Michigan Laws 28.634a – Death of public safety officer as direct result of injury in line of duty; medical benefit coverage for surviving spouse and dependent children; requirements; “dependent child” defined
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 28.634a
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Dependent: means any individual who was substantially reliant for support upon the income of the deceased public safety officer. See Michigan Laws 28.632
- Direct and proximate: means that the antecedent event is a substantial factor in the result. See Michigan Laws 28.632
- Line of duty: means either of the following:
(i) Any action which an officer whose primary function is crime control or reduction, enforcement of the criminal law, or suppression of fires is obligated or authorized by rule, regulations, condition of employment or service, or law to perform, including those social, ceremonial, or athletic functions to which the officer is assigned, or for which the officer is compensated, by the public agency he or she serves. See Michigan Laws 28.632Medical benefit plan: means a plan to provide for the payment of medical, optical, or dental benefits, including, but not limited to, hospital and physician services, prescription drugs, and related benefits. See Michigan Laws 28.632 officer: means any individual serving a public agency or any authority, district, board, or other entity created in whole or in part by 1 or more cities, counties, villages, or townships, in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew. See Michigan Laws 28.632 state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o Surviving spouse: means the husband or wife of the deceased officer at the time of the officer's death, and includes a spouse living apart from the officer at the time of the officer's death for any reason. See Michigan Laws 28.632
(1) If a public safety officer dies as a direct and proximate result of a personal injury that is sustained in the line of duty on or after October 1, 2015, this state, upon notice to the office of retirement services from the public agency or entity the officer served, and subject to appropriation, shall provide to the decedent‘s surviving spouse and dependent children a comparable medical benefit plan on comparable terms to the medical benefit plan offered to Michigan state police trooper retirees, including any change to the medical benefit plan after the public safety officer’s death. Coverage for a surviving spouse or dependent child under this section is not required to be provided for more than 60 months after the later of the public safety officer’s death or the effective date of this section. Coverage under this section is not required to be provided during any period during which the surviving spouse or dependent child, respectively, has qualified for and is covered by a medical benefit plan from another source. Coverage provided under this section ends for a surviving spouse upon Medicare eligibility. Coverage for a dependent child is not required to be provided under this section after the limiting age for a dependent child or another terminating event that is provided in the medical benefit plan for Michigan state police trooper retirees. However, if 42 USC 300gg-14 requires that dependent child eligibility be applied more broadly, this state shall make the coverage available in compliance with that law.
(2) This section does not require this state to provide medical benefits to a surviving spouse or dependent child who, as a result of the public safety officer’s death and independent of this section, would receive benefits under a medical benefit plan through a retirement system administered by this state.
(3) In a manner determined by the office of retirement services, the office of retirement services shall administer benefits provided under this section as part of the Michigan state police trooper retiree medical benefit plan and may coordinate the funding or prefunding of those benefits. The office of retirement services shall determine, at its sole discretion, if a medical benefit plan is comparable and offered on comparable terms to the medical benefit plan offered to Michigan state police trooper retirees for purposes of determining the medical benefit plan that will be offered under this section.
(4) For purposes of this section, “dependent child” means any of the following dependents with respect to the deceased public safety officer:
(a) His or her unmarried natural or adopted child.
(b) A child lawfully placed for adoption with the public safety officer.
(c) His or her stepchild.
(d) A child under the age of 18 if full legal guardianship was awarded to the public safety officer.
(5) If a dependent child of a deceased public safety officer is receiving coverage under this section, a child of the dependent child is not also a dependent child for purposes of this section.