One question that I get asked periodically is, “How do I get health insurance for my kids?” This particularly comes up during pregnancy when parents start thinking ahead to the birth of their baby.
Getting health insurance for your kids doesn’t need to be complicated. You will usually go to your own health insurance company and add them to your plan.
If you receive your health insurance through your employer, you can go to your human resources department and add the child to the health plan when the child is born. If you are receiving health insurance from another carrier, you will contact the company directly to add your child to your health plan.
If you don’t have insurance (remember: under current regulations, everyone should) or can’t insure your child on your plan, the next place to look is Medicaid. Medicaid offers a Children’s Health Insurance Program, aptly named CHIP. It offers early and periodic screening, diagnostic, and treatment, just as other health plans do.
There are income restrictions for CHIP, however, so if your income doesn’t qualify you, then you’ll want to go through the health exchange (that is, Obamacare) to get your kids insured.
One standard that Obamacare brought with it, which now applies to most health plans, is that parents can keep their children on their health plan until the age of 26, as long as the child is enrolled in school.
This has made it easier to ensure that children have health insurance.
As you would for your own health plan, shop around to find the best solution for your family. Make sure your children have a health plan that covers their specific needs.
Want to know more about choosing health plans? Get my ebook set Easy Healthcare: Set Two. It included Choosing Your Health Insurance, and Obamacare, as wells as What You Need First. It is available in all major ebook formats. Get it here.
