Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Health Insurance Developments For Young Adults

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 07 Jun 2007 - 8:00 PDT

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Summaries of articles addressing health care coverage for young adults in Minnesota and New York appear below.

• Minnesota: The state Legislature recently approved a change to the law that would allow dependents to remain on their parents' private health insurance until they turn 25, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2008. Minnesota residents ages 18 to 24 are nearly three times more likely than other state residents to be uninsured, according to the state Department of Health. About 98,000 or 19% of college-aged individuals are uninsured, compared with 7.4% of the overall population, according to the DOH. Some colleges in the state are requiring uninsured students to purchase a school health policy. Insurers in the state also are working to introduce legislation that would provide limited health coverage to young adults (Smetanka, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 6/3).
  
  
• New York: New York state Sen. Kemp Hannon (R) on Friday during a speech at Hofstra University highlighted a "little-known segment" of the state budget that authorizes insurers to voluntarily cover young adults until age 25, Long Island Newsday reports. Before the budget passed in April, insurers could stop covering college students under their parents' insurance plans at age 23 and those not enrolled in college at age 19. The new law clarifies language that previously made insurers hesitant to extend care to college-aged adults after age 23, according to Hannon. "Several of the insurance companies thought they weren't allowed to do this," he said (Herbert, Long Island Newsday, 6/2).

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