Sometimes a regional center will require families to use their private insurance to pay for their child’s early intervention (“Early Start”) services. In general, regional centers are the payor of last resort and require parents to use their own health insurance to pay for therapies. Now, parents are not required to pay for premiums, co-payments, or deductibles when a regional center charges the parent’s insurance for Early Start services.
Since 2009, California requires parents to provide copies of their private health insurance plans to regional centers. This allows regional centers to identify children under three who are covered for Early Start services.
Regional centers do not require parental consent to utilize the parent’s insurance. However, as of 2012, California law ensures that a parent’s private health insurance plan shall not:
- Count towards or result in a loss of benefits for the person with a disability or any other covered family member due to an annual or lifetime cap, or
- Negatively affect the availability or result in discontinuance of private insurance for the person with a disability or any other covered family member, or
- Be the basis for increasing the premium for private insurance for the person with a disability or any other covered family member.
As of June 27, 2017, California law requires that regional centers, rather than a parent, pay for premiums, co-payments, and deductibles that a parent incurs from private insurance for Early Start services. This means that if the regional center utilizes the parent’s insurance to pay for Early Start services, then the parent should not be charged for any incurred premiums, co-payments, or deductibles.
Add Comment