Happy Wednesday! Lawmakers have introduced a measure that would allow the Office of Personnel Management to
extend health-care coverage to the adult children of federal workers
before the new federal health-care law takes effect next year.
Several health insurance companies plan to extend coverage to adult children up to age 26 starting in June, but current federal law
prohibits OPM from doing the same for workers in the Federal Employees Health
Benefits Program. The bill — cosponsored by Reps. Chris Van
Hollen (D-Md.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.)
and Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) — was introduced amid a
push by federal workers unions.
“OPM needs the authority to implement this very important provision sooner and this legislation is designed to do just that,” Van Hollen
said in a statement.
Margaret L. Baptiste, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association said the coverage “would
be particularly helpful to dependent children about to graduate from
trade school, college or university who could have difficulty finding
employment with health benefits in the present unfavorable job market.”
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