Wiggle room, maybe, but it won't be easy!!!
Plan Status: Is the parents' plan exempt from ACA rules?
There's an exception that would prevent working young adults who have their own health benefits from taking family coverage this year: Their parents are enrolled in a "grandfathered" health plan, meaning it is exempt from some ACA rules until 2014.
Grandfathered plans are those that existed on or before March 23, 2010, and have basically stayed the same since. More than one-third of those who get health insurance through a job are enrolled in one, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
But by next year, grandfathered plans will also have to cover adult dependents even if they can get insurance through an employer.
Geography: Does the young adult live in a different state?
Young adults can stay on their parents' plan after they leave the nest, even if they are married—-and they need not be claimed as a dependent on their parents' tax forms. But if the child lives far away, local doctors may be out of the family plan's network, meaning out-of-pocket costs could be high.
If young adults are healthy and the cost of their parents' plan is significantly lower than what they could get on their own, they might schedule routine doctor visits for when they come home and use the family insurance only for emergencies in their own state.
Age: How old are the parents and young adult child?
Some carriers allow young adults to stay on their plan until age 30; others drop them on their 26th birthday, and still others allow them to stay through the end of that calendar year or until they turn 27. It may be simpler for kids close to the cutoff age to get their own insurance to avoid having to start the whole process over again in a few months or aging out of their parents' plan before they can get their own coverage, experts say.
Families should also consider whether the adult child is married or planning to start a family soon. The parents' plan won't cover in-laws or grandchildren.
And Medicare won't cover kids of any age, which is something to keep in mind if the parents are approaching age 65 and planning to retire.
When to kick adult children off your health plan