September 22, 2008
Section: Local & State
Edition: All
Page: B1,B2
New health care policy allows parents' plans for children under-30s
JENNIFER BOOTH REED
By JENNIFER BOOTH REED
Jobs may be hard to come by for young adults these days, but finding health insurance may have just gotten easier.
Florida this year becomes one of only two states allowing children to stay on their parents' plans until they are 30, if they meet certain criteria. The only other state to extend dependent benefits that long is New Jersey, according to researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization that tracks health policy.
Beginning Oct. 1, parents can opt to keep their children covered under group plans as long as the young adults are unmarried, have no children of their own and don't have any other coverage. The young adults don't need to live in their parents' households to qualify but do need to stay in the state. Students, either full- or part-time, are required to be covered.
There appear to be other contingencies, too. The parents' insurers, for example, must offer dependent coverage in the first place. The law also says young people can't rejoin their parents' plans if they have gone more than 63 days without insurance. That's a way of protecting insurance companies from taking back an enrollee who may have developed health issues during the uninsured period, though it could exclude an unknown number of the law's target population.
Questions about this and other matters are still being worked out in Tallahassee. The Office of Insurance Regulation plans to hold a public meeting to review the law, answer questions and clarify the process. A date has not yet been set.
State insurance officials did not want to answer specific questions until then because they had not had an opportunity to review the legislation and because they know it is open to interpretation, according to spokesman Tom Zutell.
Parents should speak with their insurance group administrator or human resources associate by April 1, 2009 if they have a child who had been disenrolled and who may be eligible to rejoin the plan.
One of those administrators, Susan Strong, the director of insurance and benefits for the Lee County School District, notified employees of the new law, but she said she's waiting for more details.
"I'm going to play it by ear until I get further clarification from the state," Strong said.
The dependency change is part of Gov. Charlie Crist's Cover Florida plan, which also includes the creation of lower-cost, limited-coverage insurance policies.
"I think this could be beneficial for a lot of people," said Corey Dinkens, 22, of Fort Myers.
He lost his insurance when his parents' policy terminated him, shortly after graduating from Southwest Florida College. Dinkens works as a contractor, but doesn't have coverage through work.
"It's very hard to find as a single person," he said.
Florida Gulf Coast University student Casey Radvansky, 20, looked into getting her own insurance, too. But with a couple of pre-existing health conditions, she said the rates were expensive and she opted to stay on her father's policy, which covers students through age 25.
Radvansky is hoping to become an elementary school teacher, a career that usually provides benefits, but said staying on her father's plan could be a good option if she doesn't get hired right away.
"(Health insurance) is the one thing I need to make sure I have when I graduate," said Radvanksy, who has problems with her thyroid and pituitary gland that she controls with medication.
Dinkens and Radvansky aren't alone in their concerns over health insurance.
Young adults 19 to 29 have the highest uninsured rates in the country. Almost one third of them go without coverage, according to Kaiser. The majority of them are full-time workers but hold jobs at small firms that don't offer benefits or work for wages that are too low to afford health care.
"On top of all that, young adults are only eligible for public coverage (Medicaid) if they fall into certain categories such as being pregnant, a custodial parent or disabled," said Tanya Schwartz, a policy analyst for the foundation.
Twenty-one other states have passed laws extending the dependent age for health insurance, Schwartz said. Most cap coverage requirements between ages 24 and 26.
"This is definitely one strategy being used to provide coverage to the young adult populations," she said.
Gray Davis, chief operating officer at Oswald Trippe and Company Inc. in Fort Myers, said his insurance firm has gotten few questions about the new law, possibly because people aren't aware of the change.
"This could really be a good thing to make (insurance) more available and affordable than it would be if they are on their own," said Davis.
It's too soon to know whether laws like Florida's are making a dent in the nation's uninsured rolls. Schwartz at Kaiser said they're too new to analyze; most states have passed legislation within the past two years.
Michael Dinko, president of the Health Underwriters Association of Southwest Florida, said the new law could benefit both young adults and the community health organizations that treat them. Area doctors and hospitals report seeing more and more uninsured patients, many of whom are unable to pay for their care.
"It will keep people on the insurance rolls longer, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered by the Office of Insurance Regulation," Dinko said.
· Tanya Schwartz, a policy analyst for the foundation.
"On top of all that, young adults are only eligible for public coverage (Medicaid) if they fall into certain categories such as being pregnant, a custodial parent or disabled."
Copyright (c) The News-Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.
· Home |
· News |
· Sports |
· Entertainment |
· Opinion |
· Obituaries |
· Weather |
· Classifieds |
· Customer Service