Posted on 11/29/2012 12:10:31 PM PST by Help!
I work in HR. We are being told by Blue-cross Blue-shield Insurance that dependents CANNOT be removed from the insured's policy until they turn 26, even if they get married (and have coverage under a spouse), take a job on their own (and have their own coverage), leave home (no longer living in a parent-child relationship), etc. etc. This includes a non-adopted step-child. They are saying it is ILLEGAL under Obamacare to remove that child from the insured's coverage. The parent's coverage would be primary and if they got another policy it would be secondary. Seems this make the parent also responsible for all the medical expenses above and beyond what the policy covers, besides costing the parent more for family coverage even if they only need self-only if the child is off the plan.
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsdependentcoverage.html
The OP stated they HAVE to KEEP their children on their plan until they are 26. That requirement is nowhere to be found, at least that I can find, and your link does not force the insured to keep their children on their plan. All of the references I've found force the insurance companies to OFFER coverage of children up to age 26. Big difference.
I skimmed through that and did not see anything affirming the OP’s claims. Could you be so kind as to quote the section I missed?
We just switched insurance companies at work and I was given the option of leaving my 18yo son on or taking him off. Since it is the same price to cover one child as it is to cover 5 we left him on just in case. I was told that I could choose to take him off though.
This makes sense. The 20-26 age group is one of the cheapest to insure by benefits paid out. They need to collect premiums from this group to fund more expensive parts of the program, such as seniors or those receiving subsidized insurance. This was the purpose of the mandate after all.
What happens if you don’t pay your premium for the secondary?
They aren’t going to subsidize seniors, they are already slashing Medicare.
How exactly did they FORCE you not to drop secondary insurance?
What did they say they’d do if you DID drop it?
I believe that it does work that way in the private sector. Also, the employer does not even have to subsidize the dependents’ coverage, even if they subsidize the employee’s (and spouse in some situations) coverage. The employer can charge the employee a FULL ADULT premium for the 26 year old.
Wonderful! And this is how it should be.
The libs are going to have a fit when it dawns on them that they’ll have to pay for their ‘free’ healthcare.
I actually like the way Obamacare works for young people. Do the right thing, have health insurance, or pay a penalty. Give them more opportunities for affordable healthcare.
I think that it’s straight-up evil for the elderly. I am scared for my mom.
Wow, you could get married and have a couple of kids on parents’ plans...what happens if both young parents are under 26, whose policy gets precedence?
What about grandchildren?
They told me it was against the law and that I could make the request to drop it, but it would probably go nowhere. It was odd and I didn’t understand it...
I figured OK, I can use the added benefit of the secondary somehow, because I just didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with the HR/insurance people anymore. It wasn’t too long after that I herniated two discs in my low back shoveling snow.
Turns out it worked to my advantage to have both plans when that occurred, but I never expected to wreck myself either.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really complaining about it at all. I just related the story to illustrate the point that a lot of people are clueless about all of this insurance stuff and say outlandish things. This is especially true now that the ACA mandates are starting to kick in.
And finally, the hardest hurdle - ‘family’ plans will go through the roof because of the possibility that it could be three women, all who could claim maternity care. Many young families will be priced out of anything OTHER than the government option for health care.
Already, a lot of college aged young people are being nailed for a thousand, sometimes even two thousand dollars a year for an university mandated health care package. And for a lot of them, this isn't money out of their pocket, it's a burden of debt they're being saddled with - up to eight grand for a four year degree; for a medical student, it can be as much as $16,000 in extra debt, even if they are still on their parent's health care plan, if that plan doesn't meet university requirements, or more accurately, if the paperwork hasn't been filed properly to opt out of the university program.
Since the taxpayers are the underwriters of tuition loans, it's money out of our pocket for unneeded plans. The university makes money off of it, the insurers make money off of it, and we simply burden our young with even more debt.
The microcosm demonstrates exactly why PelosiCare...err, ObamaCare fails: Needless additional requirements, duplication of insurance benefits, rate hikes far faster than inflation. A million women in college will finally have maternity care options - only problem is that they just won't be able to afford kids after paying for these ridiculous plans.
They just refused to remove the name from the list of covered individuals on the policy.
Just won’t have secondary insurance. The parent’s or step-parents policy will remain primary coverage for the 25 year old “child.”
No to grandchildren unless the covered grandparent becomes the guardian as recognized by the court. And I have seen this happen on a number of occasions so the grandchild will be covered.
If primary will pay for the back problem, then maybe you can stop paying the secondary premiums and by the the next enrollment it will be a moot point.
I am okay with this as long as “children” under 26 cannot vote, drink, enlist, have consensual sex, and otherwise remain under their parent’s thumb.
Otherwise, they are not “children” and need to get their own job and their own insurance.
But then again, that's the plan.......
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