Health Insurance question about dual coverage

[C(-)ris]

I'm in a rare situation where I am going to be covered by 2 different health care plans that will overlap for a 2 weeks. I'm curious if I should make all my appointments and have some minor other health issues taken care of within those two weeks. Is there any benefit? How do the insurance companies decide who pays?

[Speedy]

The insurance companies figure it out. Just give the insurance info to the provider.

[GGD]

It might be better to get it all done earlier with the old insurance if you've already reached the deductible threshold with that one.

Or see which has better coverage and try to do it all with that one. Maybe one just has a co-pay for certain procedures while the other may apply it to a deductible. You need to fully understand the coverage to make a decision.

[C(-)ris]

So after I send the bill to one insurance do I then send the remainder to the second company to process?

I realize that you can't get paid more than once for the same thing, but you would think that having dual coverage would reduce the amount you owe to near zero.

If not, then the insurance companies have quite the racket going on since both are collecting premiums but only one has to pay the full amount.

[mattkime]

You seem optimistic that you'll gain some benefit. I'm more likely to believe that it'll work against you.

[C(-)ris]

mattkime wrote:
You seem optimistic that you'll gain some benefit. I'm more likely to believe that it'll work against you.

Seems like I should be asking for a refund of the premiums from one of the companies then since they are providing no tangible benefit.

[C(-)ris]

C(-)ris wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
You seem optimistic that you'll gain some benefit. I'm more likely to believe that it'll work against you.

Seems like I should be asking for a refund of the premiums from one of the companies then since they are providing no tangible benefit.
You are right. I did some reading and talked with someone who works in HR. It isn't worth the time to sort it out for a temporary basis. Essentially, in a dual coverage situation one insurance company is making out like a bandit and barely paying anything despite getting full premiums and the other one shoulders almost all of the responsibility. Even if I got the two companies to talk together I would likely still have a bill in the end.

[Markintosh]

My wife and i have been double covered for 30 years as we are both teachers in the same school district.

We never have the option of cashing out and taking only one benefit package.

So in practice, for double coverage:

• In our case, my wife's plan is primary because her birthdate occurs before mine

• In your case, if you are the plan holder for both plans, you can choose which one is the primary insurance. Choose the plan that provides the greatest benefit.

• The secondary plan then also gets billed and should cover any deductible and copay.

Its actually fairly common for people to be double covered and by all means, take care of anything you can during that period.

[Speedy]

Our health care providers bill the insurance companies. Then they bill us for the unreimbursed amount.

[dk62]

When I looked into this (for dental, though) I found out that you cannot get more covered than you would with just one. So, you would still be out of the deductible (the smaller one).