While many young adults faced losing coverage as they aged off their parent’s plan, had no coverage in the case of an unexpected pregnancy, or merely had the bare necessities covered by their school plans, all can breathe a sigh of relief as health care reform promises to end their fears.
As mentioned in earlier posts, the most immediate change is coverage will be extended to overage dependents, as long as they are not offered other employer sponsored coverage, up through their 26th birthday. This helps ease the burden of uninsured claims, as many of these adult children would wait over two years before attempting to obtain their own coverage.
Another helpful option for these previously uninsured individuals is the fact that more than half of them will be eligible for either Medicaid in 2014, as their income is expected to be less than 133% or qualify for government subsidies if they decide to purchase private insurance through an exchange if they are earning 400% of the poverty level.
More relief serves in the fact that maternity coverage will be a mandatory inclusion on the plans, something that is either excluded completely or greatly restricted, depending on what state you reside in. This is most important during young adulthood, as is the need for access to contraceptives, which will also be covered.
The fact that lifetime maximums will be eliminated also sheds light on the current state of most university based plans. Many tend to cover only the most basic of health needs, and offer only limited protection for conditions that are considered eligible medical expenses. With the implementation of comprehensive coverage for all adult children, in spite of of any pre-existing conditions, we can breathe easy that coverage is in place should they need it. Regardless of how you feel about health care reform, we can all agree that all youths of our nation deserve health care coverage!
