Husband has two jobs, both offer insurance plans. what are the pros and cons of having two plans from two companies? How would primary and secondary work? We’re in Louisiana if it matters
My husband works remotely for a big company based in Texas, and also works locally part time for another smaller company (he writes code and maintains the network and equipment at the smaller company, not that it matters for insurance). The smaller company is one he has been working for for over a decade and the owner has an incredibly good plan so when my husband got the new job, he worked it out with that smaller companys owner to work part time to keep his insurance. It’s open enrollment with the new company and we’re trying to decide if we should get two plans or not. we will have three children on the plan, 12, 5, and 2. the 12 year old will be getting testing done for ASD and will be getting therapies based on the results, but otherwise we’re generally healthy and don’t have many doctor visits aside from regular check ups, medication check ups with the pediatrician and my psychiatrist and sick visits once in awhile.
I’m not entirely sure of the plans with the bigger company, but mostly my questions are:
What are the pros and cons of two insurance plans through two companies?
how is it decided which is primary and which is secondary since he’s going to be the policy holder for both?
will it matter on taxes in any way? I believe both plans are company funded or whatever it is when it’s not medicaid or anything. private policies maybe is the term?
if we have two policies, with both deductibles, would we end up spending more money if we’re all mostly healthy? like short term stuff? I feel like if we had long term issues with something that after deductibles it may be cheaper, but if there’s no chronic issues would it cost more? I can elaborate what I mean if necessary
Can we opt not to use one of the policies for a situation? like if we have an emergency and we know one policy has better coverage for it, can we just give them that?
In regards to #5 I assume if we chose to use one insurance it would have to be whatever the primary one is, but could we in theory use the secondary if it were better for that particular situation? I feel like we couldn’t *but* I want to get confirmation.
if there is any other information or experience, anything that may be helpful, I’d love to hear it! thank you!
