NPR: Big Health Insurers Have A Gift For College Grads - Insurance giant United HealthCare said it would implement, as of today, a requirement of the new health care law that allows young adults who are no longer full-time students to remain on their parent’s health plans until they reach the age of 26. WellPoint, too, announced it would do the same thing, effective June 1. The moves by two the nation’s largest private insurers come months ahead of schedule. The law doesn’t make that requirement effective until September. “This is one thing we should all just take off the table,” said United spokesman Tyler Mason. United figures the change in policy could help at least 150,000 graduating seniors and their families from having to find temporary coverage between this spring and the time the new requirement becomes effective. [04/19/2010]
Wall Street Journal: WellPoint, Like UnitedHealth, Keeping Young Adults On Plans - The two largest U.S. health insurers are taking steps to keep young adults on their parents’ policies before a new law requiring such action goes into effect, and the government is working to get others to do the same. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, citing the insurers’ moves, said Monday her department is “working hard with other insurers on similar proposals” and sent a letter offering to work with them. WellPoint Inc. (WLP), the largest health insurer by medical membership, said Monday it would take steps to prevent a coverage gap that could otherwise leave many young adults uninsured. Its announcement closely followed a similar one from UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the largest health insurer by revenue. Each year in June, many young adults have become ineligible as dependents on their parents’ health insurance policies because of their age or student status. The health overhaul signed into law last month will, as of late September, allow most adult children under age 26 to stay on their parents’ policies. Without early action by health insurers, many graduating college students could face a coverage gap this summer, until the new provision goes into effect. [04/19/2010]
BizTimes Daily: WellPoint agrees to extend coverage to young adults - WellPoint Inc., the nation’s largest health insurer, announced today it will voluntarily enact a key component of President Barack Obama’s health care reform to extend coverage for adult children of insured members before the mandate takes effect. Each year in June, millions of young adults are no longer eligible as dependents on their parents’ insurance policies because of their age, student status or other factors. Health care reform legislation, signed into law last month, will extend the dependent age for coverage to 26 for plan years beginning Sept. 23, 2010. As such, many individuals would face a coverage gap during the months before this provision is fully implemented. As a proactive measure, WellPoint’s affiliated health plans, working in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state regulators, will allow young men and women to remain on their parents’ policies before the health care reform provision takes effect. [04/19/2010]
Business Courier of Cincinnati: UnitedHealth, WellPoint extend young adult coverage - UnitedHealthcare and WellPoint announced Monday that they will extend the health coverage that graduating college students or other young adults currently have under their parents’ plans until the new health reform provision requiring dependent coverage up to age 26 is fully implemented. Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) said in its announcement that, as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, graduating college students can stay on their parents’ employer-offered or individual family health plans until they turn 26. That extension begins Sept. 23. Indianapolis-based WellPoint (NYSE: WLP), in a separate news release, announced a similar plan that also includes young adults who aren’t recent graduates. The company said the program doesn’t apply to self-insured clients.