Young Adults’ Coverage May Cost Parents Even More (NY Times)

The mandate allowing children to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26 received little criticism when it was passed as part of PPACA last year. As more families take advantage of this option, employers are adjusting their plan offerings to fit, turning to “per participant” or “unitized” pricing, which ups an employee’s payroll contribution by an average of 1 to 3 percent for additional enrolled dependents. It’s a small percentage, based on the reality that college-aged kids are generally healthy. Employers seem to like this arrangement, which allows them to spread costs more fairly between employees and ensure that payments are more directly tied to how much a participant uses their insurance.