Does Obamacare force parental retiree healthcare plans to cover children?

@seekingwolf Do you mean does medicare cover the children also? That is an interesting question. I’m betting it doesn’t, but I have no real knowledge on the topic. Or, you mean health coverage offered by a company to retirees?

@JLeslie

No, not medicare. I meant health coverage that is offered by the company/business to the parent retired from working at that place, so as part of their retirement benefits, they are on a healthcare plan that covers them and (usually) their spouse and children.

@seekingwolf Gosh, I would guess the coverage does not change at all. It might not be specifically mandated by Obama that way, I just would doubt there is a different coverage given by the employer when one retires. But, I am completely guessing, I am going to keep following the Q to see what other say. Hopefully someone knows the answer.

@seekingwolf I would assume it includes that type of insurance. My understanding was it means kids can stay on their parents insurance til 26, I didn’t know there was a limit to what type of insurance would be required to fulfill that obligation.

But honestly I don’t know for sure. I would say call the insurance company in question (if this isn’t hypothetical) and ask.

I’ve heard conflicted info on this. I hope it would be all plans but I’ve read elsewhere that retiree plans are not required to cover children til age 26. Then others say that they are. Agh.

Here is some information on the coverage for young adults.

@GoldieAV16 That link seems to say if a policy covers dependent children, it must now extend the coverage to age 26. So maybe the big question is when someine retires, is the policy a different one, amd does it cover children at all?

This is interesting. What if you have retired people on Medicaid who suddenly find themselves in a position to raise their grandkids. Let’s assume they legally adopt, how do they cover the kids? I’m thinking in a Medicaid-only situation the kids would get the government equivalent of health care available to the children of low income households (Healthwaves in Kansas)
If, however, they’re still covered by their previous employment, they’d have to pay the extra premiums required to cover the kids until the age of 26.
Let us know if you find the answer because this is a really good question.

See if this wikipedia article about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Plan. It is very informative.

From @YARNLADY‘s link: “Medicaid eligibility is expanded to include all individuals and families with incomes up to 133% of the poverty level along with a simplified CHIP enrollment process.” Maybe that answers the question

@Dutchess_III I would think if the family is on medicaid, everyone is covered under medicaid. But, the OP was not asking about government insurance, she was asking about private insurance.

Thx.

Yeah, I’m not talking about Medicaid/Medicare. The older couple I have in mind is NOT on the poverty line, are retired, and are currently covered under the husband’s private employee retiree plan, as well as their grandchild, who they have legal custody of (NOT the mother or father, they are not in the picture).