Unsurprisingly, it costs money to let 26-year-old “children” stay on their parents’ health care plans. And the costs will be shifted to those who do not have 26-year-olds.
From the Associated Press:
Letting young adults stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26 will nudge premiums nearly 1 percent higher for employer plans, the government said in an estimate released Monday.
The coverage requirement, effective starting later this year, is one of the most anticipated early benefits of President Barack Obama’s new health care law…The Health and Human Services Department released estimates of the costs and benefits of the requirement as part of a regulation directing employers and insurers how to carry it out.
The new benefit will cost $3,380 for each dependent, raising premiums by 0.7 percent in 2011 for employer plans, according to the department’s mid-range estimate. Some 1.2 million young adults are expected to sign up, more than half of whom would have been uninsured.
Prepare not to be surprised again when this estimate proves far too low.
