A number of key provisions went into effect last Thursday on the six-month anniversary of the signing of the health bill, including:

• All health plans must permit adult children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26, as long as they don’t have an offer of coverage from their own employer.
• The elimination of lifetime caps on benefits covered by health insurance. This includes yearly caps as well (these limits will be phased out over three years and will disappear entirely in 2014).
• Children under 19 with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage because they were born with or develop a serious medical condition.

While these and the other provisions enacted yesterday will affect all plans as they renew after Sept. 23, others will not apply to plans that were in place prior to March 23, 2010 (grandfathered plans).