A new bill in the state legislature could help multi-generational families reduce their healthcare costs by keeping parents, kids and grandparents all on the same policy.
The Parent Healthcare Act would allow adult children to add their dependent parents to their family health insurance policy. The goal is to further expand insurance to the three million Californians who still don't have it.
“This is a step in the right direction,” State Assemblymember and bill author Miguel Santiago said.
“We want to provide them love, we want to provide them retirement, we want to provide them a safe place to be, we want to provide them healthcare,” he explained. “This is something that is absolutely critical.”
AB 570 would also make it easier for undocumented residents to receive health insurance. Diana Douglas, with the group Health Access California, said those people don't have a lot of good options right now.
“Currently undocumented Californians are forced to either purchase expensive coverage in their individual market, often with significant cost sharing obligations or forced to just forego coverage entirely,” Douglas said.
The bill will be considered in the Assembly Health Committee. The insurance industry is expected to oppose it.
