Effective August 1st, 2011, Colorado Senate Bill 128 will require all individual health insurance carriers in Colorado to offer guaranteed issue child-only health plans during special enrollment periods.
Last year, four major Colorado insurance carriers (Humana, Aetna, Cigna, and Assurant) stopped selling child-only policies due to the federal health care reform requirement prohibiting pre-existing condition exclusions for applicants under the age of 19. As a result, many Colorado families were left with limited health insurance options for their children.
Beginning August 1st, every insurer in Colorado that sells individual health insurance policies will be required to offer child-only policies during open enrollment periods, which are designated time periods that allow for the purchase of the health plans. Parents who have experienced a qualifying event such as loss of employer-sponsored coverage, birth, marriage, etc. will have the opportunity to purchase child-only policies for the remainder of the year. Beginning in 2012, two open-enrollment periods (January and July) will provide the opportunity for parents to purchase plans for their children.
What do you think of this new rule?
Click here to read the full bill.
