Two Insurances — One of Which I Didn’t Know About
Hello, I’ve seen a few of similar questions to mine but I’m just confused. Here’s the situation.
I was on my parent’s plan (lets say, ParentCare). I got a job not long ago which provided health insurance (call it EmployerCare) and told my parents to remove me from their plan (ParentCare). I thought they did.
A bit later, I was hospitalized for awhile and racked up thousands in medical bills. I only provided EmployerCare, because that’s the only insurance plan I knew of.
As you probably guessed, my parents never actually removed me from ParentCare (from negligence or just not knowing what they were doing, I’m not sure). My mom said I should try to use both on the bills to reduce the cost.
ParentCare isn’t bad insurance, but EmployerCare isn’t bad either. ParentCare is a family plan though, so the deductibles are a bit different (frankly I don’t know how to interpret them. Some places it says $2,000, then other places it’s says like $6,000 for “Enhanced” in-network services as opposed to “Standard”. Then other places are saying the “Family” deductible is like, $12,000???).
EmployerCare is simpler to understand as it is low cost, high deductible (basically I pay almost everything until I meet $2,000. I am definitely going to meet this).
MY QUESTION: If I use both insurances for these claims, what if I actually have to pay a higher deductible with ParentCare? Who determines which insurance is primary? Could I potentially pay LESS by using both? Can I just use EmloyerCare and not have to deal with any of this? This is all so confusing to me.
Thanks in advance.