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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 31, 2019 11:39 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark Longietti |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Optional Healthcare Coverage for Children up to Age 26 |
| As you may know, a Federal Judge in Texas recently ruled that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was unconstitutional. This ruling could have disastrous consequences for the people of this Commonwealth. In an effort to protect our citizens I am reintroducing legislation giving parents the option of retaining health insurance coverage for their children up to age 26. In 2009, the legislature passed Act 4 to make health insurance available to adult children, up to age 30, on their parent's health insurance plan, if they meet certain eligibility requirements. Unfortunately, the decision to add adult children was at the employers’ discretion and not the policyholder’s. Since this law took effect, many employers have refused the request of parents to add their adult children to their health insurance plan. In my view, Act 4 needs to be amended to give parents, rather than employers the option to add their children to their health insurance. I am lowering the maximum age from 30 to 26 in an effort bring the law more in line with what the ACA currently affords. Given the federal government’s continued push to phase out the ACA, I believe that it is imperative that we take a proactive approach to protect this important tenet of the ACA for Pennsylvanians. Thank you for your consideration. Previous co-sponsors: MURT, STURLA, YOUNGBLOOD, DRISCOLL, KINSEY, DONATUCCI, McNEILL, THOMAS, FREEMAN, FRANKEL and CONKLIN |
Introduced as HB913