If you’ve hit your mid-20s, you’re probably wondering how long you can stay on your parent’s health insurance plan. The short answer: Under the Affordable Care Act, you can stay until the age of 26. After that, you have to get your own plan.
Staying on a parent’s health insurance plan
Up until the age of 26, you can stay on a parent’s plan as a dependent even if you:
- Start or leave school.
- Live in or out of a parent’s home.
- Are no longer claimed as a tax dependent.
- Get married.
- Have or adopt a child.
- Turn down employer-based coverage.
Your timeline to choose a new health insurance plan
When you’ll be kicked off of your parent’s health insurance plan depends on whether your parents are covered through the health care Marketplace or an employer:
If your parents have a Marketplace plan: You have until the end of the year you turn 26 to sign up for your own health insurance plan. In order for your new individual coverage to start on January 1 of the following year, plan to enroll by the 15th of December. (Remember to tell your parents to take you off their Marketplace application, too.)
If your parents have a job-based plan: You’ll no longer be eligible for your parent’s health insurance plan at the end of the month when you turn 26.
No matter where you live, aging out a parent’s plan qualifies you for a Special Enrollment period, which allows you to choose a plan outside of Open Enrollment. Your Special Enrollment period starts 60 days before you lose coverage and ends 60 days after you lose coverage. Your plan will begin on the first day of the month after you sign up. So if you want to be insured the whole time, be sure to pick a plan before or during your birthday month. However, you won’t qualify for a Special Enrollment period if you voluntarily drop your parent’s insurance plan or if you or your parent fails to pay your insurance premiums.
Cosmo Insurance Agency is a full-service independent insurance agency based in Hackensack (Bergen County) and Lakewood (Ocean County), New Jersey that offers an all-encompassing range of insurance options for both individuals and businesses. Cosmo keeps its promise to assure an efficient and creative approach to the services we offer. Each of our clients experience a personalized and long-term relationship with us. Our New Jersey based team of health brokers guides our clients in helping them choose the most cost-effective options. By incorporating our knowledge of the insurance guidelines for healthcare, employee benefits, life insurance, self-insurance, dental, disability, and long term care insurance, we keep our clients up-to-date with affordable plans that cover all their specific insurance needs.
