2 million eager for health care on parents' plans

[NJmaverick]

CHICAGO -- Congress voted to overhaul the health care system on a Sunday. On Monday, Patti Lawson e-mailed her employer's human resources office to ask how soon she could get her 22-year-old daughter back on her health insurance.
In about six months, the new law will allow at least 2 million young adults to be covered by their parents' policies. These are the "millennials," those who came of age in the new century and now are struggling to get on their feet during the worst slump since the Depression.
Many can't find jobs, and many who are employed don't have health coverage from their employers.
The law will allow young adults to stay on or return to their parents' insurance until age 26. To qualify, young people must be "dependents" of their parents. They don't necessarily have to live under the same roof.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/01/1558783/2-million-eager-for-health-care.html#ixzz0jsX5LTYB

[leftstreet]

1. Assuming 2 million parents can afford it n/t

[NJmaverick]

2. This allows both the kids to afford it

[canoeist52]

3. What constitutes a dependent ?

does this mean the IRS version of dependent? Do they have to be in college?

[NJmaverick]

4. from the article

Regulations still have to be written, but here are some of the crucial specifics of the new law, based on a reading of the measure and interpretation by various experts:
-It applies to young adults up to their 26th birthday who don't have access to insurance through their employer.
-There is no dispute the measure applies to young people away at college. It is widely assumed the law also covers other young people living on their own.
-It will include married children but not their spouses or their kids.
-It is unclear whether parents must wait until their health plan's next open enrollment period to sign up their uninsured older children.
-Young adults who live in a different state from their parents should check to see if their parents' health plan covers medical services where they live.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/01/1558783/2-million-eager-for-health-care.html#ixzz0jsesdHtO