Under Massachusetts law, until what point must an accident and health contract that provides dependent coverage treat an unmarried child as an eligible dependent?

Why A is correct

M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 defines an eligible dependent to include a child until the end of the child's twenty-sixth year of age. Massachusetts therefore requires dependent health coverage to continue through the end of that year regardless of school enrollment. A dependent child who is incapable of self-support because of disability is the separate, unlimited-age category, but for an ordinary unmarried child the boundary is the end of the twenty-sixth year.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) Eighteen is not the Massachusetts dependent-age boundary; M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 extends eligible dependent status well past childhood, through the end of the twenty-sixth year.
• C) College enrollment is not a condition of Massachusetts dependent coverage; eligibility runs to the end of the twenty-sixth year whether or not the child studies.
• D) Massachusetts dependent coverage is not open-ended for every child; M.G.L. c. 176J, § 1 fixes the end of the twenty-sixth year as the cutoff, with an unlimited-age exception only for certain disabled dependents.

Memory hook

Twenty-six then out the door — Massachusetts covers the child to the end of year twenty-six.