Primary vs secondary insurance providers?

I am on my mom's insurance, through her employer, still and have gotten my own policy though my employer. I am confused on which is meant to be my primary. I spoke with someone from my plan and was told I can choose which is which, but have been told by my mom and others that my plan needs to be the primary.

The biggest issue is that it's been a while (over a year) that I've had both and I've not really dealt with it. I had some lab work get denied from my plan bc it says it is my secondary, and I need to submit the bills to my primary insurer (my mom's plan). I am nervous to contact my mom's plan with this bill bc I'm concerned they'll say that my plan needs to be my primary and it will start a whole big headache about all services going back since I got my own plan. I don't know if my mom's plan "knows" that I am covered by another plan. I think I've messed up for about a year and a half now, how do I fix that if my plan needs to be the primary?

I was also confused on whether the secondary typically covers a copay that is left after the primary insurance is applied to a service, assuming the service is covered by both plans.

Any advice on how to handle this would be appreciated!

submitted by /u/futureggghost
[comments]