New Hampshire Creates Student Health Mandate

The Granite State has become the latest state to expand young adults’ ability to continue to get health coverage through their parents.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch has signed H.B. 37, a bill that will create “Michelle’s Law.”

The law will affect young adults who qualify for dependent status on their parents’ policies only because they are full-time students. State-regulated health insurers will have to keep up dependent coverage for a covered student if the student loses full-time student status because of a serious illness or injury.

The new law will affect only “5 to 10 people per year, at most,” says Rep. Will Infantine, R-Manchester, N.H., the bill sponsor.

But, for the individuals affected “the effect will be significant,” Infantine says.