Parents, young adult children eagerly await health insurance expansion

The provision of the new health law that allows young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan is in the news.

ABC News: "On Monday the administration will announce that they have asked insurance companies to not wait until September to comply with the rule that allows young adults without insurance to say on their parents'' plan until they're 26 years old, to benefit this year's graduating classes" (Miller, 5/8).

Sacramento Bee: "The new federal legislation targets a broad swath of young adults, who are the largest segment of the U.S. population going without health insurance. In a September report, the Employee Benefits Research Institute reported that 38 percent of men and 28 percent of women ages 21-24 were uninsured in 2008. About 21 percent of adults ages 18 to 30, who graduated from college in the past three years, have no health care insurance, according to a recent survey by eHealthInsurance.com."

"In most cases, the expanded coverage applies to employer-provided and retiree health plans. It also applies to individuals who qualify for the self-employed health insurance deduction on their federal taxes" (Buck, 5/9).

Hartford Courant/The Associated Press: United Technologies Corp. says it will extend health care benefits to employees' unmarried dependent children up to age 26, four months before federal law requires it. ... United Technologies, which has a payroll of 26,000 employees in Connecticut, is offering the benefit at the same rates employees now pay for dependent children" (5/9).