States have taken many different approaches to scheduling individual child-only health insurance enrollment periods.
EHealth Inc., Mountain View, Calif. (NASDAQ:EHTH), the company that runs the eHealthInsurance.com website, has prepared a guide that shows how each state has applied new federal Affordable Care Act child-only coverage requirements.
The Affordable Care Act, the package that includes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires carriers that offer individual child-only coverage to sell coverage to all children ages 18 and younger, including sick coverage, on a guaranteed-issue basis.
Many states are interpreting the provision to mean that child-only insurers must offer coverage on a guaranteed-issue basis during a specified period, such as a month-long open enrollment period, or after specific triggers, such as the birth or the adoption of child.
Insurers have argued that letting parents or guardians buy coverage for children on a voluntary, guaranteed-issue basis at any time would encourage parents to pay for coverage only during months when they expect the children to be sick.
California, for example, has set an open enrollment period that started Jan. 1 and will last till March 1. There will also be an open enrollment period for each child during the child's birth month.
Colorado, Illinois and the District of Columbia have scheduled open enrollment periods for January and July.
Kentucky, Maryland and New Mexico are holding open enrollment periods only in July, and Missouri and Ohio are holding open enrollment periods in March.
Montana is using the calendar month before the birth month of the child as the open enrollment period.
Massachusetts, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Washington are each using their own, unique open enrollment schedules.
- Allison Bell
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