas primary health insurance pays your healthcare provider for charges incurred, supplemental insurance pays you directly. There is no coordination of benefits between the two plans. The money you receive from your supplemental policy will help you cover out-of-pocket expenses such as utilities, rent, groceries, etc.
Yes. Some policies are disease-specific such as a cancer policy. With these types of policies, you only reap the benefits if you have claims for the particular disease for which the coverage was purchased.
Other common types of secondary or supplemental health insurance are accidental health insurance and accidental death and dismemberment. With this insurance, you will receive benefits only if you are involved in an accident. Accidental death and dismemberment will cover expenses related to the loss of a limb, etc. of will pay your beneficiaries if you die.
If you have hospital indemnity insurance, you will be paid a pre-determined amount while you are hospitalized. This amount may be based on a daily, weekly, or monthly figure – depending on your plan.
Although Medicare offers extensive coverage, there are still some areas where you may be left with out of pocket expenses. In this case, you may want to look into secondary (or supplemental) coverage. There are many Medigap plans and their availability and use can vary from state to state.
Medicare has four parts:
Usually Parts A and B don’t completely cover all expenses; therefore, you may want to consider a Medigap plan.
A Medicare Advantage plan takes the place of the original Medicare plan and includes Parts A and B and usually Part D. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, you probably don’t need a Medigap plan. This is for you to decide however. There may be cases when having both would be beneficial to you.
As you can see, there are several options for choosing secondary health insurance whether it is through a spouse’s plan or through a Medigap plan. In any case, access your needs and your budget before seeking secondary coverage.
Do you need secondary health insurance? To obtain health insurance quotes from companies that offer secondary health insurance coverage; enter your zip code now.
