New Insurance Guarantees for Children with Health Issues

On June 28, 2010, the government issued regulations prohibiting insurers from excluding children under age 19 from coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The law applies to some existing group and individual health policies, and most new health policies.

In response, scores of insurers in 34 states stopped offering child-only policies out of financial fears. Some states took regulatory action to encourage insurers to keep offering child-only coverage, and began considering legislation that would require insurers that offered family coverage to also offer child-only policies.

In September 2010, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to express her concern about emerging difficulties with insuring children. “It appears that some of your members are now turning a blind eye and declining to sell child-only policies in lieu of offering coverage to children with pre-existing conditions,'' she wrote.