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Managing America: Insurance

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Week Ending August 1, 2008

H.R.2851 To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that dependent students who take a medically necessary leave of absence do not lose health insurance coverage, and for other purposes.

Under this bill a group health plan would be prohibited from terminating coverage of a dependent child due to a medically necessary leave of absence from college while the child is suffering from a severe illness or injury that caused the student to lose full-time student status. The policy would have to be continued for one year after the first day of the medically necessary leave or the date on which the coverage would otherwise end. The medical need for the absence must be certified by the child’s attending physician.

The bill also establishes that any breaks in the school semester shall not disqualify the student from coverage. All benefits must be the same as if the student had not left for medical reasons.

Sponsor:  Rep. Paul Hodes (NH-2^nd)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote July 30, 2008. Agreed to in the Senate. H.R. 2851 / Public Law 110-381

Cost to the taxpayers: “CBO estimates that H.R. 2851 would have no significant impact on the budget. It would have a negligible impact on federal revenues. CBO assumes that less than one percent of students go on medical leave of absence annually, of which approximately half are covered as dependents under employer-sponsored insurance.”

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