May 9th, 2011 – Colorado’s Division of Insurance just issued clarification pertaining to a new bill that was signed into law in April 2011 regarding Child-Only health insurance policies.

The law changes the open enrollment period for health insurance carriers offering child-only health insurance plans for applicants under the age of 19 to August of 2011.   While applications must be submitted in the month of August, in some cases (like with Kaiser) the actual effective dates for coverage may be as far out as October 1st, 2011.

After August 1st, 2011, the next open enrollment periods will be January 1st, 2012 and July 1st, 2012.

The only exceptions to the open enrollment periods is if a Qualifying Event occurs.   A “Qualifying Event” includes birth, adoption, marriage, dissolution of marriage, loss of employer-sponsored insurance, loss of eligibility under the Colorado Medical Assistance Act in Parts 4, 5, and 6 of Title 25.5 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, loss of eligibility under the Children’s Basic Health Plan in Article 8 of Title 25.5 of the Colorado Revised Statues, entry of a valid court or administrative order mandating the child be covered, or involuntary loss of other existing coverage for any reason other than fraud, misrepresentation or failure to pay premium.

You can read the full text of the Colorado Division of Insurance’s guidance document here.