July 27th, 2011 – Regular open enrollment for guarantee issue “Child Only” health insurance policies comes just twice a year in Colorado. Applications for open enrollment will be accepted during the month of August for new health insurance policies that will start on October 1st, 2011.
Child only policies are for people under the age of 19, who are applying for health insurance by themselves without any covered adults.
Children often need to get onto a “Child Only” health insurance policy because their parent(s) is uninsurable so the child was not able to be covered as part of a family plan or the parents have coverage through work but it was too expensive to add the child to the group health insurance plan. Parents who meet certain income requirements may be able to get much less expensive coverage for their children through CHP+.
If you know anyone who needs a Child Only policy for their kids, please let them know about this time sensitive opportunity. The next open enrollment periods for Child Only policies in Colorado will be January 1st, 2012 and July 1st, 2012.
There are certain “Qualifying Events” that allow a child to apply for coverage outside of open enrollment due to adoption, birth, marriage or court ordered coverage. Also loss of coverage due to: loss of employer sponsored insurance, divorce, involuntary loss of other existing coverage for any reason other than fraud, misrepresentation, or failure to pay premium; Loss of eligibility under Colorado Medical Assistance Act, or under the children’s basic health plan.
