by 
The Curious Bag
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A secondary health insurance policy can serve a couple of purposes. It can offer you health care coverage that your primary health insurance does not offer, such as vision and optical care. It also can cover an amount from an insurance claim that your primary insurance carrier did not pay.
Understanding Need
Identifying the types of coverage you have---and the proportion of a claim that the primary insurance will pay---will help you determine if a secondary health insurance policy is necessary.
Benefits
Most primary insurance companies do not offer dental and vision coverage, so picking up a secondary insurance carrier allows you to pay small monthly premiums for full optical and dental coverage. If you find out that your primary insurance company does not pay 100 percent of some medical expenses, enlisting a secondary health insurance will eliminate a large amount of out-of-pocket costs.
Considerations
Instead of using two primary insurance companies (one for each spouse), some families, especially those with children, use one primary carrier and enlist a secondary company to pick up the excess costs.
Misconceptions
Secondary health insurance is not an absolute necessity.
Warning
If a primary and secondary insurance company have the same medical coverages, limitations and exclusions, you will not cut your costs.
Source:
U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Insurance Programs
Scum Doctor: Secondary Insurance Plans for Family Health Care
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