United Technologies Moves to Cover Adult Children

United Technologies Corp. says it will extend health care coverage to all adult children up to age 26 of its employees on July 1, six months before the new health care reform law requires it.

The high-tech product and service provider to the aerospace and building industries says the extension includes adult children up to age 26 not currently enrolled in its plans. They will be added with no change in the premium that employees pay for dependent coverage, said a spokesman for the Hartford, Connecticut-based company.

United Technologies, with about 72,500 U.S. employees and $52.9 billion in worldwide revenue in 2009, is the first major self-funded employer to announce accelerated adoption of the young-adult mandate.

“We think this is the right thing to do for our employees and is consistent with our practices of providing our employees with very competitive benefits,” J. Thomas Bowler Jr., United Technologies senior vice president-human resources and organization, said in a statement.

The extension will occur in two steps. Effective immediately, United Technologies will continue coverage of employees’ adult children already enrolled in its plans who would have lost coverage for reasons that include graduation from school.

Then on July 1, coverage will be offered to employees’ adult children up to age 26 regardless of whether they are currently covered, unless they are eligible to enroll in another employer’s health care plan.

Previously, United Technologies stopped coverage of employees’ children at age 19, or 23 if the child was a full-time college student.

Under the health care reform law, the extension is required on the first day of the plan year that begins after September 23. For employers like United Technologies with calendar-year plans, the requirement must be met by January 1, 2011.  

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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