The report said that the system created for the PSHB requires 11 skilled employees to operate but OPM has not filled four of the positions due to the hiring freeze, while three others are leaving under the deferred resignation program. Image: Matt Gush/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Postal Service Health Benefits program faces “critical resource issues” and the OPM has not ensured that the underlying system “will remain fully staffed, supported and funded” in light of OPM’s downsizing and reorganization, an inspector general audit has said.
OPM further does not have “a contingency plan to ensure continuity of operations for the PSHB program in the absence of secure funding,” leaving the program at risk of being unable to process open season enrollment decisions or enrollment changes due to life events, it said.
The “flash report” from the IG comes as the PSHB is in the middle of its first year of operation as a carve-out from the FEHB for Postal Service employees and retirees, and about four months before the open season for enrollment decisions for the 2026 plan year.
The report said that the central enrollment system created for the PSHB is based on a data platform requiring 11 skilled employees to operate but OPM has not filled vacancies in four of those positions due to the hiring freeze and three other current employees are due to leave under the deferred resignation program. “The loss of critical staff, in conjunction with the hiring freeze, risked operational failure of the data platform,” it said.
“Without skilled personnel, the data platform is at risk of ceasing to operate, causing other system failures” including sharing of information about enrollees with employing agencies and the interface with carriers used to negotiate rates, execute contracts and share information such as provider networks, it said.
The report added that last fall OPM received a special appropriation for the PSHB program through this March, but that its budget since then does not include that funding, leaving it without “the necessary appropriated funds to administer and support the PSHB program.”
The resource issues also leave uncertain whether OPM will be able to expand the central enrollment system to include the FEHB as planned, it added. It said OPM has estimated that the expansion could save $1 billion per year by increasing the ability to identify and cull out ineligible persons from FEHB coverage—an initiative OPM was ordered to undertake in a recently enacted budget measure.
In response to a recommendation that OPM “immediately address the skilled personnel shortages,” OPM management said “we have and will continue to work diligently to ensure adequate resources are available to sustain the program” and that it “will make future staffing adjustments if required.”
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The IG in turn though said that because “no evidence was provided that would confirm that the changes address the finding and recommendation,” it could not assess whether that will meet the need.
Similarly, in response to a recommendation that OPM act to “secure sufficient funding,” management said it has found cost savings in the associated contracts and has directed savings from elsewhere toward the program. But the IG similarly responded that OPM presented no supporting evidence, leaving the IG unable to express an opinion.
The report further recommended that OPM establish a contingency plan for PSHB operations in case it does not receive the needed level of funding moving forward. OPM pointed out that it has asked Congress for authority to tap into health benefits program financial reserves in that case. The IG however noted that while such a bill is pending in Congress, unless it is enacted, OPM faces “the potential loss of current PSHB centralized enrollment system functionality.”
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