Only a few months old, Pennsylvania insurers are saying it is too soon to gauge the impact of raising the adult dependent age to 30 for coverage on employer-based health plans.

In December 2009, the law went into effect, allowing adult dependents up to age 30 to continue receiving coverage and care through their parents’ employer-based health plans. Prior to the law, insurers were only required to cover children on their parents’ plans up to age 19, if the employer offered dependent coverage at all.

Other states, including Maryland, are considering similar measures to decrease the number of its uninsured residents, a good percentage of which fall in this age range and lack coverage for reasons including furthering their education or working for an employer that does not offer coverage.

A Pennsylvania Insurance Department study indicated that adults ages 19 to 30 represent the highest number of state residents without health insurance and that the new law will increase access to family policies for about 15,000 adult dependents.

Philadelphia, Pa.-based Independence Blue Cross sent a notice to its employer customers and brokers on the specifics of the bill and how billing will work for adding new adult dependents if they opted to include the coverage in their benefits plan.

‘Much too new’ to weigh in

“It is too early for us to assess the impact of this mandate on our business as we have not had many customers elect this coverage to date,” Ruth Stoolman, an IBC spokeswoman, told IFAwebnews.com.

Walt Cherniak, a spokesman for Aetna, said the insurer is “very supportive of finding more ways to provide coverage to older dependents,” but Pennsylvania’s law is “much too new” to evaluate as yet. He added that the company has seen “some” increases in New Jersey, where it has well over 1 million members and state legislators enacted a similar law a few years ago.

Michael Weinstein, a spokesman for Pittsburgh-based Highmark, said the insurer is “seeing an increased interest from the under-30 population about their health insurance options.

“Due to the difficult economy, college graduates and people in their 20s have had a difficult job finding jobs that include employer-sponsored coverage,” he said. “Therefore, they are looking at options such as purchasing a comprehensive plan in the individual market, purchasing a short-term temporary health plan until they secure a job and staying on their parents’ coverage if that option is available through their parents’ employer.”

Weinstein added that some visitors to Highmark’s two retail operations in Pittsburgh and Mechanicsburg, Pa., fit that profile, “which suggests that they are becoming more informed about their health care options.”

He did not have any specifics about the financial impact of the law on the company.

This story originally appeared in the March 2010 edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.