The Dependent Coverage Provision Is Good for Mothers, Good for Children, and Good for Taxpayers

The Affordable Care Act sought to increase the number of people in the United States with health insurance through a number of mechanisms. Most of the adults who obtained new coverage under the Affordable Care Act either did so through the health insurance exchanges or through the expansion of Medicaid in many states. Young adults had a third option: coverage on their parents’ family plans until age 26 years. The dependent coverage provision component of the Affordable Care Act requires private health insurance policies that cover dependents to offer coverage for policyholders’ children through age 25 years. Since the dependent coverage provision’s enactment in 2010, there appears to have been a significant reduction of uninsurance in this population with an increase in private coverage. The dependent coverage provision has also been linked to lower out-of-pocket health JAMA