Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled a proposed regulation on Monday that will allow young adults to stay on their parents' healthcare plans until age 26.
The proposed regulation was issued as part of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that youth under 26 be allowed to register for coverage on their parents' plans beginning Sept. 23. The regulation is expected to be published soon in the federal register and will allow for a 60-day comment period.
Sebelius said insurance companies have volunteered to comply as early as this month.
According to Sebelius, young adults have the highest rate of uninsured of any age group. About 30 percent of young adults are uninsured, representing more than one in five of the uninsured. This rate is higher than any other age group, and is three times higher than the uninsured rate among children, she said.
Sebelius said in a Monday HHS blog that youth who would like access to the stop-gap insurance should ask their employers and insurers if they offer it now.
According to Sebelius, youth and families should also watch for open enrollment opportunities. If early coverage is not an option with an employer or insurance company, then young adults will qualify for an open enrollment period to join their parents' family plan or policy beginning on or after September 23, 2010. Insurers and employers are required to provide notice for this special open enrollment period.
The new regulation complements guidance issued by the Treasury Department on April 27 on the tax benefits provided for such coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Under a new tax provision in the Affordable Care Act and the Treasury guidance, the value of any employer-provided health coverage for an employee's child is excluded from the employee's income through the end of the taxable year in which the child turns 26. This tax benefit applies regardless of whether the plan is required by law to extend healthcare coverage to the adult child or the plan voluntarily extends the coverage.
According to Sebelius, the following insurance plans have agreed to implement the program before the September 23, 2010 deadline:
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida
- Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield_Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii
- Blue Shield of California
- Blue Cross of Idaho Health Service
- Regence Blue Shield of Idaho
- Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa
- Health Care Service Corporation
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
- WellPoint, Inc.
- Care First Blue Cross and Blue Shield
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi
- Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, Inc.
- HealthNow New York, Inc.
- The Regence Group
- Excellus Blue Cross and Blue Shield
- Capital BlueCross
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
- Independence Blue Cross
- BlueCross BlueShield of North Dakota
- Highmark, Inc.
- Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island
- Premera Blue Cross
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wyoming
- Kaiser Permanente
- Cigna
- Aetna
- United
- WellPoint
- Humana
- Capital District Physicians' Health Plan (CDPHP), Albany, New York
- Capital Health Plan, Tallahassee, Florida
- Care Oregon, Portland, Oregon
- Emblem Health, New York, New York
- Fallon Community Health Plan, Worcester, Massachusetts
- Geisinger Health Plan, Danville, Pennsylvania
- Group Health, Seattle, Washington
- Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
- Health Partners, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Independent Health, Buffalo, New York
- Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Oakland, California
- Martin's Point Health Care, Portland, Maine
- New West Health Services, Helena, Montanta
- The Permanente Federation, Oakland, California
- Priority Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Scott and White Health Plan, Temple, Texas
- Security Health Plan, Marshfield, Wisconsin
- Tufts Health Plan, Waltham, Massachusetts
- UCARE, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- UPMC Health Plan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania