1. The election must be made after the member separates from service as a public safety officer with the member's participating municipality;

2. The election shall only apply to distributions from the System after December 31, 2006, and to amounts not yet distributed to the eligible retired public safety officer;

3. Payments from the System for an eligible retired public safety officer's qualified health insurance premiums made directly to the provider of such coverage can only be made from the member's monthly disability benefit or monthly pension payment from the System and cannot be made from the Deferred Option Plan; and

4. The aggregate amount of the exclusion from an eligible retired public safety officer's gross income is Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) per calendar year.

1. A “public safety officer” is a member serving a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew;

2. An “eligible retired public safety officer” is a member who, by reason of disability or attainment of normal retirement date or age, is separated from service as a public safety officer with the member's participating municipality; and

3. “Qualified health insurance premiums” are for coverage for the eligible retired public safety officer, the eligible retired public safety officer's spouse, and dependents, as defined in Section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, by an accident or health plan or a qualified long-term care insurance contract, as defined in Section 7702B(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The health plan does not have to be sponsored by the eligible retired public safety officer's former participating municipality.