U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

December 18, 2000 Handbook Changes

We updated the FEHB Handbook in the following areas:

• We added a section in the Family Members chapter entitled "When a Court Order Requires You to Provide Coverage for Your Children." This reflects changes to the FEHB Program resulting from Public Law 106-394, the "Federal Employees Health Benefits Children's Equity Act of 2000," enacted October 30, 2000. Pub. L. 106-394 requires mandatory Self and Family coverage for FEHB-eligible employees who do not comply with a court or administrative order to provide health benefits for their children.

• We updated our policy on waivers of the participation requirements for employees retiring during an agency buyout period. You can find this information in the Annuitants and Compensationers chapter, under "Current Waiver Policy."

• We updated the list of medically underserved areas for 2001. The 2001 list is identical to the 2000 list, except we have removed North Dakota from the list for calendar year 2001. See "Payment of Benefits in Medically Underserved Areas" in the Health Plans chapter for a complete list.