Legislation that ensures access to the State Employees Group Insurance Plan for adopted children of plan participants was approved unanimously in the Illinois House of Representatives recently.
Specifically, HB 817 creates a uniform definition of terms for interstate adoptions as they relate to the availability of state health insurance coverage.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard), amends portions of Illinois law to eliminate ambiguity about exactly when a child born in another state can be added to the Illinois adoptive parents’ insurance plan. As part of their own recent interstate adoption, Peter and his wife, Margie, learned that Illinois law did not account for other states’ adoption practices, and was out of compliance with federal law on placing children for adoption.
“Parents adopting kids in other states are in a particularly vulnerable situation, and the last thing they need to worry about is whether their new daughter or son will be covered on their insurance plan,” said Breen. “This bill adopts the federal definition of placement for adoption, to ensure that our state’s law is flexible enough to account for the variety of adoption practices across the other 49 states in the Union.”
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
