If anyone can clarify, it seems different insurance companies do it differently when a 26 year old has to age out: some companies allow the 26 year old coverage until the end of the calendar year–December 31, 2024–and other companies only cover them until the end of the month of their birthday? So if they turn 26 on May 28th, for example, they are covered until May 31? And presumably, some insurance companies cut them off the day they turn 26.
And @HImom your child had always been on BCBS, so was able to get a monthly policy from BCBS until the end of the calendar year?
For federal BCBS, there is a “grace period” of 31 days from the day your child turns 26. (At least that was their policy until very recently).
If a child stays with that plan longer than that, they can do so for 36ish months, but it costs quite a bit).
S was covered as a son of a fed employee (H), under H’s family plan. He aged out when he was going to turn 22, so we bought student insurance for his SR year of college. We then had to figure out how to get him covered until ACA became effective 1/1/2011, after he graduated since he didn’t start work until 6/2011!
Our insurer looked over his insurance record and saw that he’s had our family plan, the bcbs that his school offered and we wanted coverage for the gap period. We were happy to be able to buy that for my peace of mine. His individual policy wasn’t great but it was enough that I could sleep well at night, knowing he had some protection in case he needed it. He waited until he was back on our family plan in Jan before he saw providers & made claims—our policy has no deductible and very low copays.
Remember with few exceptions (military, some federal insurance although that might be managed by a state company), insurance is a state program. BCBS in one state is not the same coverage as in another.
Most universities have a comprehensive health plan for students. If not, he can always talk to an insurance agent. He can get on a private plan for not too much money.
Our daughters ended up on AppleCare (WA State Medicaid) while unemployed and going to school. (One quit her job and went back to school, the other took care of her grandparents.) Excellent coverage. The hardest part was canceling it and going on employer insurance.
I’d switch to employer insurance, and if going back to school look into school-offered insurance or Medicaid when the decision is made. COBRA can be an option for the gap, but it can be incredibly expensive.