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NH Healthy Kids Buy-in for Young Adults: Passed, but Nonexistent

by: beverlywoods

Wed May 26, 2010 at 08:34:47 AM EDT
(This shows the work's begun, but not yet done. - promoted by Jennifer Daler)

Last year the NH Legislature passed a law enabling 19 to 26 year olds to buy in to the Healthy Kids program. The governor signed the bill last July.

This year, my daughter turned 19. She has been terminated from NH Healthy Kids coverage because of her age.

When I asked about the buy-in, I was told that no date for that program to begin has been set.
beverlywoods :: NH Healthy Kids Buy-in for Young Adults: Passed, but Nonexistent
And that's what it says at the website too: http://www.nhhealthykids.com/b...

Consulting the text of the law, I see that there is no requirement that this ability to buy in ever be actually implemented. A corporation is set up that "may" implement it.

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.u...

Which is too bad, because at the convention I attended a session on affordable health care, and when I asked about the buy-in I was told that some state reps thought that the federal legislation enabling young adults to be covered by their parents' policies would supplant the need to implement the buy-in.

Of course the reality is that a large number of parents whose kids are on Healthy Kids don't have any insurance coverage onto which they could add their children. Jobs that don't pay a lot also tend not to have benefits.

So I'd like to remind everyone that even though there is legislation on the state and federal level that may eventually improve access to health care, much of that improvement is 4 years away. Right now we have lots of low income NH residents who have zero coverage, including young adults who cannot yet buy in to Healthy Kids.

Unless we take further action, for the next 4 years we will still have people losing everything they have because they got sick, postponing necessary treatment, and/or dying of preventable causes. And some of those will be young adults who are supposed to be able to buy in to Healthy Kids.
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NH Healthy Kids Buy-in for Young Adults: Passed, but Nonexistent | 3 comments
A similar thing (4.00 / 2)
happened to my initiative to close the gap between Healthy Kids Gold (Medicaid) and Healthy Kids Silver (S-CHIP). As of now (and in years previous) when a family's income goes up and they are no longer eligible for Gold, the child's coverage is terminated with in ten days of the determination. The child cannot be covered under S-CHIP until the first of the following month, during which time s/he MUST be bare (without coverage) per the S-CHIP rules. If a child breaks a bone or needs an appendectomy in the interim, the family goes back into poverty, back on Medicaid, etc., has to apply for charity care (the cost of the latter gets shifted to the insured, etc.)

The policy to close the gap passed last year, but the funding was taken out early on in the budget process as "new funding". I believe had this been implemented, it would  save the state and the health care system money over time because the Medicaid/charity care back-up would not be needed and the S-CHIP premiums would be paid by the family.

That is why it is so important to keep the state House, Senate and Governor's office blue. All this would simply be scrapped under Republicans. Having the policy w/o the funding still allows for it to be implemented in the not too distant future.

Otherwise, it's nullification time.

Ah the wonders of legislation that's designed to fail! (4.00 / 1)
Whenever the word "may" is used in a directive to state agents, it means that follow-through is optional -- i.e. there's no mandate that the service actually be provided.
Perhaps "may" is a compromise when giving legislative directives to an executive that's otherwise inclined to veto any new performance demands.
Lynch should not be given credit for signing bills that he doesn't implement.
Children's health care is not like a present one admires and then hides in the back of the closet when the donor has gone home.
as noted in the same breakout session (0.00 / 0)
I learned this at a Kuster house party, where the point was made by an SEIU member that under the State law passed over a year ago, children in college from the age of 19-26 could be kept on their parents health insurance policies, EXCEPT if they were in self-insured plans. Since the State self insures, children of State employees were not covered under the Bill. The law only applied to "Federally Regulated" plans. Self insured plans are not Federally regulated.

At the breakout Matt Robison, Paul Hodes Chief of Staff stated that the Federal law will cover everyone with Health Insurance, including those in self insured plans, to allow them to keep their children on their policies until they reach the age of 26.

Annie 2012!

NH Healthy Kids Buy-in for Young Adults: Passed, but Nonexistent | 3 comments

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