It depends. If there are just the two of you, you are 'primary' on your own policy, and your spouse is primary on his/her own policy. By default you would be 'secondary' on your spouse's policy. If the two of you have kids, you can elect either of the parents' insurance carriers to be primary, but you must do this officially, by filing the proper records with the carrier who you want to be primary. Typically, you need to decide which policy will be primary for the kids each year, as you will need to add the kids to one of your policies. You make this choice by reviewing both policies' coverages, copays and costs. The other policy, by default, then becomes secondary. If you just had a child, you should call your human resources department and/or health insurance company to work out the details and get the child properly insured.
If you have insurance through your employer, and you are the policy holder,(the insurance is in your name) this insurance will be primary for you, and your spouses insurance policy will be secondary. The insurance policy thru your spouse's employer, (your spouse is the policy holder, or the insurance is in their name), this would be primary for your spouse, and your policy would be their secondary. Here's the phamplet from Medicare http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/02179.pdf
if primary paid more than allowed amount or if patient has primary insurance
No. You will have to use your health insurance first.
Secondary.
The answer to this question depends on what kind of secondary insurance you have - is it a group health plan? Is it a supplement? If Medicare is primary, there are still deductibles, copays, coinsurance that would need to be satisfied by your secondary insurance. Based on your question, I'm assuming that you have a group health plan with a copayment as your secondary insurance. If so, then yes, you would pay your copayment but it would not exceed the part B deductible.
The primary /secondary payer is usually the insurance plan covering the claim
Put simply, yes, you can buy travel insurance or travel health insurance without primary insurance. That's just as well, as your primary insurance may not cover you (or cover you completely) when you travel overseas.
Here's a basic example of how secondary health insurance works. You go to the doctor, he charges you $100 for the visit. Your primary insurance pays him $50 and disallows $10. The remainder of the bill, $40, then either comes to you to pay or to a secondary insurance. In most cases the secondary will pay most, if not all of the $40.
Not necessarily; a secondary insurance policy or plan might only provide additional benefits up to the maximum that it will pay for a specified service. If both plans have rates that are similar, this might result in a small additional payment. Some secondary insurance or health plans might pay up to their maximum -- in addition to what the primary pays, which would result in a higher payment against a claim.
It does. Beginning June 26, 2013, same-sex spouses of active service members are eligible for health insurance.
The primary coverage is provided under the plan provided by the employer. Secondary coverage is usually a result of being covered as a dependent under someone else's health insurance plan.
Yes. The great thing about HRAs is that they can work pretty much however you want them too.