Under the Affordable Care Act, a parent is allowed to extend his or her insurance to a child until their 26th year. Reliant allows its field workers to waive our medical benefits coverage when they have coverage through a parent's employer-offered insurance. If you will be turning 26 in the next calendar year, you might consider electing for insurance coverage during our Open Enrollment period in October/November. This will start your medical insurance coverage through Reliant’s plan on January 1. This may have significant financial advantages for you.

What to know

• Like all Reliant field workers, you are required to enroll in Reliant’s medical insurance plan within 30 days of losing insurance coverage through an allowable waiver.
• Our policies only allow you to waive until your 26th birthday. At that time, we expect you to have made your insurance election and communicated with us.
  • We will auto-enroll you in the plan with the lowest premiums unless you fill out the insurance enrollment form to let us know which insurance plan you would like.
  • In the case of a Parent's Employer's Insurance offering coverage beyond the 26th birthday, Reliant needs documentation showing the end-of-coverage from that employer. Reliant will allow waiver until the end of coverage, with confirmation of extended coverage from the parent's employer. 
• Insurance companies vary on their cutoff points for children who age-out of their plans; you are responsible to know when that is and contact us within 30 days of loss of coverage, or before your birthday, whichever is earlier.
• By enrolling during Open Enrollment, you will not have the hassle of finding out how your parent’s employer’s insurance interacts with this guideline.

It might cost you MORE to enroll on or after your birthday

The cost of insurance premiums are just one portion of your medical costs. When someone changes insurance mid-year, they also have to restart the clock on their deductible. For you that means that medical expenses you incurred prior to being enrolled in Reliant’s plan don’t count toward the deductible on your new insurance plan. We believe it may be a burden for some field workers to cover one deductible under their parent’s employer-offered plan and then have to meet their own deductible starting mid-year.

Steps to take

1. Consider enrolling with Reliant's medical insurance during the Open Enrollment period.
2. If you will be staying on your parent’s employer-offered insurance until your birthday, you will need to fill out a waiver form. Please send your completed waiver to benefits@reliant.org.