Mike Causey

Is Your Child A Late Bloomer?

Is your grown child still a dependent at heart, and in fact? If so you should be rooting for a new bill that would raise the age for eligibility for coverage un...

Federal News Network Staff

March 18, 2008 4:00 am

3 min read

Is your adult son or daughter a late-bloomer? Are they in that strange time warp where where they are old enough to enlist or register to vote, but still at home playing video games or watching soaps? It happens a lot these days.

In most parts of the country, people without jobs are either known as students, bums or persons trying to find themselves. They are often found in the basement of their parents homes. In the D.C. area there is another term for people without jobs. Here we call them “consultants.”

But whatever you call them, people who don’t have jobs often don’t have health insurance either. It is one thing to be a stay-at-home spouse or dependent child eligible for family coverage. It is another when you are no longer eligible for family coverage. In the federal government, as with most places that offer health insurance, the cutoff for dependent children who are not disabled is now age 22. Once that birthday has been celebrated (even if you keep it real quiet) the dependent is no longer considered a dependent.

All that could change, however, if Congress gets serious about a bill just introduced by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). His proposal, if it comes law, would increase to age 25 eligibility for dependent (family) coverage under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan. All of the plans in the FEHBP would be required to continue covering dependents up to age 25. That would be good news for lots of young people (and their parents), who can qualify for dependent status.

The problem with the Davis bill, H.R. 5550, is time. Congress, which has an enviable vacation schedule, is out of town this week in anticipation of Easter/Passover/Spring Break. It will also be out of town next week too. This will give members time to contemplate the meaning of Easter/Passover or Spring Break. Some, from very safe House congressional districts or whose Senate seats are up for grabs, may actually take a nice vacation. Maybe touring U.S. military installations on the French Riviera. Three U.S. Senators will be busy running for president.

But many members of Congress, maybe most, will be in their home states or their home district. If you want to send them a message, this is a very good time. As the National Active and Retired Federal Employees is telling its members the politicians “will be in your neighborhood not ours for both the week before and after Easter.”

Bills introduced this late in the year, like the Davis bill, stand little or no chance of being passed this year. But it will come back next January, so the time to lobby is right now. This week and next week. Catch ’em, your elected officials, on their home turf.

Nearly Useless Factoid

We’re more than halfway through National Peanut Month. According to the Skippy peanut butter website, when making a PB&J sandwich, 96% of people put the peanut butter on before the jelly.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com