My university added trans* health care (hormones, surgery and/or therapy up to $25,000/annually) to the student health insurance plan, which is great news! However, I am not on the student insurance plan and fall under my parents insurance (Anthem BlueCross, Blue Shield Lumenos). My parents' policy does not include any surgical coverage, and only minimal hormone coverage. The student health insurance policy is $1280/year, and I would need to take out student loans to cover it, but this is much more affordable than paying for top surgery out of pocket. The crunch is that I need to declare how much money I want to borrow in the very near future.

I've done some googling, but I'm still unsure how it works. Does anyone know if I can have both policies, and simply declare my student health insurance secondary and my parents' plan primary?

The time crunch is messing with my head, as I'm not 100% sure whether I want top surgery, since my feelings have been shifting more. I could always wait until next year, but the same technical question remains.

Sure you can.  You just pay more in premiums.

Your own policy through the university would become the primary, and your parent's policy, the secondary - most likely.

Yup. Not uncommon for a person to have two policies, especially in divorced families.

I believe so.  I don't see why not.  I plan on having two insurances in the future.

When considering timing for insurance-covered surgeries, think about which surgeon you will be going to. Most do not take insurance up front, and the patient has to pay out the money in full, and then get reimbursement after the fact from the insurance company.

You will want to ask for the "summary plan document" for each plan, and look in the category called "coordination of benefits".

Here's a link to Anthem's explanation of how coordination of benefits works:
http://www.anthem.com/wps/portal/ahpemployer?content_path=employer/va/f5/s1/t0/pw_034763.htm&state=va&rootLevel=4&label=Coordination%20of%20Benefits%20(COB)

QuoteWhen a member of your group is covered by more than one health plan (for example, when one of your employees is covered under your group plan as well as a spouse's health plan), one plan is considered to be the primary carrier and the other is considered to be the secondary carrier. The primary carrier covers the major portion of the bill according to plan allowances, and the secondary carrier covers any remaining allowable expenses. 
The COB provisions of your policy or plan determine which plan is primary. That plan's benefits are applied to the claim first. The unpaid balance is usually paid by the secondary plan to the limit of its responsibility. Benefits are thus "coordinated" among all of the health plans, and payments do not exceed 100% of charges for the covered services.

My daughter is covered under both my plan and my ex-wife's plan.  As is discussed above, one is primary (in this case it's mine) and one is secondary.  Every now and then we have an issue - usually around my renewal time as mine insurance (BCBS Michigan) seems to have trouble wrapping their brains around the fact that my daughter is covered under two plans.  They tend to want to start denying things and it usually takes a couple of phone calls and some faxed documents to straighten it out; but they eventually get it right (at least until the next renewal period).

Madison