Soon you can insure adult children longer
Young unmarried adults in Wisconsin will soon be eligible for health insurance coverage under their parents’ policies up to age 27 even if they are not students.
“Many insurance plans here allow some adult children to stay on their parents’ plans if they are in school, but a provision in the state budget, passed in June, significantly extends the benefit,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explains.
Starting Jan.1, plans will have to allow most children under 27 to stay on their parents’ coverage even if they aren’t students, according to a rule issued by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner clarifying the new law.
Gov. Jim Doyle said the change was needed to help parents whose kids are unemployed, work at jobs that don’t offer benefits or take a year off from school.
The article also explains that if the adult children are unmarried and have kids of their own, the youngsters also would be covered.
Parents who put children who are 25 or 26 onto their plans would pay about $1,600 more a year in income taxes because of federal tax rules, according to the Journal Sentinel.
About 20 states require insurance to offer what are sometimes called “slacker plans” to extend coverage to adult children. Congress is currently debating a federal law that would require all insurers to do so, as reported in The New York Times.
“Supporters of the provision cite studies showing that young adults, including recent college graduates, are less likely to have health insurance than older adults, either because they do not have access to employer-sponsored plans, or because they are young and healthy and do not believe insurance is a necessary expense,” the New York Times wrote. Additional premiums would apply.
What do you think — would you extend your adult child’s health insurance coverage under your policy, and if so, would you cover the extra premium cost? Please comment.
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