{"id":4688,"date":"2016-12-15T06:49:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T11:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/?p=4688"},"modified":"2020-09-30T13:59:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T17:59:37","slug":"two-insurance-plans-a-good-or-bad-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/two-insurance-plans-a-good-or-bad-idea.html","title":{"rendered":"Two Insurance Plans: A Good or Bad Idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/selection.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

More is always better, right? When it comes to the number of insurance plans you have, that\u2019s not always the case. If you\u2019re considering buying two (or more) health insurance plans here are a few things that you need to keep in mind.<\/p>\n

Why consider buying two insurance plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few common scenarios as to why international students and scholars feel the need to buy more than one plan include the following:<\/p>\n

1. A plan was already purchased but will not meet all federal or school requirements.
\n2. You don\u2019t think the plan options available to you have enough coverage.
\n3. The plan that you have doesn\u2019t cover a condition that just developed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s dive into each of these situations in greater detail.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A plan was already purchased but will not meet all federal or school requirements.<\/em>
    \nFirst and foremost, check the cancellation policy of the plan you already have if it doesn\u2019t meet your needs. Some plans will allow you to even cancel for a full refund if you do so before the start date, so check the cancellation policy and check it as soon as possible. If cancelling your plan isn\u2019t an option, then exploring other plans that specifically cover the benefit you need is. However, it\u2019s important that you do not buy two primary plans, or two secondary plans (plans that are run after the primary) that have the same coverage- this could cause problems down the road if you need to file a claim. For example, perhaps you\u2019re trying to meet the federal J visa insurance requirements and your current plan does not have emergency medical evacuation or repatriation of remains coverage. Since your current plan will cover your other medical needs (like hospitalization) you\u2019ll want to find a supplemental, stand-alone plan to cover the     evacuation and repatriation<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. You don\u2019t think the plan options available to you have enough coverage.<\/em>
    \nIf you find a plan that you like and are wondering if you can buy two of them so you can double the coverage- unfortunately not. The same is true if you find two different primary or two different secondary plans that you like and want to buy. If you do find two plans that you like it\u2019s fine to purchase them if one plan is a primary plan (meaning it\u2019s the plan that the provider will run first), and the other plan is a secondary plan (meaning it\u2019s the plan that the provider will run if there are any remaining expenses).<\/li>\n
  3. The plan that you have doesn\u2019t cover a condition that just developed.<\/em>
    \nIf you already have a condition, whether officially diagnosed or just symptoms of, it\u2019s a pre-existing condition. This means if you buy a plan specifically to cover a pre-existing condition you need to make sure it covers pre-existing without a waiting period. Keep in mind that it will be difficult to find a plan that covers pre-existing conditions without a waiting period and plans that do will be very expensive. It\u2019s best to buy a plan that can cover potential items (like a sports injury or a pregnancy) before they happen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If needed, having two insurance plans is an available option if one plan is a primary and the other a secondary. However, it\u2019s best to find one solid plan that has the potential to cover what you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    More is always better, right? When it comes to the number of insurance plans you have, that\u2019s not always the case. If you\u2019re considering buying two (or more) health insurance plans here are a few things that you need to keep in mind. Why consider buying two insurance plans? A few common scenarios as to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,611],"tags":[1262],"class_list":["post-4688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-explained","category-student-health-insurance-2","tag-two-insurance-plans-a-good-or-bad-idea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4688"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6905,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4688\/revisions\/6905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}