How to Process Secondary Health Insurance Claims

Dealing with health insurance companies can be confusing. Processing secondary health insurance claims can be even worse. Being perceptive about the coordination of health benefits, and filing your insurance in the correct way, can assist you in getting the job done quickly and easily. If you process your secondary health insurance claims properly, you can avoid refilling. And if you don't complete the process in a precise order, your claim could be denied altogether.

Things You'll Need

• Medical bill
• Insurance number for the policy

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Instructions

• 1

  Call your insurance company and request a copy of its policies about coordination of benefits. The COB will explain how the company agrees to take care of expenses on your behalf while making sure that it doesn't overpay on the cost of medical expenses.

• 2

  Tell the medical provider which insurance policy is the primary and which is the secondary. It's important for the medical provider to file them in order, with the primary being filed first. If the medical practitioner sends the bill to the secondary insurance carrier, but doesn't file first with the primary, then in all likelihood the bill won't get paid and be denied. Also, the secondary insurer won't pay off on the bill until the primary has paid the larger portion of the outstanding bill.

• 3

  Keep a copy of all documents submitted to the insurance companies. You'll need to show documentation if you ever run into problems with your insurance provider, such as if they choose to deny the claim and you want to file an appeal. Make sure you also keep all correspondence with the insurance company and the medical provider.

• 4

  Send in your COB information just as soon as the insurance company requests it from you. The insurance company might also require you to update the COB several times each year.