Under the Affordable Care Act, a parent is only allowed to extend their insurance to a child until their 26th year. 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 missionaries, you are required to enroll in Reliant’s medical insurance plan within 30 days of losing insurance coverage through an allowable waiver.
• 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, your employer, within 30 days.
• 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.
• We only allow you to waive until your 26th birthday. At that time, we will 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.

It might cost you MORE to enroll on 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. We believe it may be a burden for some missionaries 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 hr@reliant.org.
   

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