A recent study found that adopted kids were statistically more likely to go without health insurance than kids who were not adopted — but that doesn’t apply to all adopted kids. International adoptions by people who live in the U.S. but are not citizens were the worst type of adoption for this particular metric, with nearly one third of all these kids going without health insurance.
The facts
Just about 5% of American children are currently uninsured. 7.3% of kids living with relatives other than their biological parents have no health insurance at all. 30.7% of kids adopted internationally by non-citizens living in the U.S. have no health insurance at all. These two categories of adopted children have much higher than average chances of being completely uninsured. Looking at these numbers might make it seem that adopted children are more likely to be uninsured than non-adopted kids.
Look closer and it’s a different story. HHS has figures from their 2007 survey showing that 95% of adopted kids at that time had health insurance. But in that year, 11.3% of all American children had no health insurance. At that time, adopted kids were more likely to have health insurance than non-adopted kids.
The most recent study found that 56.2% of children adopted domestically have private insurance. 63.8% of kids who are not adopted have private health insurance. 89.1% of internationally adopted kids whose parents are U.S. citizens have private insurance. Many of the other kids may have public insurance such as Medicaid or ARKids.
How can you find health insurance for your adopted child?
For group health insurance plans like employer-sponsored plans, federal law mandates that the coverage for adopted children be the same as for biological children. HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act both provide federal legal protection for your family.
Private health insurance plans come under state law rather than federal law, so there may be some differences. It’s worth finding out before you adopt so that you can be prepared to find health insurance for your new child. Often, kids must be enrolled in health insurance within 30 to 60 days, so don’t delay.
Public insurance plans must cover adopted children equally with biological children.
Just starting your adoption journey?
It’s good to think about these things before you bring home your new family member and panic. Heimer Law can help you throughout your adoption journey.
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