Consumer Protections in the Affordable Care Act

Extension of Dependent Coverage

In most states, insurers were allowed to remove young adult children from their parents' health plans when they turned 19, or if still a student, when they graduated from college, which left young adults as a significant proportion of the uninsured. As of September 23, 2010 the ACA requires health plans that provide dependent coverage, including grandfathered plans, to extend coverage to adult dependents up to age 26. Young adults can obtain coverage whether or not they live in their parents' home, and even if they're married and are no longer claimed as a dependent on their parents' tax return. But insurers do not need to cover their children's spouses, nor their children. And until January 1, 2014, grandfathered group plans are only required to cover adult dependents if they are not otherwise eligible for employer-sponsored coverage. 

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