This week let’s look at a question that comes up again and again on Yahoo Answers: When can your children – or your children’s children – be covered under a health insurance policy? A lot of people seem to be confused about how health reform might or might not have changed things in this regard. These questions come in lots of shapes and sizes, but the answers are pretty straightforward.

For our first example, let’s look at a question Keith answered last week. The asker wanted to know: Now that health reform law allows adult children to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, does that mean maternity benefits are covered too?

Here’s Keith’s reply:

If the plan includes maternity benefits, then yes. There may be an exception if the adult child was just added back to the plan. In that case, there may be a waiting period before maternity coverage comes into effect. Talk to your human resources department or the insurance company for more information.

It’s also worth noting that while the new health reform law allows many adult children can retain coverage under a parents’ plan until age 26, that coverage is not extended to the adult child’s spouse and/or child.

Let’s look at one more.  In this question, also from last week, the asker wanted to know if an adult child’s new baby could be added to the grandparents’ health insurance policy too.

The eHealthInsurance answer:

Typically, no, the health insurance plan will not cover the grandchild, though most of the maternity charges may be covered. Contact your health insurance company or human resources department to confirm. Depending on which state you live in there may be government options in place to cover children. To learn more about what’s available, contact your state Department of Insurance or the non-profit Foundation for Health Coverage Education at www.coverageforall.org. Otherwise, you can look into purchasing coverage on your own for the baby alone, or the mother and baby together. Work with a licensed agent online or in your area to help find the health insurance plan that best suits your needs.

Photo via Flickr user DorkyMum.