Can You Have Two Health Insurance Plans At Once? 
An individual can have two health insurance plans at once , but they probably wo n't receive any additional benefits . The most common time this occurs is when a person is covered with their own employer 's insurance and also covered by their spouse 's policy . In this case , the insurance with their own employer would considered primary and the spouse 's policy would pay little to nothing . Another instance may be a person that retires from the military and gets insurance through their new employer . The individual would need to speak to the veteran 's affairs office for details on this situation . The final way a person may have two insurance plans is when they are covered by Medicare and a secondary insurance such as a Medicare Advantage plan . In this example , Medicare would be the primary insurance and pay approximately 80 % of medical costs . The secondary insurance would then go into effect and cover the remaining 20 % according to the rules of the individual policy . 