Blue Cross Blue Shield Association announced today that it would have all the Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country voluntarily extend coverage of adult children in all cases where coverage is set to expire, because of age or loss of student status. This is great news for the thousands of young adults set to graduate from college over the next few weeks.
The Affordable Care Act does not require insurers to take this step until September 2010. Also, the new law offers the option for most children under the age of 26 to stay on their parents’ policy
Blue Cross Blue Shield joins a growing list of insurers choosing to do the right thing and adopt the policy right away. Other insurance companies doing the same thing include Wellpoint, United Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Humana.
Yesterday, Secretary Sebelius, Health and Human Services Secretary sent a letter to health insurers across the country urging them to voluntarily provide this benefit to their eligible customers, ahead of the September date.
Sebelius said that, she was “gratified to see so many agreeing to do so and thousands of young adults and their families are, too. It’s the right thing to do.”
