Public employees' retirement: health benefits.

Existing law, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides defined benefits to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. PERL vests the Board of Administration of PERS with management and control of the system. Existing law, the Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of PERS, governs the funding and provision of postemployment health care benefits for eligible retired public employees and their families. PEMHCA authorizes an employee or annuitant, as those terms are defined, of the state to enroll in a health benefit plan approved or maintained by the Board of Administration of PERS. The act generally requires the state and each employee or annuitant to contribute a portion of the cost of providing the benefit coverage afforded under the approved health benefit plan in which the employee or annuitant is enrolled. PEMHCA also prohibits, among other things, employees, annuitants, and family members who become eligible to enroll on or after January 1, 1985, in Part A and Part B of Medicare from being enrolled in a basic health benefit plan. PEMHCA, however, permits the employee, annuitant, or family member to enroll in a Medicare health benefit plan if they are enrolled in Part A and Part B of Medicare. PEMHCA establishes the Public Employees' Contingency Reserve Fund for the purpose of funding health benefits and funding administrative expenses. This fund is continuously appropriated, except with respect to administrative purposes, as specified. PEMHCA also establishes the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund, which is continuously appropriated, for the purpose of prefunding health care coverage for annuitants, including administrative costs. This bill would preclude a person who has retired under PERS and who obtains work with a subsequent employer from receiving any health benefits offered under PEMHCA if the person's subsequent employer offers health care coverage that provides reasonably comparable benefits. The bill would grant the person reinstatement rights upon termination of employment with the subsequent employer. The bill would authorize the board to request information regarding employment and health care coverage offered by a person's subsequent employer. The bill would also prohibit, except as provided and by January 1, 2023, persons who have retired under a public retirement system, as defined, annuitants of a public retirement system, and their beneficiaries who become eligible to enroll on or after January 1, 1985, in Part A and Part B of Medicare from being enrolled in a basic health benefit plan, as defined, offered by the public retirement system.