Norton Introduces Bill to Provide Federal Workers with Short-Term Disability Insurance, at No Expense to Federal Government
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Norton Introduces Bill to
Norton said in her introductory statement, "I decided to investigate how we could provide short-term disability insurance for federal employees after learning that many of them already buy short-term disability insurance as individuals in the private market at high individual rates. Although federal employees have good health insurance, federal health benefits do not replace lost income if employees are unable to work. Moreover, while federal employees may have available sick or annual leave days, they may not have enough such days to pay the bills if they have to be out of work for an extended period. My bill does no more than put federal employees in the same position as their private-sector counterparts, who often have access to disability insurance through an employer at group rates."
Norton's full introductory statement is below.
Statement of Congresswoman
I decided to investigate how we could provide short-term disability insurance for federal employees after learning that many of them already buy short-term disability insurance as individuals in the private market at high individual rates. Although federal employees have good health insurance, federal health benefits do not replace lost income if employees are unable to work. Moreover, while federal employees may have available sick or annual leave days, they may not have enough such days to pay the bills if they have to be out of work for an extended period. Although there are long-term disability options for federal employees who become permanently disabled, federal employees do not qualify for such benefits until they have worked for the federal government for at least 18 months. My bill does no more than put federal employees in the same position as their private-sector counterparts, who often have access to disability insurance through an employer at group rates. This bill will not allow participating insurance companies to exclude persons based on preexisting conditions. Because of the federal government's purchasing power, this bill will provide these benefits at a more competitive rate than is available if an employee sought such insurance as an individual, as many do.
According to the
I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.
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