Judge Tauro’s decision last week striking down a section of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional could have big consequences for married gay and lesbian federal employees in Massachusetts. If you’re one of them — or the spouse or partner of a gay and lesbian fed — we’d like to hear from you on the possibility of gaining spousal health insurance benefits. E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk.
Browsing: FEHBP
Federal Times would like to hear from federal employees who might be affected by the health care reform bill passed last week. Do you have an adult child who can get health coverage as a result of the bill? Are you concerned about the excise tax or how it might affect your premiums? Are you worried that putting the Office of Personnel Management in charge of insurance exchanges could take its attention away from its traditional missions? Send us an e-mail at slosey@federaltimes.com.
Is your health care plan among the 57 leaving the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, reducing its service area, or dropping an option or high-deductible health plan in 2010? Federal Times would like to hear from you. We’d like to find out how these changes will affect you, why you chose the plan now being dropped, and what your plans are. Take a look at this OPM document — the plan terminations and reductions are on the first nine pages. And if your plan is on this list, send an e-mail to Stephen Losey at slosey@federaltimes.com.
Will the House’s health care bill change your Federal Employees Health Benefits Program? It depends who you ask on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which oversees the FEHBP. Sixteen committee Republicans sent a letter to Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., on Nov. 4, calling on him to schedule immediate hearings to analyze the impact H.R. 3692 may have on the FEHBP. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Nov. 5 she has the votes to pass the health care bill on Nov. 7. In the letter, Republicans said they need clarification on what the bill could do to participants…
Sen. Charles Grassley has introduced a health care amendment that would eliminate the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but feds shouldn’t panic that they’ll be losing their health coverage as recent news stories have hinted. Grassley’s amendment would have ended FEHBP and required feds to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges, just as average civilians would. But a modified version of the amendment accepted Tuesday as part of the Senate Finance Committee chairman’s mark weakens the language, allowing federal workers the option of leaving the FEHBP and enrolling in state exchanges. Grassley, R-Iowa, offered his amendment to draw attention to a…
The Office of Personnel Management just released guidance on the upcoming open season for choosing next year’s plans under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Federal employees will be able to select health, dental and vision insurance plans and enroll in a Flexible Spending Account between Nov. 9 and Dec. 14. Anyone already enrolled in a health, dental or vision plan will stay enrolled in their current plan unless they choose to change or cancel it. But Flexible Spending Accounts don’t carry over from one year to another — enrollees must set up an account again if they want to keep directing pretax…
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns said in a letter yesterday that the health care bill now before Congress would require “some administrative and a small number of benefits-related adjustments” to some plans under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Those changes would be necessary to make sure all FEHBP plans meet the government’s standards of a “qualified health benefits plan,” Towns said in his letter to Ranking Republican Darrell Issa. The health care bill, HR 3200, would require all citizens to have a minimum level of insurance coverage through a qualified health benefits plan or other form of…
The open season for the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program is being extended through the end of January due to a dustup over billing for out-of-network surgeries. Previously, participants would have had to make their choice by the end of today. But what about people who made a choice before learning of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s controversial billing system, and now want to change their plan? Are they out of luck? Don’t worry, said Michael Orenstein of the Office of Personnel Management. Even if you’ve already chosen a plan, you can change your mind as many times as you want…