§87A-23  Health benefits plan supplementalto medicare.  The board shall establish a health benefits plan, which takesinto account benefits available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse undermedicare, subject to the following conditions:

(1)  There shall be no duplication of benefits payableunder medicare.  The plan under this section, which shall be secondary tomedicare, when combined with medicare and any other plan to which the healthbenefits plan is subordinate under the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits thatapproximate those provided to a similarly situated beneficiary not eligible formedicare;

(2)  The State, through the department of budget andfinance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance,shall pay to the fund a contribution equal to an amount not less than themedicare part B premium, for each of the following who are enrolled in themedicare part B medical insurance plan:  (A) an employee-beneficiary who is aretired employee, (B) an employee-beneficiary's spouse while theemployee-beneficiary is living, and (C) an employee-beneficiary's spouse, afterthe death of the employee-beneficiary, if the spouse qualifies as anemployee-beneficiary.  For purposes of this section, a "retiredemployee" means retired members of the employees' retirement system;county pension system; or a police, firefighters, or bandsmen pension system ofthe State or a county as set forth in chapter 88.  If the amount reimbursed bythe fund under this section is less than the actual cost of the medicare part Bmedical insurance plan due to an increase in the medicare part B medicalinsurance plan rate, the fund shall reimburse each employee-beneficiary andemployee-beneficiary's spouse for the cost increase within thirty days of therate change.  Each employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse whobecomes entitled to reimbursement from the fund for medicare part B premiumsafter July 1, 2006, shall designate a financial institution account into whichthe fund shall be authorized to deposit reimbursements.  This method of paymentmay be waived by the fund if another method is determined to be moreappropriate;

(3)  The benefits available under this plan, when combinedwith benefits available under medicare or any other coverage or plan to whichthis plan is subordinate under the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall approximate the benefitsthat would be provided to a similarly situated employee-beneficiary noteligible for medicare;

(4)  All employee-beneficiaries ordependent-beneficiaries who are eligible to enroll in the medicare part Bmedical insurance plan shall enroll in that plan as a condition of receiving contributionsand participating in benefits plans under this chapter.  This paragraph shallapply to retired employees, their spouses, and the surviving spouses ofdeceased retirees and employees killed in the performance of duty; and

(5)  The board shall determine which of theemployee-beneficiaries and dependent-beneficiaries, who are not enrolled in themedicare part B medical insurance plan, may participate in the plans offered bythe fund. [L 2001, c 88, pt of §1; am L 2003, c 111, §1; am L 2006, c 39, §1]