28 U.S.C. § 179 — Personnel application and insurance programs

(a) For applying title 5's personnel rules, a judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims counts as an "officer" under section 2104(a) of title 5. (b) (1)(A) This paragraph covers a judge who retired under section 178(b) of this title and who, at retirement, was enrolled in a federal health benefits plan under chapter 89 of title 5 but didn't meet the normal rule for staying enrolled as a retiree (section 8905(b)(1) of title 5). Such a judge is treated as meeting that rule — and so can keep the health coverage — if the judge tells the chief judge in writing, in time, that the judge is willing to be called back for judicial duty under section 178(d) during the coverage period described below. (B) Timing rule (unless (C) applies): the judge must give this notice before the start of the "open enrollment period" (defined in (3)) before the calendar year the coverage would otherwise end. If given in time, the coverage continues from when it would have otherwise ended through the end of the calendar year that starts after the next open enrollment period ends. (C) Special timing rule for the first time this applies to a particular judge: the notice deadline is instead "before the judge's term of office expires." And: if the judge's term expires before the open enrollment period mentioned in (B) starts, the coverage period is as described in (B)(ii); but if the term expires on or after that open enrollment period starts, coverage continues until the end of the calendar year after the next full open enrollment period that begins after the term expires. (2) If a retired judge, because of paragraph (1), stays enrolled under chapter 89 of title 5 for 5 years straight (counting time as an active judge right before retiring plus time as a retired judge under (1)), then starting the next day: (A) the judge is treated as if they'd met the section 8905(b)(1) requirement on the last day of that 5-year period; and (B) paragraph (1) no longer applies to them. (3) In this subsection, "open enrollment period" means the period described in section 8905(g)(1) of title 5. (c) For applying chapter 87 of title 5 — including adjusting insurance rates by regulation or otherwise — a judge of the Court of Federal Claims, whether in active service or retired under section 178, is treated as a judge of the United States as described in section 8701(a)(5) of title 5.