2.5 Million More Young Adults Have Health Insurance … Are You One Of Them?

It’s been a pretty gloomy year for many in the economy, so we thought we’d highlight one of the positives from this past year.  New numbers coming out are showing that as many as 2.5 million young adults have picked up health insurance in the last year.  It’s a huge jump, dropping the percentage of uninsured Americans between the ages of 19 to 25 from 34% to 29%.  Young adults as a group have historically had low rates of health insurance, and with the recent recession the general trend has only been worse as many struggle to find employment and employers cut back on health insurance benefits.

Interestingly, at least one study attributes almost the entire increase to the new federal provision which allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies until the age of 26.  Before that, children aged out of their parents’ health insurance at 18 or 21 or when they left full-time schooling.

If you are interested in adding your adult child to your health insurance:

Yes, employer-based health insurance plans and health insurers which issue individual insurance policies must offer health insurance coverage to a member’s children up to the age of 26, regardless of whether the child lives with the parent, is a full-time student, is married or unmarried, is a dependent for income-tax purposes, or receives financial support from the parents.  In addition, health insurers and employers must offer a 30-day period during which adult children can be enrolled under a parent’s health insurance, and terms (such as premiums) cannot vary based on an adult child’s age, i.e. insurers cannot charge a surcharge for on adult children who are between 19 and 25.

Unfortunately, the one major caveat is that adult children who have access to their own employer-based health insurance cannot be added to their parents’ health insurance policies.  That is true even if their own employer’s health insurance is very expensive or if the coverage is very skimpy.

Have you added your adult child(ren) to your health insurance?  Tell us about it!

Related posts:

1. Almost 1 Million More Young Adults Now Have Health Insurance… Should You Be One of Them?
2. Healthcare Reform: Why Can’t I Put My Child On My Health Insurance Until January?
3. Link of the Day: Facebook Page for Young Adult Health Insurance Coverage
4. 4 Ways Retirees Can Get Health Insurance For Their Adult Children
5. Healthcare Reform: Health Insurance and Adult Children, Whose Health Insurance Is It?