Can Children Over 23 Enroll in a Parent's Health Insurance?

Before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies removed children from their parents' insurance when the children turned age 19 or when they were no longer full-time students. A provision of the Affordable Care Act that went into effect on September 23, 2010, means that children can remain on or enroll in their parents' health insurance until they turn 26 years old.

Provisions

• Children can stay on their parents' health insurance even if married, in school or not, financially dependent or not, or living with their parents or not. The only exception is that employer health insurance plans in existence on March 23, 2010, do not have to cover children if they can get other employer-based health insurance. This exception expires January 1, 2014.

Applicability

• The new law applies to both group and individual health insurance plans.

Enrollment

• The law requires that health insurance plans provide a 30-day period no later than the first day of the plan's next plan or policy year that begins on or after September 23, 2010, to let parents enroll their adult children. The plan must tell the parent of this enrollment opportunity in writing.

Tax Benefit

• Parents receive a tax benefit if children remain on their health insurance plan: the value of health coverage provided by an employer for an employee's child is excluded from the employee's income through the end of the taxable year in which the child turns 26. This benefit also applies to the self-employed who qualify for the self-employed health insurance deduction on their federal income tax return.