Health Care for Children of Federal Employees
Position:
Under current law, the federal
government’s Health Benefits Program only
covers federal employees' children who are
under the age of 22. Since
young adults at this age are typically
finishing college, pursuing their first jobs,
or holding jobs with few to no benefits, this
premature age cutoff leaves countless
individuals with improper health care
coverage.
Moreover, it places the burden of
finding and financing health care on the
families of federal employees. H.R.
2978 would help to eliminate these burdens by
increasing the cutoff age for the children of
federal employees from 22 to 25. NFFE-IAM
strongly supports this
legislation.
Background:
H.R.
2978 would increase the maximum age at which
the children of federal employees are eligible
to receive full health care coverage under the
Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
Following the implementation of the
proposed legislation, the unmarried dependent
children of federal employees would qualify for
full health benefits up until the age of
25.
Under
current law, the federal government stops
providing health care to the children of
federal employees as soon as they reach the age
of 22.
This poses many problems for the
families of federal workers since young adults
infrequently have access to jobs with full
health benefits. In fact, at this age, these
individuals are typically finishing their
college careers, applying for their first jobs,
or holding jobs with limited health care
coverage.
Consequently, the burden of finding and
financing health care for their children falls
upon the families of federal
employees.
By
raising the cutoff age from 22 to 25, the
federal government would remove this burden
from the families of federal employees as their
children transition from college to full-time
careers with adequate health care
coverage.
This legislation is of particular
relevance today as the global economic downturn
both undermines the financial well-being of
federal workers’ families and severely limits
the prospects of employment for young
adults.
The further extension of
health benefits to the children of employees
has become a fairly common practice in the
public sector. Already, the governments of
17 states have further extended health care
coverage to the dependents of their
employees.
Not only would this legislation provide financial relief for thousands of federal workers and their families, but, through the granting of health benefits to young adults, it would also serve as a bold precedent for future health care reform.
Click Here for Printable Position Paper