If you have employees under age 26, this guide is an essential resource to help them prepare for potential changes in their health coverage. Share it with employees to help them understand what happens when they turn—or a dependent turns—26, how losing coverage through a parent’s plan may affect them, and what steps they can take to prepare for coverage of their own.

Turning 26 is a milestone that often comes with big life changes. For many young adults, it is also the point when health insurance becomes their responsibility. If you have been covered under your parents’ health insurance plan, you may be wondering what happens next and how to choose a plan of your own.

Over the past decade, the employer-employee relationship has been tested by relentless external pressures — and it’s buckling under the weight. Pandemic-era upheaval, rapid policy shifts, and technological disruption have driven both employers and employees into survival mode.

In that churn, trust has eroded. A 2024 Gallup study found only 19% of employees strongly agree that they trust the leadership of their organization, a 20% decrease from 2019.¹