Secondary coverage vs. primary coverage

[amusea]

We have Plan F medicare supplemental insurance which provides $50,000 of medical insurance for either domestic or international travel over the life of the policy and that amount cannot be renewed once depleted. If you buy a travel policy with secondary coverage, the travel insurance company can seek reimbursement from any of your other health insurers including supplemental medicare if you have one of the Medicare plans that provides money for that purpose. I have only used the travel insurance (secondary) once - quite a few years ago - which required a hospital stay of two nights. The travel insurance company did finally reimburse me after my having to provide much proof of the medical problem, but then they tapped my Plan F for 80% of the total cost and they were only out of pocket the remaining 20%. So now my Plan F "pot" has been reduced accordingly. I see no reason to buy secondary travel insurance if the insurance company winds up paying so little and my supplemental Plan F amount is reduced. Now I just buy primary insurance so that the insurance company cannot tap any other health insurance sources for reimbursement. There are a couple of large companies that offer just primary coverage and they are on Insure My Trip. However most companies just offer secondary coverage which is usually cheaper but I believe it is unwise for people that have the more comprehensive supplemental Medicare coverages not to consider primary coverage first.

[sirwired]

My view is: That pot is there to be used... you're paying for it, why not use it? Once it's gone, there won't be anything for secondary insurance to draw from, and you'll have full coverage.