NJ Health Insurance for kids upto 30

By RUTH PADAWER
STAFF WRITER

Not long ago, 30 marked the brink of middle age. On Monday, 30 became merely the end of childhood - at least for health insurance in New Jersey.

By a 68-8 vote, the state Assembly joined the Senate in approving a bill that would require insurers to offer coverage to children under their parents' plan, until those kids turn 30, thereby giving new meaning to the notion of extended adolescence. The bill passed the Senate last week, 36-0.


In so doing, Trenton follows the lead of a few states that have inched up the age of independence in response to spiraling health costs. New Jersey, however, is the first to embrace kids old enough to have attended their 10-year high school reunion. Acting Governor Codey is expected to sign the measure into law.

"This will take 100,000 people or more off the uninsured rolls," said a pleased Neil Cohen, (D-Union), Assembly deputy majority leader and sponsor of the bill. "That translates into money taxpayers won't have to pay for charity care. It gets people health insurance at a relatively low price because that age group traditionally doesn't have many claims. There's no cost to business, and it provides the insurance industry with a new revenue stream. It's good public policy all around."

Young adults are the largest growing segment of the uninsured; in New Jersey; more than one-third of residents ages 19 to 24 lack health insurance.

In the last five years, the number of Americans without health insurance has jumped 16 percent, and nearly half of that increase is due to people between the ages of 19 and 34, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Employment statistics suggest that fewer employers offer health care coverage and more people are self-employed than they were a decade ago.

Until recently, most parents could include children on their health insurance plan only until they turned 19, though exceptions were often given for full-time college students. In New Jersey, coverage under most health benefits plans terminates at age 19, but some extend it for full-time college students.

With some employers declining to offer health insurance and the ranks of the uninsured widening, a growing number of state Legislatures has intervened. Effective this month, Colorado raised the dependency age limit to 25 for those who are unmarried, financially dependent on their parents or still living with them - an extension that applies regardless of whether the child is in college. New Mexico has a similar law. In Utah, dependency can continue until age 26.

Under New Jersey's bill - which would take effect 120 days after becoming law - extended coverage would apply only to individuals who are unmarried, without a dependent of their own and are residents of the state or enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited institution of higher education. They must not be covered by another insurance policy.

Cohen estimates the premiums will range from $1,200 to $2,000 a year, though the actual figure will be determined by the state. By contrast, it would cost $5,000 to $18,000 a year for those same young adults to buy individual policies, according to the state Department of Banking and Insurance.

The bill does not require employers to pay any part of the extended coverage, an essential factor in the New Jersey Business and Industry Association's support of the measure.

"This gives more choices to parents whose children are aging out of their coverage, without burdening employers who are already struggling to deal with skyrocketing insurance costs," said Christine Stearns, vice president of health and legal affairs for the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, noting that her members' cost for providing health insurance exploded 55 percent between 2001 and 2004.

The insurance industry took no position on the bill.

"The devil is in the details," said Michele Guhl, president of the New Jersey Association of Health Plans. "In theory, we'd love to see more people insured, and as someone who has had young-adult children without insurance, I'm sure I would have jumped at this. But there are lot of administrative details that have yet to be figured out and we don't yet know what the impact will be on overall pricing."

Some analysts say that because young adults are usually healthy, they are a good, low-cost insurance risk. Others predict that the people most likely to enroll are those with medical needs, a tendency that could end up costing the industry a great deal more.