Health Insurance for Adult Children Under 26 Gets a Jump-start Posted: May 31st, 2010

One provision of the new health care reform legislation includes the Affordable Care Act, which allows adult children up to age 26 to stay on a parent's health insurance plan. This provision is set to go into effect this September, but some insurance companies are already working on providing the coverage to children.

Early implementation of the coverage, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, will help limit gaps in health insurance for children graduating from college or turning 27 before the fall. Sebelius also noted that this age group of young adults often lacks coverage due to their inability to afford it, or by not having access to it.

According to WhiteHouse.gov, the list of insurers pledging to enact coverage for those who would otherwise lose insurance before the enactment date is growing, and includes many major health insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna, United, WellPoint, and Humana.

Also included in the list is:

• Health Care Service Corporation
• HealthNow New York, Inc.
• The Regence Group
• Highmark, Inc.
• Capital District Physicians' Health Plan (CDPHP), Albany, New York
• Capital Health Plan, Tallahassee, Florida
• Care Oregon, Portland, Oregon
• Emblem Health, New York, New York
• Fallon Community Health Plan, Worcester, Massachusetts
• Geisinger Health Plan, Danville, Pennsylvania
• Group Health, Seattle, Washington
• Group Health Cooperative Of South Central Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
• Health Partners, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Independent Health, Buffalo, New York
• Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Oakland, California
• Martin's Point Health Care, Portland, Maine
• New West Health Services, Helena, Mt
• The Permanente Federation, Oakland, California
• Priority Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Scott & White Health Plan, Temple, Texas
• Security Health Plan, Marshfield, Wisconsin
• Tufts Health Plan, Waltham, Massachusetts
• UCARE, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• UPMC Health Plan, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

If your insurance company isn't listed, check with your plan administrator to check whether or not your adult children could age out of your health insurance plan.