Excerpt: Governor Paterson has signed a law that revises New York State Insurance Law section 3221 to require a commercial insurer, which provides a group health insurance policy to an employer, to offer an election to an employee under that policy to continue the health care coverage of his or her dependent children who have otherwise 'aged off' of the coverage. These children may continue to be covered under the group policy through age 29, as long as they do not become eligible for other employer sponsored health insurance coverage, and are not covered by Medicare. The children need not be financially dependent on their parents to receive this coverage. For purposes of the new law, a 'dependent child' is any child of an employee who is unmarried and is under age 30.

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