Question about new healthcare reg for retiree

[Pete]

I retired as a public employee with 100% of my healthcare payed for. The new healthcare law requires children of those covered by employee sponsored healthcare to be covered until 26 years old. I have a son who is 21 and I was hoping the healthcare I have in retirement would cover him. They tell me not so but aren't very specific about what part of the new law exempts them. Anyone have any info on the subject?

 

[dgoldenz]

There is probably an exemption for retiree benefits from the age-26 law.

 

[donheff]

It may also be that it simply won't apply until the new plan year. I am expecting to cover my daughter under my Federal plan starting in January.

 

[dex]

I retired as a public employee with 100% of my healthcare payed for. The new healthcare law requires children of those covered by employee sponsored healthcare to be covered until 26 years old. I have a son who is 21 and I was hoping the healthcare I have in retirement would cover him. They tell me not so but aren't very specific about what part of the new law exempts them. Anyone have any info on the subject?

I think the new law only applies to 'new plans' your plan is probably an 'old plan'. My understanding is that an 'old plan' becomes a 'new plan' and subject to the law when it changes - in some way I'm not familiar with.

 

[Sue J]

A few months ago I asked my DHs pension plan about this. They said that the new reg applied to employers and not to pensions and that they had decided not to offer it. Then we got their newsletter and it said that they are modifying their plan in response to the federal health care reform legislation.

We can now cover our 23 year old (graduated from college in 2009), they removed the lifetime maximum for medical and pharmacy and modified the coverage structure for preventative tests and procedures to align with the provisions of the legislation.

Adding our son will add $40/month to our cost and he will be reimbursing us. He's gone almost a year without health insurance, been lucky and not needed medical care but he knows he needs to have it and compared to single coverage on his own this is a very good price. It has a high deductible for both medical and pharmacy but good coverage for the expensive catastrophic events, which is really what he needs the insurance for anyways.

 

[Martha]

I think the new law only applies to 'new plans' your plan is probably an 'old plan'. My understanding is that an 'old plan' becomes a 'new plan' and subject to the law when it changes - in some way I'm not familiar with.

No, this is not a situation of old vs new plans. (My health care reform update post tells you what applies to only new plans) However, retiree only health plans have a special set of rules and IIRC are exempt from the age 26 rules. The OP will need to check to be sure that is the case. I am relying on my feeble memory.

EDIT: FWIW,here is a short discussion of retiree only plans and exemptions: http://www.seyfarth.com/MA062110/