Health Insurance: What Parents Need to Know Before Their Child Becomes a Legal Adult
September 05, 2023 | Tags:
In most states, your child becomes a legal adult on their 18th birthday. Yes, they will always be your child, but now they are legally entitled to privacy. Julie Mayock, Director, HIPAA and Vendor Contract Compliance and Privacy Officer at Medical Mutual, explains what this means from a medical records and health insurance perspective.
Limitations When Your Child Becomes a Legal Adult
Once your child becomes a legal adult, they have the right under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to keep their health information private.
What does this mean for you? Even as their parent, you can no longer look at their health information. To stay involved, you’ll need proper authorization from your child, even if you are the policyholder of the health insurance plan that covers them.
“What this means is that parents may no longer be able to access their adult children’s health insurance information or their medical records,” Mayock explained.
How You Can Still be Involved
To stay connected with your adult child’s health insurance information or medical records, they’ll need to give you the green light first. They should complete a protected health information (PHI) release.
“This form grants your health insurer permission to release the adult child’s personal medical information to the person they list on the form,” Mayock said. “The form also allows the adult child to indicate the scope of the information to be disclosed, which can be limited to enrollment information, claim payment information, health premium information, medical information, prescription drug information or all information.”
Medical Mutual members can access the PHI release form here.
While you might be hesitant to ask your adult child to complete a PHI release form, consider initiating the conversation with them. Your child may not even know to ask for your help and may appreciate continuing to have your support.
“Health insurance can be complicated to navigate for the first time, so often it helps to have parental assistance,” Mayock said. “Sometimes adult children go to college or trade school, or join the workforce, when they turn 18 and don’t have time to call their health insurer to ask questions or don’t know the right questions to ask. Having a parent support them as they grow into some of these adult tasks can really help.”
Other Legal Considerations About Health Information
In addition to health insurance management, parents and adult children should discuss if they want their parents involved in a medical emergency.
“Adult children can sign a durable power of attorney for healthcare, appointing their parents to make healthcare decisions for them when they are not able to, such as when they are very sick and in the hospital,” Mayock said.
State laws vary, so you should refer to your local laws or consult an attorney.
For non-emergency situations, adult children should consult their provider about their policies or what forms are required to allow parents to communicate with the doctor or access records.
Some Additional Tips for Parents
- Start the conversation early. Don’t wait until your child is an adult to talk about managing their healthcare. The earlier you start, the more comfortable they’ll be with the topic.
- Be respectful. Your child is an adult, so it's important to respect their privacy. Don't push them to share more information than they are comfortable with,
- Be prepared to compromise. Your child may not give you access to all the information you’d like, but the important thing is that you are on the same page and discussing it.