<p>Our college senior will be dropped from our insurance the month he graduates and will not start his job for at least 2 months after that. He will probably maintain insurance through COBRA.</p>
<p>I understand that the extension of the federal COBRA subsidy is for people who are lose their employment "involuntarily." I'm guessing that does not include a dependent who loses insurance for reasons other than having employment terminated. But does anyone here know for sure?</p>
<p>Yes. You need to have a qualified, insured employee whose employment was terminated involuntarily in the right period for the subsidy to apply. If it applies, it applies to all members of the employee’s family who were receiving coverage pre-termination. But it won’t apply to a graduating senior whose parent is still employed and receiving coverage.</p>
<p>We COBRAed our kid for three months until employer-provided health insurance kicked in. In retrospect, however, we would have done better to seek out a stand-alone policy designed for young adults – it would have been much cheaper. (They tend to be cheap to insure.)</p>
<p>New law-starting in Jan he can be covered by your family policy, again, though it is a taxable benefit.</p>
<p>GLM: areyou saying that my employer would keep him on the policy and I’d just pay taxes on the premioum the employer pays? Do you know where I can find out more about that?</p>
<p>^ The employer would not contribute but he can remain on the plan. Full contribution would be yours though that is less than COBRA, unless it differs by state.</p>
<p>We are going to be in the same situation. I haven’t decided what to do yet.</p>
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<p>I don’t understand. twinmom, or anyone, could you please explain? Anyone have a link to this “new law”. I am interested in reading about it, but I am clueless as to what to “google” about the new law mentioned here.</p>
<p>^^ I think a handful of states have passed state laws regarding graduated college students and family health plans, but I’m interested, too, if this is something national??</p>
<p>Apparently the extension of coverage after graduation is based on state law. The new federal law starting in January might be Michelle’s Law for students who need to take a leave of absence for health reasons.</p>
<p>Try googling health insurance after graduation and your state; that’s how I found this law for Illinois <a href=“http://www.benico.com/IL_Leg_HB5285DependentCoverage_age-expansion-fromDOI-12-17-08.pdf[/url]”>Deerfield, IL | Alera Group;
<p>New Jersey and Colorado</p>
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<p>Pennsylvania</p>
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<p>Yeah, I don’t know of any law that permits adult non-students to stay on their parents’ health insurance (other than under COBRA). The “Michelle’s Law” provision is, I think, part of the ginormous health care reform bill, but that only applies to medical leave in the middle of college.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed that when the company have a whole-bunch of “old” people, that the group HI is higher than a company with a whole-bunch of “young” people. </p>
<p>I think that COBRA is a bad idea for a young people. The paper work is the same for application both application. Your insurance company that carries your group would really like to keep your DS/DD on their COBRA program because the premium is based on the “old” employees. Think who’s getting the $$?</p>
<p>Have DS investigate the alternatives.</p>
<p>Go for regular HI coverage. Avoid temporary insurance because it is temporary (3-6 months), limited (maybe 1) renewal, and limited coverage-benefits. When your DS starts his new job, there may be a probation of 6 months before benefits kick in and if he does not make it through the six months, the temporary insurance will lapse and he will be without. </p>
<p>Temporary insurance may also impose “pre-existing” conditions. </p>
<p>By going from your insurance to his own insurance, the insurance cos waive many of the conditions that get people disqualified. </p>
<p>Current HI system gives you a lot of choices but if the choices are poor…</p>
<p>Here is a link to explain what NYS has done in increasing Age 29 Dependent health insurance coverage:</p>
<p>[“Age</a> 29” Dependent Coverage Extension](<a href=“http://www.ins.state.ny.us/health/S6030_Age29.htm]"Age”>http://www.ins.state.ny.us/health/S6030_Age29.htm)</p>
<p>Look into an individual policy for your kiddo. If you have Anthem BC/BS…look into the Tonek plan. Or look into their individual PPO plan. We got the PPO plan for our son…$195 a month with a $2000 a year prescription coverage. It has a $1500 deductible but after that 100% is covered.</p>
<p>Tonek has the same deductible and prescription plan but it also has dental checkups and three office visits a year that are not part of the deductible. I am not an insurance underwriter.</p>
<p>What we did was contact OUR carrier to find out about individual policies. They are MUCH less expensive than COBRA and much more comprehensive than short term coverage.</p>
<p>Very interesting new changes regarding health insurance. Thank you for posting.</p>
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Yeah, I don’t know of any law that permits adult non-students to stay on their parents’ health insurance (other than under COBRA). [/qupte]</p>
<p>There is no federal law that permits this. BUT there are some states…you need to check. In CT, employers who are FULLY INSURED (not self insured…the self insured employers are exempt…don’t get me going…it’s irritating)…must offer continuing coverage to non-dependents who were previously covered under the parent plan (kids can continue to be part of the family plan) until they are 26 years old.</p>
<p>Also, even if the state you live in has a law raising the coverage age for your kids into their mid-20s, those who have insurance through the Federal government (ie civil servants, military, etc) are NOT covered under this age extension.</p>
<p>The only way I see this happening for those of us with Federal health insurance will be through the new health care reform bill. And who knows when those provisions will take effect…</p>
<p>After reading the posting here, I did a brief google search, and found that it is a Wisconsin state law, not a federal law. Apologies, as had the impression, from my employer, that the new insurance eligibility was federally mandated. However, it may be a federal law in the future.</p>
<p>curiouser,</p>
<p>You should look into SAMBA insurance through the FEHB. They have a Dependent Children’s Health Plan for about $260 a month for dependent children under age 27.
[Dependent</a> Children Health Benefit Plan](<a href=“http://www.sambaplans.com/DHBP2010.shtml]Dependent”>http://www.sambaplans.com/DHBP2010.shtml) . The parent must be covered by SAMBA, also, but SAMBA’s standard option coverage is very similar to the BC/BS standard plan and is much cheaper. The coverage for the dependent child is identical to the parent’s coverage, with a $300 deductible and $5000 catastrophic maximum.</p>
<p>We switched last year from BC/BS so that we could get this coverage for S1. Once he’s insured through an employer, we’ll probably switch back. But for now, this solution makes the most sense for us.</p>
<p>We are in NJ. NJ state law does require insurance companies to allow young adult children to remain on private plans till age 30. BUT this does not apply to ‘self insured’ plans (which my family, of course, is insured under).</p>
<p>We chose a low cost private policy for grad school son, who is being kicked off of our policy next week. High deductible ($2500 per yr) but 100% coverage after that. We are only trying to cover him for catastrophic events, not small office visit costs. He is relatively healthy. About $104/month through UnitedHealthcare in Conn.
Apparently, must buy individual plan by state of residency…
We shopped through ehealthinsurance.com and then contacted individual company directly. I am just a mom, not an insurance salesperson!</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>