Letter To The Honorable John Berry, Director, Office Of Personnel Management

Letter

Van Hollen Urges FEHBP to Cover Dependents Until Age 26

On Friday, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management urging them to make an official determination and issue formal regulations that make clear that the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) can now cover dependents up to age 26. The text of the letter is below:

The Honorable John Berry
Director
Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20415

Dear Director Berry:

I am writing in regards to the provision in the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148) that relates to providing coverage to young people up to the age of 26 through their parents' insurance. Although Congress has received informal guidance from OPM officials that the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) can now cover dependents up to age 26, I strongly encourage OPM to make an official determination and issue formal regulations and guidance as soon as possible.

Section 1001 of P.L. 111-148 contains a provision that requires group or individual health plans that provide dependent coverage of children to make such coverage available to dependents up to age 26 at the parents' option. Though FEHBP is not explicitly defined as a group health plan, it obviously has all the attributes of a group health plan. FEHBP is the largest employer-sponsored group health insurance program in the world, covering over 8 million Federal employees, annuitants, former employees, and family members. According to OPM's FEHBP Handbook, plans in the FEHBP must be licensed to sell group health insurance under state law in every area of a state in which it operates as an FEHBP plan. Nationwide plans must be licensed in every state.

As you know, Title 5 of the Federal statute states that FEHBP plans can only cover dependents up to age 22. Dropping young adults from their parents' policies is a worrisome burden to the affected individual and his or her parents. Because young adults are dropped from their parents' policies, they are left to find insurance on their own while making the often uneasy transition from high school to college to the working world. Young adults are just starting jobs and careers, and often do not have access to job-based coverage. Even when they do have access to health insurance, they often do not have the money to spend on health insurance. The lack of continuity and stability in coverage puts young adults' health at risk and subjects them and their families to financial stress when they are starting out in the workforce.

Federal employees and their families deserve to be treated like all other Americans. I believe that the provision extending young dependent coverage in the new law supersedes the current Federal statute, and I hope OPM will issue formal regulations and guidance expeditiously as possible that will extend FEHBP coverage to young dependents up to age 26 as stipulated in the new law.

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter, and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Chris Van Hollen
Member of Congress

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