[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 35 (Thursday, March 11, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  H.R. 4821 THE ``KAYTLYNN NOGGLE FEDERAL LIFE INSURANCE EQUITY ACT''

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                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 11, 2010

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
``Kaytlynn Noggle Federal Life Insurance Equity Act,'' named in honor 
of the daughter of constituents of mine, Elizabeth and Larry Noggle; 
and to encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill.
  I would like to read the e-mail sent to me by Mr. Noggle as I think 
it sums up the need for this legislation far better than I could.
  ``Representative Burton, recently my wife, Elizabeth, and I had a 
stillborn daughter, Kaytlynn Grace on December 19, 2009.
  We are both Federal employees with the Defense Department and when we 
looked to see if the Federal Group Life Insurance covered stillborn 
children, we were told it did not.
  As you are probably aware, Indiana law requires any child 20 weeks 
gestation or more to be buried or cremated as if they were a regular 
person who lived and died, the cost of which ran our family over $2,000 
in funeral expenses.
  As the insurance didn't cover it, this was a large unexpected 
expense. Since Indiana law requires burial, we had hoped our insurance 
would cover at least the funeral expenses as we carried the family 
coverage on our policy. We discovered that for military service 
members, their life insurance covers stillborn children up to $10,000.
  While neither Elizabeth nor I expect to benefit from any changes, we 
request that the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program be 
modified to include stillborns for all Federal employees, at least 
equivalent to the Servicemembers group Life Insurance Program.
  We aren't looking to profit from Kaytlynn's death. We are hoping to 
bring about a change to help other families in this situation. Thank 
you Larry Noggle.''
  Madam Speaker, Public Law 110-389, the ``Veterans'' Benefits 
Improvement Act of 2008'' in addition to enhancing other veterans and 
military benefits, amended the definition of dependent under the Family 
Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program to include stillborn 
children. And coverage for stillborn children has been part of the 
program since November 18, 2009.
  The ``Veterans Benefits Improvement Act'' did not, however, amend the 
definition of dependent under the Federal Employees Group Life 
Insurance program. The Kaytlynn Noggle Federal Life Insurance Equity 
Act simply corrects this imbalance and brings the two programs into 
parity.
  Although I do not have an official CBO score on the bill, the costs 
to the Federal Government should be negligible for several reasons.
  First, the cost of Basic insurance under the Federal Employees' Group 
Life Insurance program is shared between the employee and the 
Government; with the employee paying \2/3\ of the total cost while the 
Government pays \1/3\. The cost of the Optional Coverage under the 
program--in other words coverage for spouses and children (including 
coverage for stillborn children)--is paid 100 percent by the employee.
  Second, stillbirths are fortunately rare. According to the latest 
figures from the Centers for Disease Control, each year in the United 
States approximately 25,000 babies are stillborn--roughly 1 percent of 
all births. Consequently, the probability is that the Federal Employees 
Group Life Insurance program would pay out relatively few claims under 
the stillborn provision.
  To paraphrase Mr. Noggle, no one is going to make a profit from this 
provision. But it will hopefully give Federal families some peace of 
mind that they won't be made destitute by the tragic event of a 
stillborn baby.
  I would encourage all of my colleagues to co-sponsor this critically 
important legislation.

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