If you're 25 or younger
A key provision in the health-reform law allows you to look forward to high school or college graduation without worrying about being kicked off your parents' health-insurance plan. Under the new law, children can remain covered by their parents' insurance up to their 26th birthday, even if they're no longer in school or living with them.
Here are answers to some basic questions about getting insurance as a young adult:
You can stay on their plan even if you move away from home or become self-supporting enough that your parents can no longer claim you as a dependent on their income taxes. You can even stay on their plan if you get married.
It might. Retiree-only plans aren't required to cover young-adult children of beneficiaries. If your parents are on Medicare, you're out of luck, since the plan doesn't cover any dependents, even spouses.
Yes. As long as you're younger than 26, you can go on and off their plan as many times as you want. For instance, you might land a job with health benefits right out of college, but decide to quit after a couple of years to go back to graduate school. At that point, you can rejoin your parents' plan.
You can shop around for an individual policy. Because you're young, the premiums will be relatively affordable in most states. You can search at HealthCare.gov for policies. If you have a pre-existing condition that makes getting an individual plan expensive or impossible, you can sign up for COBRA continuation coverage under your parents' plan, and you can stay on it for up to three years. By that time—2014—you'll be able to buy affordable coverage on your own through the new insurance exchanges.
Your workplace can't charge a different premium for your adult children than it does for your younger children. So, for instance, if your company charges a single "family" rate for health insurance, that's what you'll pay to cover your young adult. If you know your child will be living far from home, check the availability of in-network care where he or she will live. If it's not good on the plan you have and your employer has other options, look for one with a better provider network near your child and switch to it during your next open enrollment period. Otherwise, your child might have to come home for nonemergency care or pay more for out-of-network treatment.
