SECTION 108 - F500 - PUBLIC EMPLOYEE BENEFIT AUTHORITY

108.1. (PEBA: Lottery, Infrastructure Bank, and Magistrates Health Insurance) South Carolina Lottery Commissioners and South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank Board members and their eligible dependents are eligible to participate in the State Health and Dental Insurance Plan, upon paying the full premium costs as determined by the Public Employee Benefit Authority. If a county is participating in the State Health and Dental Insurance Plan, magistrates and their eligible dependents are eligible to participate in the State Health and Dental Insurance Plan, upon the magistrate paying the full premium costs as determined by the Public Employee Benefit Authority.

108.2. (PEBA: Adoption Assistance Program) The Employee Adoption Assistance Program is established to provide grants to eligible employees to assist them with the direct costs of adoption. The program shall be an employee benefit through the Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA) and shall be funded from the appropriation for the State Health Plan as provided in this act. Total funding for the Adoption Program shall not exceed the amount authorized by the General Assembly in the annual appropriations act. Employees are eligible for the Adoption Program if they participate in PEBA insurance benefits, have adopted a child during the prior fiscal year, apply for the grant during the annual application period, and meet any other Adoption Program criteria. The application period shall be July first through September thirtieth of the current fiscal year for an adoption in the prior fiscal year. The maximum grant amounts shall be $10,000 in the case of the adoption of a special needs child and $5,000 for all other child adoptions. Should the total amount needed to fund grants at the maximum level exceed the amount authorized, the amount of a grant to an eligible employee shall be determined by dividing the authorized amount evenly among qualified program applicants, with the adoption of a special needs child qualifying for two times the benefit of a non-special needs child.

108.3. (PEBA: Health Plan Tobacco User Differential) For health plans adopted under the authority of Section 1-11-710 of the 1976 Code by the Public Employee Benefit Authority during the current fiscal year, the board is authorized to differentiate between tobacco or e-cigarette users and nonusers regarding rates charged to enrollees in its health plans by imposing a surcharge on enrollee rates based upon tobacco or e-cigarette use. The surcharge for tobacco or e-cigarette use may not exceed $40 per month per subscriber or $60 per month per subscriber and dependent(s).

108.4. (PEBA: Funding Abortions Prohibited) No funds appropriated for employer contributions to the State Health Insurance Plan may be expended to reimburse the expenses of an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or where the mothers medical condition is one which, on the basis of the physicians good faith judgment, so complicates the pregnancy as to necessitate an immediate abortion to avert the risk of her death or for which a delay will create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function, and the State Health Plan may not offer coverage for abortion services, including ancillary services provided contemporaneously with abortion services. The Public Employee Benefit Authority must determine the amount of the total premium paid for health coverage necessary to cover the risks associated with reimbursing participants in the plan for obtaining an abortion in the circumstances covered by this provision. The determination must be based on actuarial data and empirical study in the same manner and by the same method that other risks are adjusted for in similar circumstances. The plan must report this determination annually to the respective Chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

108.5. (PEBA: TRICARE Supplement Policy) The Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA) shall offer a group TRICARE Supplement policy or policies to its TRICARE-eligible subscribers through its flexible benefits program to provide that subscribers may pay premiums for such policies on a pretax basis, in accordance with federal law and regulations. PEBA may charge TRICARE Supplement subscribers an amount not to exceed $2 per subscriber per month for any associated administrative costs.

108.6. (PEBA: State Health Plan) Of the funds authorized for the State Health Plan pursuant to Section 1-11-710(A)(2) of the 1976 Code, an employer premium increase of 0.8 percent and a subscriber premium increase of zero percent will result for the standard State Health Plan for Plan Year 2022. Copayments for participants of the State Health Plan shall remain the same in Plan Year 2022 as in Plan Year 2021. Notwithstanding the foregoing, pursuant to Section 1-11-710(A)(3), the Public Employee Benefit Authority may adjust the plan, benefits, or contributions of the State Health Plan during Plan Year 2022 to ensure the fiscal stability of the Plan.

108.7. (PEBA: Exempt National Guard Pension Fund) In the calculation of any across-the-board cut mandated by the Executive Budget Office or General Assembly, the amount of the appropriation for the National Guard Pension Fund shall be excluded.

108.8. (PEBA: Inactive SCRS Account Transfer) A current employee or teacher who is an active participant in the State Optional Retirement Program but who has an inactive account in the South Carolina Retirement Program due to previous service in that system, shall be allowed to transfer previous contributions to the employees or teachers active State Optional Retirement Program account.

108.9. (PEBA: Network Pharmacy Publications) All pharmacy publications or lists must include independent retail pharmacies. Abridged pharmacy lists are prohibited.

108.10. (PEBA: Covered Contraceptives) For the Plan year beginning in January of the current fiscal year, the State Health Plan shall not apply patient cost sharing provisions to covered contraceptives. This provision does not alter the current approved list of contraceptives and complies with the requirements of Proviso 108.4.

108.11. (PEBA: Former Spouses on the State Health Plan) For the Plan Year beginning in January of the current fiscal year, the State Health Plan shall cover a subscribers former spouse, who is eligible to be covered pursuant to a court order, on the former spouses own individual policy and at the full amount of the premium for the coverage elected, with such rates, billing, and other administrative policies to be determined by the Public Employee Benefit Authority. The former spouses may only elect such health, dental, and vision coverage as required by the court order. The former spouses individual coverage may continue under the State Health Plan as long as authorized under the court order and the subscriber remains a participant in the State Health Plan. This proviso does not affect a subscribers ability to cover a current spouse on an employee/retiree and spouse or full family policy when the subscribers former spouse is covered on a separate policy.

108.12. (PEBA: COVID-19 Return to Work Extension) For Fiscal Year 2021-22, the earnings limitation imposed pursuant to Section 9-1-1790 and Section 9-11-90 of the 1976 Code does not apply to retired members of the South Carolina Retirement System or the Police Officers Retirement System who return to covered employment to participate in the states public health preparedness and response to the COVID-19 virus. This section is not intended to supersede or conflict with Act ___ of 2021, S. 704 of 2021. In the event of a conflict, the provisions of the Act control.

108.13. DELETED

108.14. (PEBA: Non-State Agency Furloughs) For the current fiscal year, a participating employer in the South Carolina Retirement System or Police Officers Retirement System that is not a state agency or institution of higher learning may make employee and employer contributions for a period of not more than ninety working days during a furlough program that was implemented as a result of and took place during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and if the terms of the furlough program are consistent with the requirements for an approved mandatory furlough program established by a state agency or institution of higher learning under state law. The participating employer shall make such contributions in order to ensure that a furloughed employees retirement benefits are not interrupted as a result of the furlough, and the period for which such contributions are made will not be considered a break in consecutive employment.

108.15. DELETED