Fedweek

OPM has issued a final rule affirming that a special exception allowing the children of a same-sex domestic partner to be covered under FEHB and FEDVIP under limited circumstances will end as previously scheduled September 30.

OPM at first had allowed such children—although not the partners themselves—to be covered in 2014 and 2015 if the couple lived in a state that did not recognize same-sex marriage. It rescinded that policy in late 2015 in light of a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring all states to perform and recognize those marriages. That policy change required those couples to marry in order to have coverage on the child.

However, it left an exception, through September 30 of this year, for enrollees stationed overseas, where same-sex marriage may not be recognized and it may be difficult for the couple to return to the United States to marry. In its latest rule-making, OPM said that partners have now had enough time to marry if they wish and that the exception will be allowed to expire. There is no change in coverage of children of a married same-sex couple, it added.