Are dc under 26 required to take employee offered insurance if offered

[Teresa in MO]

My 18 year old son works part time and his employee offers health insurance.  He is on my COBRA plan for another 13 months.  When my husband passed away and I was looking at my healthcare options, even though COBRA was expensive it made the most sense because I had coverage for 6 people.  It has very low deductibles and out of the pocket maximums.  It doesn't make sense for him to take this insurance.  I know before Obamacare if they were offered insurance from an employer they had to take it and mine became secondary.  From what I have read, that is no longer the case.  They have to option to take the employers or remain on their parents.  Does anyone know if my interpretation of this is correct?  I would call the union office through which the insurance is through, but they don't always tell you the correct information, if you know what I mean.  It doesn't make sense that he use alot of his pay, when he is on my plan.  The enrollment period for his insurance ends tomorrow.

[cave canem]

I never looked into the requirements of the law, but I have a data point of experience.  We have a child that declined insurance offered by her full-time employer and continues to use our insurance.  

[regentrude]

No, they are not required. Our 21 y/o declined the employer offered insurance and remains on our plan because that is cheaper. 

[May]

With Tricare, military’s insurance, if your child was offered insurance, they weren’t eligible for Tricare Adult. I don’t know if this has changed. Our friends still have their adult daughter on their insurance and I know daughter declined insurance from her employer because of the cost.

[City Mouse]

My DD had a job that included insurance for 6months. She took the insurance, but we never took her off our insurance. We pay a "family" rate, so we pay the same with or without her. 

[J-rap]

I believe that as long as she has some insurance, she could decline the company insurance.  I assume the employer would be withdrawing money from her pay if she decides to go with their insurance?  However, if it's not impacting her pay either way, then my understanding is that even if her employee insurance became primary, they'd still go to the secondary insurance for whatever the primary insurance doesn't cover.  So, in the end, everything that was covered before would still be covered and maybe then some.  

My dd will be in that same situation soon, so I guess we'll need to figure that out too!

[Scarlett]

I am a little confused by this thread.  When was it ever mandatory to accept employee offered insurance?  There was a law that is apparently not being enforced now, that said you must have insurance or be fined.  And you could not get a subsidy on the Market place if you have insurance offered at your place of employment (even if said insurance would be expensive).

 

[AK_Mom4]

I have two employees that have declined the employee-insurance because they are still covered under their parents insurance.  The parents had a family-plan, so same cost whether the young adults were included or not.  

This is allowed. They have to make the choice at enrollment time and then it is in effect for the rest of the year unless they have an eligible life event (like turning 26, getting married, etc).  

I have an employee with VA benefits who opts to not cover himself under our corporate insurance, but does use our for his dependents.  That is also allowed.

[Jean in Newcastle]

No. My ds declined his employer insurance and is on ours. No biggie. We just compared and took the one with the best coverage and price. 

[Carrie12345]

There may be requirements when a marketplace plan is involved (my husband has to send documentation that his company's plan is too high), but that should not apply to private/employer plans, just the marketplace.

[Katy]

3 hours ago, Scarlett said:

I am a little confused by this thread.  When was it ever mandatory to accept employee offered insurance?  There was a law that is apparently not being enforced now, that said you must have insurance or be fined.  And you could not get a subsidy on the Market place if you have insurance offered at your place of employment (even if said insurance would be expensive).

 

 

It's not mandatory any more, but there used to be a law in place that it was mandatory AND that if you were offered insurance through your own employment you were required to take it and not take the insurance you already have.  That was true for spouses too, not sure if it still is.

[Scarlett]

8 minutes ago, Katy said:

 

It's not mandatory any more, but there used to be a law in place that it was mandatory AND that if you were offered insurance through your own employment you were required to take it and not take the insurance you already have.  That was true for spouses too, not sure if it still is.

I think individual companies, as part of their policy, can require all employees to take the group insurance.  I do not believe it has ever been a law.

https://obamacarefacts.com/questions/can-i-decline-employer-insurance/

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Scarlett

[Jean in Newcastle]

23 minutes ago, Katy said:

 

It's not mandatory any more, but there used to be a law in place that it was mandatory AND that if you were offered insurance through your own employment you were required to take it and not take the insurance you already have.  That was true for spouses too, not sure if it still is.

I have always had my own private insurance separate from what was provided by my husband’s company. I was not illegal for doing so. 

[Katy]

4 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I have always had my own private insurance separate from what was provided by my husband’s company. I was not illegal for doing so. 

 

The affordable care act didn't require you to have insurance under your spouse, it required you to have insurance, and if you were eligible for it under your own employer you weren't eligible under your spouse.  Essentially it did away with double insurance coverage unless there were extraordinary circumstances.

[Jean in Newcastle]

5 minutes ago, Katy said:

 

The affordable care act didn't require you to have insurance under your spouse, it required you to have insurance, and if you were eligible for it under your own employer you weren't eligible under your spouse.  Essentially it did away with double insurance coverage unless there were extraordinary circumstances.

Yes. But I was also able to bypass any employer and buy private insurance- which remarkably was cheaper than what was available through my husband’s employer. (Though now so many insurance companies have backed out of our state, I can no longer get it. )

[Teresa in MO]

11 minutes ago, Danae said:

 

I took the question to be "does the law that allows children to stay on their parent's insurance until age 26 still apply if the adult child has insurance available through their own employer?" 

Yes, that is what I am asking.

[gardenmom5]

I asked dh - he's an insurance agent.  they can stay on their parents plan until they are 26.

[gardenmom5]

13 hours ago, May said:

With Tricare, military’s insurance, if your child was offered insurance, they weren’t eligible for Tricare Adult. I don’t know if this has changed. Our friends still have their adult daughter on their insurance and I know daughter declined insurance from her employer because of the cost.

tricare is government insurance - not private.

[Teresa in MO]

Thanks everyone. I used some of your wording on goggle and on the US Department and Health and Human Services it state that a parent can keep a child on their insurance even if the are eligible to enroll in their employers plan.

 

[Mabelen]

4 hours ago, Seasider too said:

Can I ask a new question? 

If a young adult (say 24yo) under parent's policy marries, can s/he stay on the policy?

What if young adult becomes pregnant? Are costs covered for both young adult and baby?

 

Regarding pregnancy, it could be down to the individual policy. With my husband's previous policy, the only pregnancy covered would have been the policy holder's or spouse's (or partner's) pregnancy. A young adult's pregnancy (and her child) would not have been covered.

Edited December 15, 2018 by Mabelen

[gardenmom5]

4 hours ago, Seasider too said:

Can I ask a new question? 

If a young adult (say 24yo) under parent's policy marries, can s/he stay on the policy?

What if young adult becomes pregnant? Are costs covered for both young adult and baby?

a young adult/teen on her parent's policy would then be placed on medicaid if she wasn't able to get her own private policy. that would cover her and her baby.

[TechWife]

21 hours ago, Seasider too said:

Can I ask a new question? 

If a young adult (say 24yo) under parent's policy marries, can s/he stay on the policy?

What if young adult becomes pregnant? Are costs covered for both young adult and baby?

Yes. 

The young adult would be covered for pregnancy and childbirth. The newborn would need his/her own policy. That could be through a parent’s employer, a marketplace policy or Medicaid, if the family income qualifies them (family being the infant’s parents).

Edited December 16, 2018 by TechWife