Can you change your health insurance if you have a child?
You must enroll in or alter your health insurance plan at this time to obtain health insurance. A qualifying life event that triggers a special enrollment period is the birth of a child. You can enroll in a plan or alter your current plan during the special enrollment period without having to wait for the open enrollment period to begin. A newborn baby is considered to be a medical necessity and is entitled to be covered by health insurance. Health insurance coverage for a newborn depends on where he or she lives and who his or her parents are. If a parent works for an employer that does not provide any form of health insurance, they may want to look into signing up for a state-run program such as Medicaid or CHIP. Otherwise, the child might not get coverage. Parents should know that changing health plans for even one child can cause problems if another family member is already enrolled in the previous policy. For example, if a child already has medical coverage but its carrier drops out of the plan, then the child would be left with no coverage. To avoid these problem children, some families choose to maintain separate health policies for each child. Health insurance carriers have different rules for determining eligibility for coverage when there are more than two children in a household. It's important to find out what the policy requires before you apply so there aren't any surprises later. If you have questions about how many children you can have covered by health insurance, contact your agent or broker.