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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 985
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4596
Referred to Committee on INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE
Introduced by:
(INS)
AN ACT CONCERNING CO VERAGE OF CERTAIN DEPENDENT
CHILDREN UNDER THE G ROUP HOSPITALIZATION AND MEDICAL
AND SURGICAL INSURAN CE PLAN OR PLANS PRO CURED BY THE
COMPTROLLER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 5-259 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 2
passage): 3
(a) The Comptroller, with the approval of the Attorney General and 4
of the Insurance Commissioner, shall arrange and procure a group 5
hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plan or plans for 6
(1) state employees, (2) members of the General Assembly who elect 7
coverage under such plan or plans, (3) participants in an alternate 8
retirement program who meet the service requirements of section 5-9
162 or subsection (a) of section 5-166, (4) anyone receiving benefits 10
under section 5-144 or from any state-sponsored retirement system, 11
except the teachers' retirement system and the municipal employees 12
retirement system, (5) judges of probate and Probate Court employees, 13 Raised Bill No. 985
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(6) the surviving spouse, and any dependent children of a state police 14
officer, a member of an organized local police department, a firefighter 15
or a constable who performs criminal law enforcement duties who dies 16
before, on or after June 26, 2003, as the result of injuries received while 17
acting within the scope of such officer's or firefighter's or constable's 18
employment and not as the result of illness or natural causes, and 19
whose surviving spouse and dependent children are not otherwise 20
eligible for a group hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance 21
plan. Coverage for a dependent child pursuant to this subdivision shall 22
terminate no earlier than the [policy anniversary date on] end of the 23
calendar year during or after whichever of the following occurs first, 24
the date on which the child: Becomes covered under a group health 25
plan through the dependent's own employment; or attains the age of 26
twenty-six, (7) employees of the Capital Region Development 27
Authority established by section 32-601, and (8) the surviving spouse 28
and dependent children of any employee of a municipality who dies 29
on or after October 1, 2000, as the result of injuries received while 30
acting within the scope of such employee's employment and not as the 31
result of illness or natural causes, and whose surviving spouse and 32
dependent children are not otherwise eligible for a group 33
hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plan. For purposes 34
of this subdivision, "employee" means any regular employee or 35
elective officer receiving pay from a municipality, "municipality" 36
means any town, city, borough, school district, taxing district, fire 37
district, district department of health, probate district, housing 38
authority, regional work force development board established under 39
section 31-3k, flood commission or authority established by special act 40
or regional council of governments. For purposes of subdivision (6) of 41
this subsection, "firefighter" means any person who is regularly 42
employed and paid by any municipality for the purpose of performing 43
firefighting duties for a municipality on average of not less than thirty-44
five hours per week. The minimum benefits to be provided by such 45
plan or plans shall be substantially equal in value to the benefits that 46
each such employee or member of the General Assembly could secure 47
in such plan or plans on an individual basis on the preceding first day 48 Raised Bill No. 985
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of July. The state shall pay for each such employee and each member 49
of the General Assembly covered by such plan or plans the portion of 50
the premium charged for such member's or employee's individual 51
coverage and seventy per cent of the additional cost of the form of 52
coverage and such amount shall be credited to the total premiums 53
owed by such employee or member of the General Assembly for the 54
form of such member's or employee's coverage under such plan or 55
plans. On and after January 1, 1989, the state shall pay for anyone 56
receiving benefits from any such state-sponsored retirement system 57
one hundred per cent of the portion of the premium charged for such 58
member's or employee's individual coverage and one hundred per 59
cent of any additional cost for the form of coverage. The balance of any 60
premiums payable by an individual employee or by a member of the 61
General Assembly for the form of coverage shall be deducted from the 62
payroll by the State Comptroller. The total premiums payable shall be 63
remitted by the Comptroller to the insurance company or companies 64
or nonprofit organization or organizations providing the coverage. The 65
amount of the state's contribution per employee for a health 66
maintenance organization option shall be equal, in terms of dollars and 67
cents, to the largest amount of the contribution per employee paid for 68
any other option that is available to all eligible state employees 69
included in the health benefits plan, but shall not be required to exceed 70
the amount of the health maintenance organization premium. 71
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 5-259(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To provide that coverage for certain dependent children under the
group hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plan or
plans procured by the Comptroller shall terminate not earlier than the
end of the calendar year during or after whichever of the following
occurs first: (1) The date on which the dependent child becomes
covered under a group health plan through such dependent child's
own employment; or (2) attains the age of twenty-six. Raised Bill No. 985
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[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]