Since this is more of an insurance issue, it is usually best discussed directly with the carrier of the employee's family health plan. Try asking what the parameters are in adding a stepchild into a family health plan. Family health plans, as well as other types of policies, vary from state to state depending on what the law may require. There are instances when a child is listed as a dependent on more than one of his or her parent's family health plan. Moreover, he or she may be included in his stepparent's family health plan as well without repercussions. If the child is covered in more than one insurance, it may be listed as secondary or third party insurance. However, in 2007, a federal judge in a US District Court required a company to provide health insurance for an employee's stepchild. Before the ruling, the company denied the stepchild coverage in the family health plan citing that the child was not qualified in their group insurance policy guidelines. The company's guidelines stated that stepchildren must have been living with their stepparents (employees) for a certain period. The child must also be declared as dependent in the income ta return. It also stated under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), a Qualified Medical Child Support Order, that an alternate recipient, may be the direct recipient of the stepparent's company group family health plan. In this case, the alternate recipient is the stepchild of the employee. You may need to check with the carrier first if they have separate provisions on adding a stepchild in a company's group family health plan. Answer by VALegal - June 3, 2009 @ 6:46 pm