Health Insurance Question

[Dennis1209]

Morning Folks,

 

Have a question maybe someone might know. When I retired I took my Blue Cross Blue Shield standard option health insurance with me. Talk about expensive insurance! The insurance normally pays roughly 80% and I'm responsible for the remaining 20% plus co-pays. Anyway...

 

Getting pretty board in retirement and winter is going to give me a bad case of cabin fever. If I'm offered a job that has a healthcare plan, is there any benefit in enrolling in it? Naturally I'll have to pay my share of it and it will substantially reduce the net pay. Would having a second health insurance plan pay / off set the 20% I'm responsible for under my existing Blue Cross, or the $20.00 fee per doctor visit?

 

Thanks.

[2.ooohhh]

I can't say how it would work for a smaller charge like a single office visit but from what I know of complex hospital procedures(solid organ transplant). . .

 

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Totally depends on the provider, the insurance policies, and the insurance companies involved. We often have patients with commercial insurance and tricare(VA insurance) for instance and that helps significantly in many cases, other times we've had patients with 2 commercial insurers and neither wants to pay b/c they each assume the other is the primary. Other times the patient pays the base initial copay($20 or whatever) and the sum is entirely covered by the commercial carriers, as to who pays what % I have no clue how the insurers hash that out nor do I care enough to want to learn I'm sure they have a contract of some sort.

 

Only way for you to have any real answer is to get the second insurance policy in hand and start asking lots of questions to both companies regarding the interaction of the 2 policies. Document what was said and who said it b/c if you end up in the hospital and the payment doesn't go as planned you'll want that in writing.

[Hozzie]

I would be very careful about it.  I suspect your insurance now would want to become your Secondary insurer and if anything would happen to your new insurance, I doubt the old one would go back to being primary.  Only speculation, but I think they will take any reason they can to drop people if it is good for them. 

[bersaguy]

Let me give you my experience of having two insurance companies. Back in 1995 I had Tenncare because I was disabled and was on Disability Social Security but because my Medicare didn't go into force for two years my Tenncare was responsible till February 1, 1997. On January 25th (my Birthday by the way) I suffered a mild stroke and was hospitalized threw February 2nd. When I got released from the hospital there was a bill at my home from the ambulance service wanting me to pay the bill. I found out that Tenn care and Medicare both refused to pay it because they were fighting over who was responsible for it. Tenn care said Medicare should have paid it because it kicked in while I was in the hospital and Medicare said Yea but I got sick while I was covered by Tenncare. I called the ambulance company and told them that they better figure out a way to get it from one of them because i didn't plan on giving them a dime. I never heard from them again so I guess they collected it from one or both but didn't really care. Having two insurance companies has it's pluses but can also have it's drawbacks. If I were you I would get a clear answer from both of them as who would be the main insurance company that covers you and who would be the supplemental company that pays the rest.......jmho

[knewcomb]

^^^ Make sure you get it in writing as well

[Dennis1209]

Humm... Thanks guys, I was thinking there could be problems doing that.

[Timestepper]

I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said. Only possible upside would be if the new employer offered something in the way of AFLAC accident insurance (sure wish I'd had it earlier this year!) where it pays out pretty spectacularly if you become disabled and have to miss work.