Obamacare and the Family
What else is buried in The Tomb of the Unknown Health Care Bill? Over at NRO, John Graham points out one of the implications for the family. Commenting on the fact that health insurers are now required to cover subscribers’ children until they turn 26:
The idea of a 26-year old “child” is curious in itself. However, there are a couple of limitations: The “child” has to be unmarried, and the coverage does not include the “child of a child receiving dependent coverage” [§ 2714(a)].
So, just to make it clear: The law will compel an employer to pay for health insurance for an employee’s unmarried, unemployed, 25-year old son or daughter; but doesn’t compel the 25-year old to pay for his or her own baby — the employee’s grandchild.
I guess that’s what they call “social justice” under Obamacare.
To marry or not to marry? That is the question. If you’re 25 and don’t have a job, but do have a baby, you can get health insurance under your parents’ plan, but your baby can’t. The baby isn’t anybody’s responsibility, evidently. If you get married, and still don’t have a job, you can’t be covered under your parents’ plan, and neither can your baby.
The incentives to out of wedlock childbearing creep up into the middle class….
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This economy sucks. I have a B.F.A, but am working a crappy retail job. I can’t just quit the crappy retail job, because thats were I get my health insurance. I’m working two jobs to pay my student loans back, (very high, because all my aid was based on my parents income, despite all my education costs being handled solely by me, but thats another can of worms) have little time to work on my portfolio to get a better job, what better jobs are available (but not related to my field) tend to start out part-time, with NO INSURANCE for the foreseeable future. And since it’s retail, it’s crappy health insurance. Sure I’m happy I have something, but it’s not good. But hey, I have health insurance, most work in my field is contract based. So, my friends lucky enough to have a job right now, have no insurance, and my friends without jobs or with part-time odds and ends jobs, also have no health insurance. So you know what would be awesome right now? Helping young adults put a little extra cash towards loans or savings instead of towards health insurance.
On a less personal note. How is this benefiting out of wedlock childbearing? The child is without insurance in both examples (arguably because the parent, not the grandparent, should be responsible for their child) and marriage takes a person (traditionally) out of your parent’s household and into one of your making, so I’m not sure why you would insist on coverage being extended to married people under the age of 26. Also legally, a person is only a child until 18. Mentally, a person is still developing until 25, and thus not an adult.