Speaker. House Resolution 1078 provides an open rule with 1 hour of general debate for consideration of H.R. 16968 to adjust Government contributions for Federal employee health benefits. The purpose of H.R. 16968 is to increase. the Governments contribution for employee health benefits. to extend coverage under the health benefits program and the group life insurance program to noncitizen employees in the Panama Canal Zone. to permit part B of medicare to be a qualifying plan under the retired Federal employees health benefits program. and to correct an inequity with respect to the survivors of employees who have less than 5 years of service. The bill provides that. beginning on the first day of the first pay period of each year. the Government contribution for health benefits for employees or annuitants shall be an amount equal to 50 percent of the average of the charges in effect on the beginning date of the adjustment. Initially the Governments contribution was 38 percent and at the present time it is down to approximately 24 percent. Noncitizen employees have constituted the bulk of our Governments work force in the Canal Zone during and since the digging of the Panama Canal. but they have been excluded from coverage in both the Group Life Insurance Act and the Health Benefits Act. This legislation would provide coverage for them under both acts. The Retired Federal Employees Health Benefits Act. applicable to preJuly 1960 retirees and survivors. restricts a direct Government contribution to only those annuitants to subscribe to health insurance plans offered by nongovernmental organizations and denies such contribution in the event he or she receives a Government contribution toward another plan.
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Noncitizen noncitizen