Do you have a child who is heading to college? When your child turns 18, he or she is considered an adult. And under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules, once a child becomes an adult, his or her parents cannot access medical information or make decisions on his or her behalf without permission. It doesn’t matter if your adult child lives at home or is financially dependent on you.
That’s why it’s so important for college students to have a health care proxy. A health care proxy — also known as a durable power of attorney for health care —is a document that lets you appoint another person to make health care decisions for you if you cannot make those decisions or speak for yourself. If your child were incapacitated by an injury or illness, you could step in and made decisions on his or her behalf if this document were in place.
Parents also want their child to furnish a HIPAA Release Form. This document allows health care and medical services providers to release protected information about your college student to you. It’s an important companion document to the health care proxy.
Lastly, you’ll want to consider a durable power of attorney. This document will allow you to handle your adult child’s finances — such as writing checks on your child’s account — if your child is incapacitated by injury or illness.