In the past as soon as college graduates grabbed their degrees they had to worry about finding a job with benefits. Typically insurance plans stopped coverage once school was done for good. But new changes in health care reform mean that adult children can stay under their parents’ plans until they are 26.

The LA Times talked to 22-year-old Boston University graduate Rochelle O’Sullivan who says she’s relieved she can keep her mom’s coverage. O’Sullivan broker her hip during a fall and needs good health coverage while she heals. “I’m worried about getting a job, getting experience,”  the mass communications major told the newspaper. “And if that means taking a job without insurance, I’d do that.”

The new law even covers adult children who don’t live at home and who may be married. But if the twenty-something-year-olds do find a job with benefits, they can’t opt to stay on their parents’ plan. For some recent grads that means they’ll give up mom and dad’s good coverage for entry level benefits that may not be as good.

According to a news release, WellPoint, the country’s largest public health insurer says they’ve seen the addition of 280,000 new members who fall under this new dependent provision. Aetna added roughly 100,000 young adults, Kaiser Permanente about 90,000 and Highmark says they saw an additional 72,000 young people added on. US Health and Human Services estimates that up to 1.2 million young adults will likely sign up during 2011.