Anonymous wrote:Once you stop covering a kid who is over 18 can you add them back on to your insurance if you need to? I’d check that out before dropping them.

Almost every recent grad that I hire stays on their parents insurance until they are 26.

Yes, you can. I had insurance through my employer in my early 20s (just post-ACA) and then moved and switched jobs. The employer insurance was awful, COBRA was eye-wateringly expensive, and it would not have covered anything in the location I was moving to anyway. The new job was in a school system so there was going to be a 4-month gap with no insurance until my new benefits kicked in in the fall. Losing the insurance from the job I left counted as a "qualifying event" and I was 25.5 at the time so my mother (a fed) had me put back on their insurance with one phone call. There were no issues, I was covered from the following day. It covered me for the summer and my new insurance kicked in one week before my 26th birthday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the coverage through age 26 apply even if the kid is out of college and has their own job that provides insurance?

Yes. They can make their work insurance their secondary or not take it if allowed by the corp they work for.

I thought their direct insurance through an employer would always be the primary over a parents coverage.

Most just decline it. As someone else said, it is like how my husband declines his because he is on mine. Very common practice. Just because it is available to you doesn't mean you have to use the benefit or that that is the smartest thing to do. As others have said, most parents these days if it makes sense just keep their kids on until 26. It helps with healthcare too. Keeps kids getting stable healthcare during what are still fairly unstable years for many young adults (moves, changing jobs, etc.). you also don't have to worry about things like cobra if your kid loses their job. Just way easier all around which is why most people do it. It is a benefit to your child so most who can afford it take it.

Anonymous wrote:Does the coverage through age 26 apply even if the kid is out of college and has their own job that provides insurance?

yes. I would say in my experience, many parents in this area, with a typical dcum socioeconomic picture allow their child to stay on their insurance until 26 because often insurance at first jobs is not great/can be expensive. Kid can stay with drs etc. Then at 26 kid changes to work plan.