Minnesota laws about dependent health insurance coverage
Minnesota laws governing dependent health insurance coverage are not consolidated in a single section of state statutes but scattered across several different sections of Minnesota law, covering several different topics. These include laws governing Small Employer Health Benefit Plans, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act.
Coverage
Minnesota requires all health plans that offer dependent coverage to cover newborn dependents from the moment of birth. In Minnesota, a newborn can be added to a fully insured health plan at any time. The law also requires coverage for handicapped dependents beyond the usual age limits.
Dependents must be allowed to enroll in a health insurance plan after an enrollment deadline expires if previous coverage was canceled through another group plan, federal health insurance extension allowances expired, or the dependant is a new spouse or newborn child.
As of 2010, Minnesota health insurance companies could deny coverage for 12 months to dependents with preexisting conditions.
Minnesota law forbids using the gender of an eligible dependent in determining premium rates.
Small Employer
Under a small employer group health plan, dependents, including spouses and children, may be covered but are not required to be covered.
HIPAA
Minnesota adopted a federal law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which makes people who work at least 20 hours a week eligible to participate in an employer's health plan.
An employer may set the criteria necessary to join the plan, including the minimum length of service, wait period and number of hours worked.
Also known as the probationary period, the wait period is the time between the date of hire and the date you become eligible to join the employer's group health plan.
People who ask to enroll after the initial enrollment period expires, outside the open enrollment period, may still qualify to enroll during a special enrollment period.
The first time a new employee or dependents are eligible to join an employer's health plan, it is known as the initial enrollment period.
The time each year employees and dependents may elect to join a health plan is known as the open enrollment period.
Under certain circumstances, employees and dependents who miss initial or open enrollment may still be eligible to enroll in an employer's group health plan during the special enrollment period.
Employees and dependents qualify for special enrollment when they "lose their qualifying coverage because of legal separation, divorce, death, termination of employment, reduction of hours of employment, or exhaustion of COBRA or state continuation coverage," according to the Minnesota Department of Health website.
In a divorce setting, under both federal and state law, a spouse can extend coverage for up to 18 months or until he or she becomes covered under another group plan.
COBRA
The Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act covers a wide range of topics, including health insurance coverage for dependents. Under COBRA, children who lose coverage as a result of a "qualifying event" have the right to continue their insurance coverage, usually at increased premiums. The length of extension depends on the qualifying event.
Qualifying events include:
Legal separation or divorce--Qualifies dependents for to 36 months extended coverage.
Termination of employment--Qualifies dependents for up to 18 months extended coverage.
Death--Dependents may extend health insurance coverage as long as they qualify as dependents.
Disability--Dependents may extend health insurance coverage as long as they qualify as dependents.
In divorce situations, Minnesota limits the additional amount a dependent must pay to continue coverage at 102 percent of the original premium cost.
Tags: health plan, enrollment period, insurance coverage, health insurance coverage, health insurance, employer group, employer group health
