A medical insurance policy covering a client as a subscriber, an employee, or a member is known as primary insurance. Therefore, when people obtain medical care, their primary insurance is billed first. For example, most people’s primary insurance is their employer-provided health insurance. Conversely, a healthcare insurance policy covering one in addition to a primary insurance plan is known as secondary insurance (Norris, 2018). Secondary insurance is typically reimbursed after the primary insurance policy has been depleted, and it can facilitate paying further healthcare expenses.
Lastly, supplementary health insurance, often known as gap health insurance, provides additional coverage after the primary health insurance has paid out on one’s claim. A supplemental policy is not a stand-alone insurance plan; it may only be used in conjunction with existing health insurance. This indicates that a supplemental policy only covers the coverage provided by the original plan. A supplemental insurance policy also provides less coverage than a major or secondary one. Due to the limited umbrella of coverage, it is more probable that a balance on medical costs will remain.
However, having secondary or supplementary insurance is more trouble than it is worth for the patients. Supplemental insurance may not cover enough of a person’s medical bills to make the cost of the policy worthwhile. Additionally, when tied to Medicare, one’s coverage limitations may be subject to state and federal coverage rules (HaGani et al., 2019). An alternative is to get a supplementary health insurance plan, which will provide more coverage but at a higher cost. Their primary insurance company can submit the claim to their secondary insurance company. It is possible that if there is a delay in the hand-off, their health care provider will cost them for the discrepancy in coverage.
References
HaGani, N., Hayek, S., Tarabeia, J., Yehia, M., & Green, M. S. (2019). Fear of catastrophic health expenditures and unrealistic expectations from supplementary health insurance: Ethnic differences. International Health, 11(4), 283-289. Web.
Norris, L (2018). What’s the difference between primary and secondary health Insurance? Gusto. Web.