May 16, 2011

College Graduates Can Stay on Parents’ Health Plan

In past years, a college student's graduation could mean leaving behind not only the classroom but also health insurance coverage, since family plans often stopped covering dependent children once they left school, as Kaiser Health News reports. But the federal health care reform has changed that. Adult children can now stay on their parents’ health plan until age 26. The law applies to adult children whether or not they live at home, are financially independent, or married. The one exception is if the adult child takes a job that offers health insurance, then he or she cannot stay on the parents’ plan.

For more on the federal health care reform law, see OLR Research Report 2010-R-0255.