by Guest » Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:32 pm
I am covered by the employee plan for my husband. Now since I have been hired and my company offers health care options as well. should I get rid of my husband's insurer? or continue with both?
Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 05:11 am Post Subject:
You may continue coverage under both plans, but the plan that comes from your employer will be your primary insurance. The reason you can terminate coverage under your husband's plan is that HIPAA would allow you to instantly return to that plan if you lose your own group coverage. No need to pay double premiums in most cases, unless your husband's plan covers things your own employer's plan does not.
Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 07:39 pm Post Subject: Ask the Brokers
I would just ask your company to get the Brokers information and call them directly and ask them without revealing who you are.
Best regards,
Anthony
http://www.softwareforseo.net
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 12:42 am Post Subject:
I would just ask your company to get the Brokers information and call them directly and ask them without revealing who you are.
This is unnecessary. And why would a person have to act anonymously? And what is the "broker" going to say? His income is determined by the number of participants, so he has an interest in telling people NOT to drop their coverage.
Totally erroneous post by someone who really only wants to include a link to their NON INSURANCE website.
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 03:08 am Post Subject: Not really
The recommendation to ask the Broker is to clarify whether each individual insurance plan allows the existence of another plan. Your advice to maintain coverage under both plans may not be legally allowed, by the carrier. My advice is to check with the expert of the plans, the broker.
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 04:29 am Post Subject:
Your advice to maintain coverage under both plans may not be legally allowed, by the carrier.
First, I challenge you to state the law of any state that permits this! You are completely wrong.
Second, I did NOT advise the OP to remain covered under both plans, I said she could do that, or she could drop the dual coverage in favor of her own employer's health plan. Some plans would REQUIRE her to be covered under her employer's plan in order to possibly provide a benefit that her own employer's plan did not, or dif not cover fully. If she ever lost coverage under her employer's plan, as I stated, HIPAA would permit her to rejoin her husband's employer's plan IMMEDIATELY -- no qualifying, no waiting for open enrollment, possibly only a preexisting condition exclusion (but even that becomes a thing of the past on 1/1/2014 under Obamacare).
Third, the vast majority of employer-sponsored plans are governed under ERISA -- a federal law from 1974, as amended -- which both PREEMPTS state insurance laws AND gives WIDE LATITUDE to "self-funded" plans (not brokers or insurance companies) to DEMAND that both husband and wife each enroll in their own employer's plan to be eligible for any coverage under their spouse's employer's plan and require that the children be covered under the plan that is primary for them before they may be enrolled in the secondary plan, so as to make one plan primary for the children and one plan primary for each spouse (and Obamacare compounds this by permitting "children" to remain on a parent's plan to age 26).
The same plan will NOT be primary for one of the two spouses, and children will be covered under the plan which is primary to them -- usually based on the BIRTHDAY RULE -- with secondary coverage available from the other parent's plan, if necessary (and enrolled in it).
My advice is to check with the expert of the plans, the broker.
While the "broker" might have an answer, the PLAN ADMINISTRATOR is the EXPERT to ask, and the only one whose answer might be reliable. I find that most agents have no idea what is in an employer-sponsored plan's Summary Plan Description. If a self-funded plan is uninsured and being managed by a Third Party Administrator, there might not even be a broker to ask or answer the question. And even if there were, the broker's own answer could be just as wrong as a person's coworker's answer.But I can also tell you that there is NO STATE OR FEDERAL LAW that forbids -- or permits an insurance company to forbid -- any person from being covered under more than one health plan. What insurance company would refuse to collect premiums to cover someone it might never have to pay a claim for? Too many persons are covered under multiple plans unnecessarily -- and I specifically addressed this in my original response to the OP.
Instead, there are a variety of COORDINATION OF BENEFITS provisions that work to prevent overinsurance when persons are covered under two or more plans. If it were unlawful to be covered under multiple plans, we would not need COB provisions at all.
Where are you licensed as an insurance producer?
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 06:36 am Post Subject:
My employer give my a medical insurance can i also buy any health insurance plan for my self or one plane is enough.
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 01:03 pm Post Subject:
You only need the one plan that best fits your needs. But feel free to pay for as many as you like. Only one will be primary, and the others will only pay covered claims not paid by the primary policy. Paying for multiple health insurance policies is usually a waste of money.
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