TN 3 (01-18)

The State and Local Coverage Handbook (SLCH) provides guidelines on the administration of the Social Security and Medicare coverage provisions under Sections 218 and 210 of the Social Security Act (Act) as they relate to state and local government employment. These guidelines are for primary use by State Social Security Administrators and Social Security's regional staff.

The SLCH does not amend or supersede existing laws and regulations and individuals should not use or cite it as authority for technical matters. If the content of the SLCH conflicts with the Act, another relevant statute, or any Social Security regulations or rulings, those authorities have priority over the SLCH.

The Social Security and Medicare coverage provisions for State and local government employees are complex and unique. To administer the coverage provisions for State and local government employees requires knowledge and understanding of the Section 218 Agreements, the mandatory Social Security and Medicare coverage provisions, the State laws, and how all of these interrelate to provide Social Security and Medicare coverage for public employees.

Social Security's regulations require States to designate a State official to act on the State's behalf in administering the State's Section 218 Agreement. There is no comparable requirement in administering the mandatory Social Security and Medicare coverage provisions under Section 210. Therefore, it is important for States to understand how the Section 218 and 210 coverage provisions interrelate.

The SLCH was originally a paper publication that existed separately from the rest of the Social Security's operations manuals and included the necessary information and materials needed to carry out the Social Security and Medicare coverage provisions for State and local government employees.

In keeping with its ongoing paper reduction program as well as utilizing a format that would easily permit continual procedural and editorial changes, Social Security decided that the SLCH would be made an online publication; and the best way to accomplish this was to integrate the SLCH into Social Security's online Program Operations Manual System. As of its December 2003 online publication, the online SLCH became the version of record, obsoleting previous paper editions, and the only version that will have procedural updates.