Young Adult Benefits Coverage to Age 26, Rules and FAQs

In accordance with the Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the City of New York and the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund will cover young adult children up to age 26 as dependents on their parent's health plan and Welfare Fund benefits program, effective July 1st, 2011.

The City, the Fund and its vendors and insurers have been following a conventional rule for covering dependent children: both biological and adopted children are covered until age 19, and after that only if they are unmarried, fulltime students not yet age 23.

Beginning July 1, there will no longer be restrictions related to financial dependency, residency, or the child’s marital or student status. Dependent children must be under age 26, must not have access to other employer sponsored health benefits coverage either through their own employer or their spouse (even if they have not enrolled in that coverage).

Children under age 26 who lost coverage owing to previous status restrictions may regain eligibility for inclusion on their parent’s plan.

An Open Enrollment period, for the sole purpose of enrolling a young adult under your health benefits coverage, will be held from May 1st through May 31st, 2011. Retirees may enroll eligible dependents from April 1st through April 30^th.

Instructions, enrollment and certification forms for employee's dependents and retiree's dependents, plus a list of Frequently Asked Questions are available from campus HR offices and on the Office of Labor Relations'  website at http://www.nyc.gov/html/olr/html/health/26_package.shtml 

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