Medical insurance plans are a vital component to having access to affordable medical care, yet not everyone can afford to have the medical coverage that they really need. Put in a position to choose who in a family parents can afford to cover, many choose to purchase an individual health care insurance plan for their children instead of purchasing coverage for themselves or their entire family. The ability to purchase an individual medical insurance plan for children may be coming to an end as an unintended consequence of the health care reform.

The AP is reporting that some health care insurance providers are stopping writing new individual policies for children. This is because part of the new health care reform that goes into effect later this year requires insurers to accept new individual policies for children regardless of their medical history. The concern is that parents will wait until their children need medical care and then purchase an individual policy for just the child that needs to see a doctor.

Children that currently have medical insurance traditionally get the coverage through either government sponsored plans or through medical insurance provided by their parent’s job. Neither of these types of coverage are affected by the recent decision by several insurance providers to stop issuing individual policies to children. Only around 8 percent of individual health care plans are written for children, so the amount is relatively small.

The health care insurance industry is hoping that the government creates an open enrollment period once a year in which coverage for children would be guaranteed. This would stop the practice of purchasing coverage for kids only when it is needed as there will only be one month a year in which coverage would be guaranteed. In theory, if your kid didn’t have any medical issues, then they could get an individual health plan during the other 11 months of the year.

It is also possible that your child could get coverage through family medical insurance plans that cover the entire family, not just the individual child. Typically, family medical insurance plans that cover immediate family members that are part of the same household are purchased when there is a lack of other coverage, not when an emergency sets in.

The current health care reform is very interesting to watch and it will be interesting to see what happens come September 23rd, after which time the requirement to cover children regardless of their health issues goes into effect.

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