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Makes no sense. Im 25, married, and my "primary" insurance is through DH.

Once I got married, my dad's insurance was no longer valid because I was no longer their dependent. Not sure why this is even an issue for you.

Keep your DH's insurance. Wouldn't want your dad's insurance to come back and be like "Oh wait, you don't qualify" and smack you with a bunch of bills.

That makes no sense. How can you be under your parents if they aren't claiming you? They would have to be paying for your coverage.

I don't understand insurance stuff but I don't get how you can still be on your parents insurance, even with the reform act? Especially if you've been thinking you've been using your dh's insurance.

Maybe I'm missing something (no coffee yet) but i don't see any issue with you using your parents insurance and your LOnusing your husbands. I mean, it's no different than if you had coverage for yourself through your employer and your DH had coverage for himself through his employer; and then your LO went on his plan after birth - which is except what we did.

My only .02 to add to the whole "grr, insurance" is to be prepared either way to pay more than you think you should have to. My coverage was good and my insurance good and I ended up having to pay about double what I (and the benefits rep) thought I would have to. Sucked!!

Something is not right here.

Even if you ARE under your parents insurance, they haven't been paying for you. How could you actually be covered? The reform laws require insurances to cover you if parents add you, but if you dont pay for the coverage there is no coverage. I would call back one more time and speak to someone higher up. Or, look at bills from your parents. It just seems like someone is giving you incorrect information because they don't understand what they are talking about. That kind of thing happens a lot unfortunately, especially when new laws are supposed to be enforced.

@Mrs Hedgehog: it is true that you can be on your parents I durance if you're under 26 and married, but their insurance will not cover any child(ren) that you have. The coverage should stop, though, if you elect to have coverage elsewhere -- like through your employer, your husbands employer, or if your parents stop paying your premium. That's how it worked for my brother (he chose to have coverage through his employer, and my parents stopped paying his premium. He's almost 25.)

Before you completely freak out, get the facts. Are you parents paying a premium for you? Should you be reimbursed for your secondary insurance OOP costs, since you should have been billed through your primary insurance? I'd make sure to get the billing straightened out, too.

@Mrs Hedgehog: Okay, so this is because your parents did not take you off the insurance. So that's true that if they keep their insurance the same, year after year during their open enrollment period, then their plan would continue to cover you. But during open enrollment, your name *would* have been listed as a dependent, so your parents should have been aware that you are still on their insurance.

I'm not an insurance expert, but my mother still covers my little sister on her insurance (till this year when she turns 26), and she has to re-enroll my sister as a dependent each year when it's open enrollment.

As it is, if you have two insurances....I guess it doesn't matter who claims you? The only benefit to paying it yourself under your DH's insurance is that *if* your medical costs exceed a certain amount of your overall income, you get a pretty big tax deduction. So if you are paying for your LOs birth expenses, and paying for yourself would put you over the limit to where you qualify for the tax write off, then you might want to claim your own birth expenses. Otherwise, use your parent's insurance.

Deduction value for medical expenses

The IRS allows you to deduct qualified medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income for the year. Your adjusted gross income is your taxable income minus any adjustments to income such as deductions, contributions to a traditional IRA and student loan interest.

For example, if you have a modified adjusted gross income of $45,000 and $4,475 of medical expenses, you would multiply $45,000 by 0.075 (7.5 percent) to find that only expenses exceeding $3,375 can be deducted. This leaves you with a medical expense deduction of $1,100 (4,475 - 3,375).

because of health care reform, you can legally be under your parents insurance if you're under the age of 26 AND even if you're married and have insurance through your spouse. if you parents have been paying your premium, and you are covered under their insurance, they should be paying as primary. no any children you have wouldn't be covered under your parents coverage.
if your secondary insurance finds out that you have other coverage primary, they will retract payment(i understand most is under the deductible so far, but anything they have paid, they can retract) and ask for it back from the doctor/facility.

Your parents policy is not primary because of having coverage longer. Standard practice is the policyholder whose birthday comes first during the calendar year is primary. So your parent that has the policy would be before your husbands birthday. And you and your child can have different insurance. My daughter was born on my DHs insurance as primary and mine as secondary.

@Mrs Hedgehog: That depends. It is an individual deductible or a family deductible. Often if you have a family plan, then the deductible is family but of course that depends on your insurance.

Then you won't have to pay double because the deductible is any cash out of pocket for both. Of course if you haven't met the deductible it will go up.