Dependent coverage kerfluffle

The New York Times reports today on the mess that the activist Ninth Circuit has created by using its own employment policies to attempt to override the FEHB Act. The FEHB Act extends coverage to the enrollee's spouse and dependent children to age 22. Two Ninth Circuit judges ruled internally that OPM must treat the same sex spouses of their employees as covered dependents. Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, OPM refused. The agency deserves credit, in my view, for faithfully executing the FEHB Act. If Congress wants to change FEHB Act by extending coverage to same sex partners, so be it. But until then the current law should be applied.