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Young & Invincible

Health care reform is still in its infancy, and despite continued debate over this hot issue, the fact remains that many Americans are living without health insurance.

In Ohio, tens of thousands of young adults don’t have access to health care coverage, thanks to a new state law that allows unmarried children up to the age of 28 to remain or be added to their parent’s insurance coverage.

Ohio Department of Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson this week urged parents of children of this age to examine this new opportunity.

Hudson noted that according to an Ohio Family Health Survey conducted in 2008, nearly one third of uninsured people in Ohio are between the ages of 18 and 24. At this age, young adults typically enter the window between becoming ineligible for inclusion on their parents’ health insurance coverage and entering the full-time workforce to be covered by their employer.

Frankly, many people of this age haven’t yet realized the importance of having health care coverage. They have youth on their side, and most haven’t had to deal with serious health issues.

Dubbed the “Young and Invincible,” these individuals to the contrary represent the age category with the highest rate of injury-related emergency department visits.

Previously, only dependent children up to the age of 19 – or up to age 23 if they are still in school – were eligible to receive coverage under their parent’s policies.

Hudson said this state reform will work in tandem with the federal law pertaining to dependent age change, which becomes effective in September of this year.

Let’s face it, few parents want their adult children living at home with them when they’re 28 years old.

But all parents should rest easier knowing that their kids will have access to health care coverage by one means or another, even when they are young adults.

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