Ohio child-only health insurance plans are now easy to find. Most companies offer this type of coverage due to some of the changes implemented with Obamacare. Previously, most carriers required an adult to be the primary applicant before any dependents could be added. This created many scenarios that forced babies and young adults to be uncovered or accept inferior benefits until group coverage could be obtained.
Prior to the Affordable Care Act legislation, Assurant offered these types of plans A full description of the policy with details is shown below. But times have indeed changed, since Assurant no longer offers child-only health insurance policies in Ohio (or any other state!), and many low-cost options are now available through Anthem, Medical Mutual, Aetna, Premier, SummaCare, and many other companies.
It is also important to understand that placing your dependent on a parent’s policy may actually result in a lower premium. For example, if a household’s family income qualifies for a federal subsidy, when compared to a single policy, rates could be lower, and deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket expenses may also reduce.
Assurant Plan Details (No Longer Available)
The Assurant “Short-Term” policy will approve a “child-only” policy (assuming the application is accepted and underwriting guidelines are met). Since it is a temporary policy, typically you can keep coverage for up to a year. However, during that time, we will help you find other affordable options that may offer the long-term protection you may need. Periodically, another carrier may offer a more comprehensive option.
Several Deductible Options
Deductible options range from $250 to $5,000. Subsequent coinsurance options are also offered at either 0%, 20% or 50%. Generally, we recommend the 0% or 20% options. A generous lifetime maximum benefit of $2 million ensures that major illness and disease will be adequately covered. The unlimited lifetime benefit mandated by national healthcare reform, does not apply to temporary plans. Also, many other similar plans only include a $250,000 limit, which we feel is not a high enough cap.
Office visits, prescriptions, emergency room charges, X-rays, lab tests and hospital expenses are all covered but subject to a deductible of your choice. Although the policy allows you to utilize your own doctors and facilities, we highly recommend you use providers in the Assurant network. Your out of pocket costs will substantially reduce and there are thousands of providers throughout the Buckeye State. Since the carrier is countrywide, you can also utilize many out of state facilities, although verifying the network provider in advance is recommended.
There are exclusions to the policy including pre-existing conditions, self-inflicted injuries, dental and vision expenses, mental illness. A complete list of exclusions can be found in the brochure.
Celtic Plan Also No Longer Available
Certainly, we realize that if you need coverage on your child (without insuring an adult), the Assurant short-term plan is not the ideal policy. However, it will provide a temporary solution and most importantly, provide much-needed major medical benefits in the event of a hospital claim. And, as previously mentioned, even office visit and RX coverage is provided once the deductible has been met.
Another low-cost option (actually, lower cost than Assurant) is Celtic Insurance Company, based in Chicago. They offer many deductible options ($500 to $5,000) and when you view your quotes, please take note of Celtic’s rates. Unfortunately, within the next 30 days, they will not be offering their short-term plans here in Ohio, so it may be too late to use them as an option.
If a child (or adult) has existing health problems that would typically cause an application for coverage to be denied, then perhaps the “Open Enrollment” program may be the solution. There is both a federal and non-federal program and child rates are not terribly high. Additional information can be found on the United States Department of Labor page that offers “young adults” free guidance. The link can be found here.
Please feel free to call (888) 513 6446) or contact us (contact form at top of page) if you would like to review your options. You can also view rates right now by clicking on the “Get Instant Quote” button at the top of the page. For “children only” policies, the Assurant short-term policy will be the only plan that is shown.
UPDATES
May 2016 – Since the original publish-date of this article, children-only health insurance plans have become more widely available. Although inexpensive temporary policies continue to be offered, they still do not cover pre-existing conditions or satisfy the federal mandate for having qualified individual or small group healthcare benefits.
Exchange (Marketplace) plans are offered to both adults and children on single policies. However, since dependents can remain on their parent’s coverage until age 26, retaining all household members on a single family policy is very popular.
