By Chris Jones

CLEAT has diligently worked over the years to ensure that the families of officers who have died in the line of duty are provided for. We have long felt that when an officer makes the ultimate sacrifice, the officer’s spouse should not have to wonder how to make the mortgage payment or educate the children. We have led the charge to increase and improve survivor benefits. One such benefit was the ability of survivors to continue to purchase health insurance coverage from the officer’s employer.

In 1993, CLEAT asked Senator Eddie Lucio (D-Brownsville) to sponsor the original health care bill. The original intent was for families to be able purchase insurance at the same rate that the officer paid before their death. Many employers applied the law correctly. But over the years, it was discovered that some were not. We learned of cases where families were forced to drop insurance because of the exorbitant premiums being charged for the coverage. We also heard of other problems associated with the law.

So, in 2009, we asked Senator Lucio and Rep. Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio) to file another bill to clarify the law and correct some of the other problems. SB 872 was passed and was signed by the Governor. The bill created a window for survivors who had dropped coverage to reapply for health insurance coverage. 

CLEAT then began the arduous task of locating and contacting the families of deceased officer’s so that they could take advantage of the provisions of SB 872. We contacted over 15 surviving spouses who were no longer covered by the employer’s health insurance plan. These families then submitted letters drafted by CLEAT requesting health insurance. Most employers complied with the law. However, Harris County declined coverage for three families based on their interpretation of the law.

Harris County took the position that if the family member was not covered by the health insurance plan at the time of death then they were not eligible to reapply for coverage. What we found was that a number of spouses were covered by their own employer’s health plan, even though they were eligible for the officer’s plan. The original statute provided that if a spouse was eligible for insurance through another employer then they were not eligible for survivor insurance through the officer’s employer. This provision was changed by SB 872 so that spouses and children could remain under the public employer’s insurance plan even if they were eligible for insurance through another employer of even if the spouse remarried.

However, Harris County has missed the overall intent of the statute – to protect and provide for the families of these hero’s. Instead they have relied on their interpretation of one or two words in the statute to DENY health insurance coverage to these families.

When CLEAT learned of this, we again contacted Senator Lucio and Rep. Menendez for help. As a chairman of a legislative committee, Senator Lucio can officially ask the Attorney General for a legal opinion on disputed statutes. We asked Senator Lucio to request such an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott on the provisions of the survivor health care statute, Chapter 615, Government Code.

Though we thought the law was clear with the changes made by SB 872, we always seem to run into bureaucrats who go out of their way to avoid doing the right thing. So we will continue to fight and if we have to push another bill to fix this injustice, we will when the legislature meets again in January 2011.

You can read the full AG opinion request here.