Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Dependent Coverage Extension Act. This bill will allow Federal employees to benefit immediately from an important…
Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Dependent Coverage Extension Act. This bill will allow Federal employees to benefit immediately from an important provision of the new health care law.
FEHBP is the largest employer-sponsored group health insurance program in the world, covering more than 8 million Federal employees, retirees, former employees, and their dependents. Currently, FEHBP enrollees with family coverage can keep unmarried, dependent children on their health insurance policies until age 22.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which moves us to universal health coverage and lowers health care costs for our Nation and for families. One of the first effective provisions of the legislation requires health plans to allow parents to keep children on their health insurance policies until their 26th birthday. Previously, most plans terminated dependent children's coverage once they tunred 22. While the insurance exchanges created by the new law will enable millions more Americans to access affordable coverage, they will not be operational until 2014. Enabling children of insured parents to stay on their policies until age 26 is an immediate benefit that will begin now to improve our health care system by increasing the number of people with affordable coverage right away.
This provision of the law will take effect on the first day of the new plan year after September 23, 2010. For most plans, that means January 1, 2011. But I am pleased to report that many insurance companies have chosen to implement this provision earlier than required by law.
But unless Congress acts, Federal employees with family coverage will have to wait until next year for this benefit to kick in. This is because FEHBP law prevents the Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry from moving up the effective date. Two sections of the law hinder OPM from taking action now. According to OPM, ``The first section allows OPM to contract with plans to provide health services to employees and their families. The second defines family members to include `an unmarried dependent child under age 22.' Unfortunately, this does now allow flexibility for FEHB plans to provide coverage to other adult children until the provision in the Affordable Care Act becomes effective.'' Director Berry has stated that he would like to begin expanding coverage for enrollees' adult children now, and that he does not want to wait until next January to offer this cost-saving benefit.
The bill we are introducing today would conform FEHBP law with PPACA and ensure that all children of Federal employees can remain on their parents' health insurance policies until their 26th birthday and give OPM the authority to implement the change immediately.
Graduation season is upon us, and many college seniors are preparing for new challenges, including moving out on their own, starting graduate studies, finding a job, and other life transitions. They should not have to endure the additional stress that comes from suddenly losing their health insurance coverage. Young adults just starting their careers often lack access to affordable employer-based health insurance and must rely on the prohibitively expensive individual market for coverage. That is why so many private insurers have stepped up to the plate. Permitting Federal employees to benefit from the new law now will ease young adults' transition from college to the workforce and reduce their out-of-pocket expenses.
The independent Congressional Budget Office has issued a preliminary analysis indicating that this legislation has no cost associated with it. So it will save families money, get more young adults insured, and bring greater efficiencies to our health care sooner, all at no cost to the Federal budget.
I thank my colleagues for joining me in this bipartisan effort: Senators Collins, Akaka, Rockefeller, Mikulski, Bingaman, Johnson, Kaufman, Kerry, Landrieu, Stabenow, and Warner. This is the companion bill to H.R. 5200, introduced by my colleague from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, and it has been endorsed by the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, NARFE, the National Federation of Federal Employees, NFFE, the American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE, and the National Treasury Employees Union, NTEU. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and to pass it without delay, so that children of Federal employees can have the same coverage option as children of other employees in the private sector.
