Under the health care reform all children under 19 can not be declined or pre x on a health plan. Everyone in the industry had major concerns over this issue.  One of the big concerns was parents would wait until the child had a health care crisis and then enroll them on the plan.  It was just released that carriers are now going to be able to have open enrollments for these types of plans. That means the child can get the plan without underwriting but only once a year.

We are now starting to see the reality of what can and cannot be done under the health care reform. In the last few months almost every Individual carrier pull out of the stand alone child market.  Not only did we see regional carriers pull out but we also saw national carriers.  When national carriers pull out of a  market that is the a huge red flag because they have large reserves. It will be interesting to see if the carriers that pulled out get back in.

Another aspect that might be interesting is the premium for those stand alone policies during the open enrollment period. Will that policy cost more?