Proposed Law Would End Health Insurance 'Birthday Rule' That Snags New Parents

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/27/ [login to see] /proposed-law-would-end-health-insurance-birthday-rule-that-snags-new-parents
When Kayla Kjelshus gave birth to her first child, the infant spent seven days in the neonatal intensive care unit, known as the NICU. This stressful medical experience was followed by an equally stressful financial one. Because of an obscure health insurance policy called the "birthday rule," Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, were hit with an unexpected charge of more than $200,000 for the NICU stay.

Now, seven months after KHN and NPR published a story about the Kjelshus family's experience, new parents may be spared this kind of financial uncertainty if lawmakers pass a bill that would give parents more control when it's time to pick a health insurance policy for their child.

The new proposed law would eliminate the birthday rule. That rule dictates how insurance companies pick the primary insurer for a child when both parents have coverage: The parent whose birthday comes first in the calendar year covers the new baby with their plan first. For the Kjelshuses of Olathe, Kansas, that meant the insurance held by Mikkel, whose birthday is two weeks before his wife's, was primary, even though his policy was much less generous and based in a different state.