Senate Bill 487 Summary

• Requires local government employers to offer and pay for health insurance coverage for full-time police officers, county police officers, and sheriffs who become disabled in the line of duty, effective July 1, 2011.

• Coverage must include the disabled officer, their spouse or surviving spouse, and their children up to age 18 (or age 23 if enrolled in secondary school or full-time college, or indefinitely if disabled).

• Health insurance provided must equal the coverage offered to active public safety employees by the local unit.

• Eligibility for disabled officers and spouses ends when they are no longer disabled, become eligible for Medicare, or the local unit terminates its health insurance program for active employees.

• Surviving spouses' eligibility also terminates upon remarriage, and children's eligibility ends when they no longer meet age or enrollment requirements.