FEHB Announcement Due Soon

Premium rates and plan features for the Federal Employees Health Benefits program’s 2003 plan year are due to be announced soon, with much of the anticipation focusing on how large the average premium increase will be. The Office of Personnel Management earlier this year ordered plans to take several potential cost-saving steps and said it would aggressively negotiate to hold down increases, but the same factors that have caused increases in the double digit range four straight years-primarily, the aging FEHB population and increasing prescription drug costs-remain in place. In the face of significant increases in the past, many enrollees have switched from fee for service plans to health maintenance organizations, but the dropout of many HMOs from the program in recent years has made that strategy unavailable to some participants.