Insurance For Retirees May Not Cover Adult Kids To 26

A provision in the new health law allows adult children to stay on their parents insurance  until they turn 26 - but not necessarily if the plan is made up of retirees. Find out what the options are.

Q. My husband and I are on Medicare, and we have his retiree health plan as our secondary insurance. Our son is covered under my husband's plan while he is a full-time student. Now he's 23 years old and about to graduate. Our insurance company has informed us that he does not qualify under the provision of the new health law that allows adult children to stay on their parents' plans until age 26 because my husband is no longer working. Medicare is the primary insurer. Is this true?

A. The short answer is yes: It's likely true that your son doesn't qualify for continued coverage under the provision of the health-care law that allows children to stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the key is whether the retiree health plan is made up only of retirees and their dependents or a mix of both active and retired employees and dependents.

If it's a retiree-only group plan — the typical setup, according to experts — then it doesn't have to abide by the market provisions of the health law. (Whether your Medicare coverage is primary or secondary doesn't really matter in this context.)

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