harmonica74
New member
What is the name of your state? California
My employer pays 100% for an HMO, but has the option to select a number of PPO plans that I would need to pay anywhere from $40 to $300/month for if I wanted to switch to PPO.
My husband has a very strong PPO plan ($0 deductible, very low out of pocket max. 100% coverage of maternity/L&D) and it is no cost to add myself as a dependent. However, his provider's policy is that if I have the option for coverage, I need to maintain that as my primary and his comes in as Secondary.
We are planning to start trying to conceive this year, and I would much, much rather go through that process on a PPO than an HMO.
From the research I've done on Primary v. Secondary coverage, I'm currently thinking it would be worth it to enroll in a PPO plan through my employer so that the Primary and Secondary work well together, since the secondary is so much stronger than my primary options.
Questions: Given that I have options for PPO to elect in to, if my secondary coverage is so much stronger, would I be able to opt in to a very cheap plan and then have my secondary kick in? Or if I chose a cheap plan with a high deductible, will I still need to cover all of the deductible before the secondary kicks in and should therefore pay for a better plan? Or am I misunderstanding the general way primary/secondary works?
My employer pays 100% for an HMO, but has the option to select a number of PPO plans that I would need to pay anywhere from $40 to $300/month for if I wanted to switch to PPO.
My husband has a very strong PPO plan ($0 deductible, very low out of pocket max. 100% coverage of maternity/L&D) and it is no cost to add myself as a dependent. However, his provider's policy is that if I have the option for coverage, I need to maintain that as my primary and his comes in as Secondary.
We are planning to start trying to conceive this year, and I would much, much rather go through that process on a PPO than an HMO.
From the research I've done on Primary v. Secondary coverage, I'm currently thinking it would be worth it to enroll in a PPO plan through my employer so that the Primary and Secondary work well together, since the secondary is so much stronger than my primary options.
Questions: Given that I have options for PPO to elect in to, if my secondary coverage is so much stronger, would I be able to opt in to a very cheap plan and then have my secondary kick in? Or if I chose a cheap plan with a high deductible, will I still need to cover all of the deductible before the secondary kicks in and should therefore pay for a better plan? Or am I misunderstanding the general way primary/secondary works?