College Students – New health insurance protections this year

Parents with a child in college can breathe a little easier after this year. College students are typically covered under their parents’ health insurance. Currently, if the student gets so ill that they have to leave school, they also lose their health coverage almost immediately. Unless, of course, parents can pay for COBRA “continuation” coverage for 18 months, but this is almost always too expensive for anyone to afford. A new federal law, passed last October, should fix this. Named “Michelle’s Law,” it provides that college students can stay on their parents’ policy for a period of one year after they take a medical leave of absence from school. The law goes into effect on October 9, 2009 and will apply to health coverage plan years starting on or after that date.

Of course, some parents must deal with this problem before October. Seems like North Carolina could anticipate the federal law and require this change in advance of the federal date.