may provide for the adjustment of the converted rate to the nearest cent. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept, 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 604, amended Pub. L. 90$3, § 1(96), Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 219; Pub. L. 91-418, § 1(a), Sept. 25, 1970, 84 Stat. 869; Pub. L. 93-246, § 1, Jan. 31, 1974, 88 Stat. 3; Pub. L. 94-310, § 3(a), June 15, 1976, 90 Stat, 687; Pub. L. 95-437, Oct. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 1059; Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1226 and 1227; Pub. L. 96–54, Aug. 14, 1979, 93 Stat. 384.)

8907. Information to employees

(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall make available to ach employee eligible to enroll in a health benefits plan under this chapter such information, in a form acceptable to the Office after consultation with the carrier, as may be necessary to enable the employee to exercise an informed choice among the types of plans described by section 8903 of this title.

(b) Each employee enrolled in a health benefits plan shall be issued an appropriate document setting forth or summarizing the

(1) services or benefits, including maximums, limitations, and exclusions, to which the employee or the employee and members of his family are entitled thereunder;

(2) procedure for obtaining benefits; and

(3) principal provisions of the plan affecting the employee or members of his family.

Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 605; amended Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1226.)

8908. Coverage of restored employee and survivor annuitants (a) An employee enrolled in a health benefits plan under this chapter who is removed or suspended without pay and later reinstated or estored to duty on the ground that the removal or suspension was njustified or unwarranted may, at his option, enroll as a new employee or have his coverage restored, with appropriate adjustments made in contributions and claims, to the same extent and effect as though the removal or suspension had not taken place.

(b) A surviving spouse whose survivor annuity under this title. as terminated because of remarriage and is later restored may, under uch regulations as the Office of Personnel Management may prescribe, nroll in a health benefits plan described by section 8903 of this title f such spouse was covered by any such plan immediately before such nnuity was terminated. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 605, mended Pub. L. 94-342, § 1, July 6, 1976, 90 Stat. 808; Pub. L. 95– 54, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1226.)

8909. Employees Health Benefits Fund

(a) There is in the Treasury of the United States an Employees Health Benefits Fund which is administered by the Office of Personel Management. The contributions of employees, annuitants, and the Government described by section 8906 of this title shall be paid into he Fund. The Fund is available

(1) without fiscal year limitation for all payments to approved health benefits plans; and

(2) to pay expenses for administering this chapter within the limitations that may be specified annually by Congress.

(b) Portions of the contributions made by employees, annuitants, and the Government shall be regularly set aside in the Fund as follows:

(1) A percentage, not to exceed 1 percent of all contributions, determined by the Office to be reasonably adequate to pay the administrative expenses made available by subsection (a) of this

section.

(2) For each health benefits plan, a percentage, not to exceed 3 percent of the contributions toward the plan, determined by the Office to be reasonably adequate to provide a contingency reserve. The Office, from time to time and in amounts it considers appropriate, may transfer unused funds for administrative expenses to the contingency reserves of the plans then under contract with the Office. When funds are so transferred, each contingency reserve shall be credited in proportion to the total amount of the subscription charges paid and accrued to the plan for the contract term immediately before the contract term in which the transfer is made. The income derived from dividends, rate adjustments, or other refunds made by a plan shall be credited to its contingency reserve. The contingency reserves may be used to defray increases in future rates, or may be applied to reduce the contributions of employees and the Government to, or to increase the benefits provided by, the plan from which the reserves are derived, as the Office from time to time shall determine.

(c) The Secretary of the Treasury may invest and reinvest any of the money in the Fund in interest-bearing obligations of the United States, and may sell these obligations for the purposes of the Fund. The interest on and the proceeds from the sale of these obligations become a part of the Fund.

(d) When the assets, liabilities, and membership of employee organizations sponsoring or underwriting plans approved under section 8903 (3) of this title are merged, the assets (including contingency reserves) and liabilities of the plans sponsored or underwritten by the merged organizations shall be transferred at the beginning of the contract term next following the date of the merger to the plan sponsored or underwritten by the successor organization. Each employee or annuitant affected by a merger shall be transferred to the plan sponsored or underwritten by the successor organization unless he enrolls in another plan under this chapter.

(e) Except as provided by subsection (d) of this section, when a plan described by section 8903 (3) or (4) of this title is discontinued under this chapter, the contingency reserve of that plan shall be credited to the contingency reserves of the plans continuing under this chapter for the contract term following that in which termination occurs, each reserve to be credited in proportion to the amount of the subscription charges paid and accrued to the plan for the year of termination. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 605; amended Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224.)

§ 8910. Studies, reports, and audits

(a) The Office of Personnel Management shall make a continuing study of the operation and administration of this chapter, including surveys and reports on health benefits plans available to employees and on the experience of the plans.

(b) Each contract entered into under section 8902 of this title shall contain provisions requiring carriers to

(1) furnish such reasonable reports as the Office determines to be necessary to enable it to carry out its functions under this chapter; and

(2) permit the Office and representatives of the General Accounting Office to examine records of the carriers as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(c) Each Government agency shall keep such records, make such certifications, and furnish the Office with such information and reports as may be necessary to enable the Office to carry out its functions under this chapter. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 606; amended Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224.)

88911. Advisory committee

The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall appoint committee composed of five members, who serve without pay, to adrise the Office regarding matters of concern to employees under this chapter. Each member of the committee shall be an employee enrolled under this chapter or an elected official of an employee organization. Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 607; amended Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224.)

8912. Jurisdiction of courts

The district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the Court of Claims, of a civil action or claim against the United States founded on this chapter. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 607.)

$8913. Regulations

(a) The Office of Personnel Management may prescribe regulations ecessary to carry out this chapter.

(b) The regulations of the Office may prescribe the time at which and the manner and conditions under which an employee is eligible to enroll in an approved health benefits plan described by section 8903 of this title. The regulations may exclude an employee on the basis of the ature and type of his employment or conditions pertaining to it, such s short-term appointments, seasonal or intermittent employment, and employment of like nature. The Office may not exclude

(1) an employee or group of employees solely on the basis of the hazardous nature of employment;

(2) a teacher in the employ of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia, whose pay is fixed by section 1501 of title 31, District of Columbia Code, on the basis of the fact that the teacher is serving under a temporary appointment if the teacher has been so employed by the Board for a period or periods totaling not less than two school years; or

(3) an employee who is occupying a position on a part-time carcer employment basis (as defined in section 3401(2) of this title).

(c) The regulations of the Office shall provide for the beginning nd ending dates of coverage of employees and annuitants and memers of their families under health benefit plans. The regulations may

permit the coverage to continue, exclusive of the temporary extension of coverage described by section 8902 (g) of this title, until the end of the pay period in which an employee is separated from the service, or until the end of the month in which an annuitant ceases to be entitled to annuity, and in case of the death of an employee or annuitant, may permit a temporary extension of the coverage of members of his family for not to exceed 90 days.

(d) The Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe regulations to effect the application and operation of this chapter to an individual named by section 8901 (1) (H) of this title. (Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 607; amended Pub. L. 95-437, Oct. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 1059; Pub. L. 95-454, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1224 and 1227.)