12 2 STA T .408 1 PUBLIC LA W 110 –3 81 —O CT. 9, 2008 PublicLaw1 1 0–38 1 110 thCongres s A n Act Toamendth e E m pl o y ee R et ir ement I n c ome S ec u rity A cto f1974, the P u b lic H ealth Ser v ice Act, and the Internal Revenue C ode of 19 86 to en s ure that dependent students w ho ta k e a medically necessary leave of absence do not lose health insurance covera g e, and for other purposes .Beit e nac te dby t h e S enate and Hous eo fR e pr esentati v es of the U nited States of Am erica in C on g ress assemb l ed ,SECTION1. S H O R T TIT L E. ThisActmaybe cite d as ‘ ‘ M iche l le ’ s L a w ’’ . SEC. 2 .CO V ER AG EO FD E P ENDENT ST U DENTS ON M EDICALL Y NEC - ESSARY LEAVE OF A B SENCE. ( a ) A MEND MEN TSOFERIS A. — ( 1 )IN G ENE RAL .—S u b p a r t Bof part 7 of title I of the Employee Retireme n t Income Security Act of 1 9 7 4 ( 2 9 U .S. C . 11 85 et se q .) is amended by addin g at the end the following
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‘SEC. 7 1 4 . COVERAGE OF DEPENDENT STUDENTS ON MEDICALLY NEC- ESSARY LEAVE OF ABSENCE. ‘‘(a) MED IC ALL YN ECESSARY LEA V EOFA B SENCE.—In this sec - tion , the term ‘medically necessary lea v e of absence’ means, with respect to a dependent child described in subsection (b)(2) in connec- tion with a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such plan, a leave of absence of such child from a postsecondary educational institution (including an institu- tion of higher education as defined in section 1 0 2of the H igher Education Act of 19 6 5), or any other change in enrollment of such child at such an institution, that— ‘‘(1) commences while such child is suffering from a serious illness or in j ury
‘‘(2) is medically necessary; and ‘‘( 3 ) causes such child to lose student status for purposes of coverage under the terms of the plan or coverage. ‘‘(b) RE QU IREMENT TO CONTINUE COVERAGE.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a dependent child described in paragraph (2), a group health plan, or a health insurance issuer that provides health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan, shall not terminate cov- erage of such child under such plan or health insurance cov- erage due to a medically necessary leave of absence before the date that is the earlier of— ‘‘(A) the date that is 1 year after the first day of the medically necessary leave of absence; or 29USC1 1 85c.4 2USC2 0 1 note . Mi c h e l le ’sLaw . O ct. 9 , 2008 [H . R . 2851 ]
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