OPM Tells Agencies to Accept Late Open Season Enrollments

Federal employees should take note. Your enrollment deadline for health benefits may have been extended this year, and you should pay special attention to the options available to you. The following excerpt is taken directly from www.federaldaily.com:

"In response to widespread concerns over benefit changes that would have required many Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) subscribers to pay a new $7,500 co-payment for out-of-network non-emergency surgeries, the Office of Personnel Management has asked FEHBP carriers to reevaluate those benefits—and has instructed federal agencies to accept belated enrollments for the 2009 open season. The new co-payment in question would have affected enrollees in the FEHBP Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) Standard Option. OPM told insurance carriers to propose changes no later than Dec. 8. OPM also said it would not allow changes to premiums or to other types of benefits in 2009. The extension and request for changes comes in the wake of a Dec. 3 hearing on the matter by the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce. At that hearing, Dr. Peter Petrucci, president of the medical staff at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., noted that the new BC/BS policy would make it “financially prohibitive for the majority of patients to obtain surgery and many commonly performed procedures from the doctor of their choice,” and instead force them to obtain those services from providers who had contractual agreements with insurers. BlueCross/Blue Shield insures more than half of federal employees and retirees. To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-to-provide-additional-protections-in-2009-for-fehb-enrollees-who-use-outofnetwork-surgeons,1443.aspx."

You can subscribe to a daily email from www.federaldaily.com regarding issues of importance to federal employees.