This is my last post of 2007. I hope that you find the FEHBlog useful. We are moving our website from gordon-ermer.com to ermerlaw.com effective January 1. Please continue to visit the FEHBlog on the website of our new law firm, Ermer & Brownell, PLLC.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finally published on December 26 its final rule exempting employer sponsored health care benefits from the requirements of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The EEOC action is intended to override a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision issued in 2000, and it permits employers to differentiate health benefits coverage based on whether or not the participant also has Medicare coverage. More information can be found in this Chicago Tribune article.

On December 29, the President signed into law the bill extending funding for the State Childrens Health Insurance Program through March 2009. The extension bill does not include the program expansion advocated by Congressional leadership and creates another issue for the 2008 election.