00-12779. Medical Child Support Working Group

AGENCY:

Administration for Children and Families, DHHS.

ACTION:

Notice of open meeting.

SUMMARY:

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), notice is given of the date for the ninth meeting of the Medical Child Support Working Group (MCSWG). The Medical Child Support Working Group was jointly established by the Secretaries of the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under section 401(a) of the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998. The purpose of the MCSWG is to identify the impediments to the effective enforcement of medical support by State child support enforcement agencies, and to submit to the Secretaries of DOL and DHHS a report containing recommendations for appropriate measures to address those impediments.

DATES:

The ninth meeting of the MCSWG will be held on Thursday, June 8, 2000, from 10:30 pm to approximately 12:30 pm.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held in the sixth floor conference room of the Aerospace Building, 901 D Street, SW, Washington, DC. All interested parties are invited to attend this public meeting. Seating may be limited and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Persons needing special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other special accommodation, should contact the Executive Director of the Medical Child Support Working Group, Office of Child Support Enforcement, at the address listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Samara Weinstein, Executive Director, Medical Child Support Working Group, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Fourth Floor East, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20447 (telephone [phone]; fax [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail]). These are not toll-free numbers. The date, location and time for subsequent MCSWG meetings will be announced in advance in the Federal Register. However, it is expected this will be the last meeting.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2) (FACA), notice is given of meetings of the Medical Child Support Working Group (MCSWG). The Medical Child Support Working Group was jointly established by the Secretaries of the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under section 401(a) of the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-200).

The purpose of the MCSWG is to identify the impediments to the effective enforcement of medical support by State child support enforcement agencies, and to submit to the Secretaries of DOL and DHHS a report containing recommendations for appropriate measures to address those impediments. This report will include: (1) Recommendations based on assessments of the form and content of the National Medical Support Notice, as issued under proposed regulation; (2) appropriate measures that establish the priority of withholding of child support obligations, medical support obligations, arrearages in such obligations, and in the case of a medical support obligation, the employee's portion of any health care coverage premium, by such State agencies in light of the restrictions on garnishment provided under title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1671-1677); (3) appropriate procedures for coordinating the provision, enforcement, and transition of health care coverage under the State programs for child support, Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program; (4) appropriate measures to improve the availability of alternate types of medical support that are aside from health care coverage offered through the noncustodial parent's health plan, and unrelated to the noncustodial parent's employer, including measures that establish a noncustodial parent's responsibility to share the cost of premiums, co-payments, deductibles, or payments for services not covered under a child's existing health coverage; (5) recommendations on whether reasonable cost should remain a consideration under section 452(f) of the Social Security Act; and (6) appropriate measures for eliminating any other impediments to the effective enforcement of medical support orders that the MCSWG deems necessary.

The membership of the MCSWG was jointly appointed by the Secretaries of DOL and DHHS, and includes representatives of: (1) DOL; (2)DHHS; (3) State Child Support Enforcement Directors; (4) State Medicaid Directors; (5) employers, including owners of small businesses and their trade and industry representatives and certified human resource and payroll professionals; (6) plan administrators and plan sponsors of group health plans (as defined in section 607(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1167(1)); (7) children potentially eligible for medical support, such as child advocacy organizations; (8) State medical child support organizations; and (9) organizations representing State child support programs.

Agenda: The agenda for this meeting includes review approval of the MCSWG's report to the Secretaries containing recommendations for appropriate measures to address the impediments to the effective enforcement of medical child support as listed above. At the May, 1999 meeting, the MCSWG formed four (4) sub-committees to discuss barriers, issues, options, and recommendations in the interim between full MCSWG meetings. At the next three meetings (August, 1999, October, 1999, and November, 1999), the sub-committees presented their draft recommendations to the full MCSWG for further discussion and consideration. At the January, 2000 meeting, the MCSWG discussed the recommendations to be contained in the report to the Secretaries. At the March, 2000 meeting, the MCSWG reviewed for approval the draft report. At this meeting, the MCSWG will review and approve the final report.

Public participation: Members of the public wishing to present oral statements to the MSCWG should forward their requests to Samara Weinstein, MCSWG Executive Director, as soon as possible and at least four days before the meeting. Such request should be made by telephone, fax machine, or mail, as shown above. Time permitting, the Chairs of the MCSWG will attempt to accommodate all such requests by reserving time for presentations. The order of persons making such presentations will be assigned in the order in which the requests are received. Members of the public are encouraged to limit oral statements to five minutes, but extended written statements may be submitted for the record. Members of the public also may submit written statements for distribution to the MCSWG membership and inclusion in the public record without presenting oral statements. Such written statements should be sent to the MCSWG Executive Director, as shown above, by mail or fax at least five business days before the meeting.

Minutes of all public meetings and other documents made available to the MCSWG will be available for public inspection and copying at both the DOL and the DHHS. At DHHS, these documents will be available at the MCSWG Executive Director's Office, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Aerospace Building, Fourth Floor-East, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Questions regarding the availability of documents from DHHS should be directed to Andrew J. Hagan, OCSE (telephone [phone]). This is not a toll-free number. Any written comments on the minutes should be directed to Ms. Samara Weinstein, Executive Director of the Working Group, as shown above.

Dated: May 16, 2000.

Frank Fuentes,

Deputy Commissioner, Office of Child Support Enforcement.