A diploma won't be the only thing carried away from high school and college commencement ceremonies in Michigan this spring. Young adults also will be carrying their parents' Blue Cross health insurance card.
A major cooperative effort between the White House and national health insurance carriers is underway to immediately end the insurance industry practice of dropping young adults from their parents' coverage – either when they graduate from college, or when they turn 19 and are not enrolled in college.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) applauds the effort – because it has been BCBSM's longstanding policy of allowing college graduates to remain on their parents' BCBSM health insurance coverage for the remainder of the calendar year after graduating; or if they turn 19 and choose not to attend college. BCBSM today sent a communication to its self-insured customers – businesses that rely on BCBSM for administrative services and network access, but not for insurance underwriting – to join the effort since they write their own eligibility rules for coverage.
"Our longstanding policy of preventing young people from getting their diploma and immediately becoming uninsured is another example of why the Michigan Blues are a model for national health care reform," said Blues President and CEO, Daniel J. Loepp. "We welcome participation by the rest of the insurance industry ahead of national health reform changes scheduled for later this year."
The newly-enacted Patient Protection and Affordability Act requires all insurers – including self-insured businesses – to maintain coverage eligibility for dependents up to the age of 26. This requirement does away with many insurers' practices of dropping young adults from their parents' coverage. But the requirement goes into affect in September 2010 – too late this year for spring's college and high school graduates.
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