Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City Proactively Helps Parents Keep Their Children Covered, Avoid Coverage Gap - April 2010

April 21, 2010

Media Contact:
Susan M. Johnson
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
816.395.3566

Kansas City, Missouri—April 21, 2010—Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced today that it is taking steps to allow young adults to remain on their parents' health plans until the end of the calendar year in which they turn 26 years old. This proactive measure is effective June 1, 2010, and ensures all individuals graduating college in May will not experience a gap in insurance coverage.

Health care reform legislation, signed in March, will extend the dependent age for coverage to 26 years for plan years beginning September 23, 2010. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City's proactive steps today will make sure that all dependents graduating from college in May can still be insured under their parents' plans. The company is working in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and state regulators in providing this expanded coverage.

Most Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City's member dependents are already covered until the end of the year in which they turn 25 years old. When dependent children lose coverage, they can be enrolled in one of the company's direct pay plans, ensuring no one is left without coverage.

"Implementing these measures in June, instead of waiting until the end of September, makes sense and it's the right thing to do," said David Gentile, President and CEO Elect of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

This is just one way Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is committed to working to provide an effective and workable implementation of the new health care reform law.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC), the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue KC provides health coverage to nearly one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

For more information on the company, visit its website at www.BlueKC.com. Our mission: to use our role as the area's leading health insurer to provide affordable access to healthcare and to improve the health and wellness of our members.

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