Grow Up

Obamacrap made it possible for children to stay on their parents plan until age 26. This is past the age when they can legally drive, vote and drink adult beverages.

So why does DC still consider them children?

CNNMoney has this comment.

The government had hoped that extending the age for dependent coverage to 26 would drastically reduce the large number of young adults who do not have any health care coverage.

But the survey's results show that parents, already facing higher costs to cover their families, are put off by the additional costs of taking advantage of the new provision.

Well why didn't Washington just make it a REQUIREMENT that parents buy health insurance on their children?

sometimes it costs less to buy an individual plan for an adult child than to add them to a parent's plan, especially if the child lives in a region not covered by the parents' doctors or provider networks.

In most cases this is true, but some college students already have a number of issues that cannot be solved in the individual health insurance market.

I have had parents contact me about coverage on their college student children only to discover the student admits to using marijuana and other illegal drugs, has a DUI, or has psychological problems such as anxiety or depression and taking expensive medication. So in some cases they cannot get insurance and in others the cost is prohibitive to cover the pre-existing conditions.

There are also parents that call looking for health insurance for their pregnant college student.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. You buy insurance BEFORE you need it.

So what we see is few college students buying coverage on their own and the ones going on mom & dad's insurance are those that can't get private insurance in the open market.

The eHealth survey of 500 parents of full-time college students and recent grads shows just how uneasy parents are about the costs of the new provision.

43% of parents would keep their adult kids on their plan only if it was free.
38% of parents said they don't plan to keep their kids on their health insurance plan until age 26.
30% said less than one year was the fairest amount of time to provide adult kids with health insurance.
56% said they would either not provide any financial assistance at all or do so for one year or less.

Not so surprising.

Free is what many seem to expect when it comes to health insurance. Especially Obamacrap.