By Dave Lucas
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Albany, NY – Upstate New York's Not-for-profit Health Plans are extending coverage to more young adults. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
Each year, especially around June following college graduations, many children are dropped from their parents' policies. Federal health care reform legislation, signed into law last month, addressed this issue by extending the dependent age for coverage to 26. There is a catch: the law applies to policies renewed after Sept. 23rd of this year. The health insurers have agreed to extend coverage for individual and employer-sponsored plan customers, so there will be no gap.
"This is the right thing to do, and it is something we can do now," said David W. Oliker, MVP Health Care president and CEO. "Realizing that this component of health care reform legislation would not be phased in for several months - after many young people lose their coverage because of their age, student status, or other factors - we concluded that it was vital to close this gap and extend coverage."
New York State's upstate not-for-profit health plan's employ approximately 14,000 New Yorkers and insure more than five million members.