Young Adult Coverage Revisited
Posted February, 18 2009 by arianne
A new report by Community Catalyst “Expanding Coverage for Dependents” addresses the states efforts to provide affordable insurance coverage options for young adults. The report suggests that one way to resolve the uninsured young adults crisis is to extend the period of time that a dependent can remain on the parent’s insurance.
Governor Paterson’s Executive Budget proposes to extend a COBRA-like insurance benefit to young people up to the age of 29 through their parent’s policies. HCFANY had urged the State to pass a law that would allow young adults to be added to parents’ coverage through the age of 30. While we are pleased the Governor has addressed this issue, HCFANY is deeply concerned that the Governor’s version of our proposal would “age rate” the product, a dangerous move for New York’s health insurance consumers. States that permit age rating offer cheap policies to young people, but expensive policies to those of us who are 30 and older. New York is one of the few states that has “pure community rating” which means that all of us must be treated the same by an insurance company, no matter our age or disability.
HCFANY strongly urges the State to simply permit parents to add their young adults to their coverage, but drop the Governor’s “age-rating” twist. New York needs to avoid any precedents that would erode community rating
3 Comments
Topics about Health, Food and Well being » Archive » Young Adult Coverage Revisited • Feb.18.2009 at 10:00:am
[…] HCFANY put an intriguing blog post on Young Adult Coverage RevisitedHere’s a quick excerptA new report by Community Catalyst “ Expanding Coverage for Dependents ” addresses the states efforts to provide affordable insurance coverage options for young adults. The report suggests that one way to resolve the uninsured young adults crisis is to extend the period of time that a dependent can remain on the parent’s insurance. Governor Paterson’s Executive Budget proposes to extend a COBRA-like insurance benefit to young people up to the age of 29 through their parent’s policies. HCFAN […]
Arthur Springer • Feb.20.2009 at 04:04:pm
RE:
“States that permit age rating offer cheap policies to young people, but expensive policies to those of us who are 30 and older.”
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I don’t see any evidence of concern about the punishing premiums demanded by the state in the Medicaid Excess Income Program. Thus, HCFANY’s complaint about “expensive policies” lacks consistency and credibility and strongly suggests that some other special interest is at work. Campaigns for universal coverage by state seem to be booming elsewhere. Why is it limping along so feebly in New York? Why do these splinter-group “incremental” proposals dominate the field?
Nicky • Mar.04.2009 at 04:59:pm
Young adults often delay marriage so they can stay on their parents’ health plans, or opt out of coverage altogether (30% of married 19-25 year olds lack health insurance). The narrow definitions of family used by most employer health plans mean that a married child is no longer considered to be part of the employee’s family and therefore can’t be covered, even if they can’t afford coverage on their own. NY’s law should prohibit employers and insurers from automatically terminating the family status of child who marries or forms a domestic partnership.