Companies urged to follow new Ohio health law

COLUMBUS (AP) — Advocates for the uninsured are urging some of Ohio’s biggest employers to follow a new state law that allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 28.

The law takes effect July 1 and exceeds the extension to age 26 mandated by President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Ohio’s new benefit, while broad, won’t help children whose parents work at private, self-insured companies, which pay their workers’ medical claims directly rather than buy insurance. These firms fall outside state regulation.

That includes Procter & Gamble Co. and Honda Motor Co.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce says many self-insured companies have multistate operations, and to offer benefits in Ohio that aren’t available to employees in other states could be difficult.