Two forms pursuant to the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA) are now being sent to all units of local government in Illinois. The forms are also available on the website of the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA).
Under Section 17 of PSEBA, COGFA is required to collect data relating to the cost of health insurance required by PSEBA to be provided to former police officers, firefighters, and correctional officers who qualify for PSEBA catastrophic injury insurance benefits. While the purpose of the forms is to collect data for State use, the forms also will serve as a source of data for units of local government that are seeking information regarding statutorily mandated offsets to the cost of providing catastrophic injury health insurance benefits.
The first of the two forms is the PSEBA “Recipient Reporting Form”. It is to be distributed by local governments to PSEBA recipients. It asks a number of questions to recipients, including questions as to whether the recipient or his/her spouse is enrolled in an insurance plan provided by a current employer and whether the recipient or his/her spouse has been offered or provided access to health insurance from a current employer. This information will provide local governments that are paying PSEBA benefits with previously unavailable or difficult to obtain offsetting insurance coverage data.
The PSEBA statute requires the PSEBA recipient to complete and return the Recipient Reporting Form to the local government employer within 60 days of receipt. If the PSEBA recipient fails to do so, the employer is to notify the PSEBA recipient of non-compliance and provide an additional 30 days to submit the form. If the PSEBA recipient does not complete and return the form, despite being given an additional 30 days to do so, the PSEBA recipient will be responsible for reimbursing the employer for health insurance premiums paid during the period when the Form was due but not returned.
The second form is called the “Employer Subject to PSEBA Reporting Form”. It is to be filed with COGFA by the local government employer within 120 days after the Form is received by the employer from COGFA. The Employer Form is extensive (7 pages long). It reports aggregate and individual recipient data concerning PSEBA benefits and recipients, including identification of PSEBA applicants and PSEBA recipients, and health insurance premium payments made pursuant to PSEBA benefit awards. The Form is a PDF form that can be filled out and submitted online.
Local government employers are encouraged to distribute the Recipient Form to recipients promptly so that the data will be received in time to meet the Employer Form submission deadline. This is a major opportunity for local governments to reduce PSEBA costs and should not be missed.
