Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §285, sub-§7, first ¶, as repealed and replaced by PL 1997, c. 763, §1 and affected by §7, is amended to read:

7. Payment by State. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the State, through the commission, shall pay 100% of only the employee's share of the individual premium for the standard plan identified and offered by the commission and available to the employee as authorized by the commission, except for Legislators, for whom the State shall pay 50% of the health plan premium for dependent coverage. Dependent and family coverage must be offered to unmarried parents of children if both parents are employed by the State on the same terms and conditions and at the same cost as if offered to married parents of children when both parents are employed by the State. For any person appointed to a position after November 1, 1981 who is employed less than full time, the State shall pay a share of the employee's share reduced pro rata to reflect the reduced number of work hours. The State may not pay any portion of the health plan premium for a blind person eligible for the group health plan under subsection 1, paragraph H.

SUMMARY

This bill requires the state employee health insurance program to treat the children of 2 unmarried state employees the same as it does the children of 2 married state employees when offering and establishing costs for health insurance. This bill requires the state to offer so-called "split contracts" to unmarried state employees on the same basis and cost as if offered to married state employees.