August 17th, 2010
Finding affordable health insurance for a person of any age can be difficult if you’re not already covered by your employer. For those who seek private insurance for their children and don’t qualify for Medicaid, finding low cost health insurance options could be even more difficult.
Luckily, the health reform law has made some improvements to the options available to children. Let’s take a look at what you may be able to take advantage of as a parent trying to insure your child.
Insure Kids Now
InsureKidsNow.gov is a website created by the federal government and states to offer cheap health insurance coverage for children. If you are not able to afford private health insurance or don’t have coverage available to you, you may find through this website that you qualify for some.
According to the site, you may be approved for insurance for your child if your income is no more than $44,100 per year for a family of four.
In order to determine what options are available in your area, you must search the site by state to find a provider. The various listings you pull up with offer information on the program of choice, services available and eligibility requirements.
What is CHIP?
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a program that was signed by President Barack Obama under the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA). With his signature, he renewed the program, which was originally created in 1997. Currently, it helps to provide insurance coverage to 7-11 million children.
As a part of the renewal, he increased the income requirements for families looking for assistance so that now more than low-income families and pregnant women are eligible for assistance. Currently, InsureKidsNow.gov offers listings for various CHIP programs around the country, so if you’re interested in learning more, visit the site for additional information.
High-Risk Pools
Unfortunately, health insurance companies have a bad reputation when it comes to insuring kids, especially those with preexisting conditions. In 2009, several insurers were put in the hot seat for denying children for seemingly trivial issues like being underweight.
However, under the new health care reform law, insurance companies will no longer be able to decline children due to preexisting conditions. The only problem is this portion of the law has yet to take effect, which is why states will be obligated to create high-risk pools so everyone with preexisting conditions will be able to get insured.
If you’re looking for more information, check with your state’s Department of Health.
Keep Kids on Your Insurance Longer
Another piece of health care reform that helps parents with older offspring keep insurance is the portion that requires children to stay on their parents’ policies until the age of 26. According to the law, all insurers will have to abide by this rule by Sept. 23, 2010, which means you won’t have to worry about helping your adult child find insurance if under this age.
If you are in need of free health insurance, you may have some options available to you as well. A great resource to take advantage of is Covering Kids and Families, which is a site that offers information on Medicaid, CHIP and other low-cost and free services.
The good news is that it isn’t impossible to get your hands on the affordable family health insurance you need for your children. By using the options above, you could increase your chances of getting your child insured under any condition.
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