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Health insurer works far in advance of federal law to keep dependents covered

May 18, 2010

Cleveland –– Effective immediately, Medical Mutual of Ohio will continue to provide health benefits for currently enrolled dependents up to age 26 who would have otherwise lost coverage due to their age or loss of student status on or after May 1, 2010.

Federal healthcare reform legislation allowing adult children to remain covered up to age 26 officially takes effect on or after September 23, 2010, which would create a coverage gap for people graduating from college this spring or summer, but Medical Mutual chose to continue coverage far in advance of the federal guidelines.

“By complying with the federal health reform requirements early, we hope to prevent dependent children from experiencing a gap in coverage between the time they lose eligibility and the effective date of the health reform dependent age provisions,” said Medical Mutual’s chief managed care officer, George Stadtlander.

However, Stadtlander said some large employers may not opt for immediate dependent eligibility coverage. “For any group or individual member, extension of coverage for these dependents will be automatic,” he said. “Our large groups of 100 employees or more have the option to opt out of the early adoption of the continuation of coverage.” Stadtlander added that the extension will not be retroactive for those who lost coverage prior to May 1, 2010.

“In the next few weeks we will be providing our members additional information about how to add previously dropped dependents back onto plans, as well as greater detail about the provisions of dependent coverage reform,” Stadtlander said.

Founded in 1934, Medical Mutual of Ohio is the oldest and largest health insurance company based in Ohio. For 75 years the company has served its customers through high-quality, affordable group and personal health insurance plans, and third-party administrative services to self-insured group customers. For more information, visit the company’s award-winning Web site at www.MedMutual.com.