Connie Morella: “Mr. Speaker, this bill accomplishes two objectives. First, it protects children who are entitled to health insurance…”

“Mr. Speaker, this bill accomplishes two objectives. First, it protects children who are entitled to health insurance under a court order. Second, the bill changes the timing of certain adjustments to annunities to allow OPM, that is the Office of Personnel Management, to make more accurate calculations. Federal agencies currently cannot guarantee that a Federal employee's child is covered in accordance with a court or administrative order. Ironically, Mr. Speaker, Federal law already requires that protection for children whose parents work for an employer other than the Federal Government. Current law provides that Federal employees may enroll in an FEHBP plan, that is the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan, either as an individual or for self and family coverage. They are under no obligation to do so however. This important legislation will enable the Federal Government to enroll an employee in a self and family plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program when a State court orders the employee to provide health insurance coverage for a child of the employee but the employee fails to provide the coverage.”