FEHB Change Also Included

Among the many provisions of the budget deal would be to allow creation of a self-plus-one option in the FEHB program, an idea that has been in circulation for years. Currently, the program allows only options for self-only coverage and self-and-family coverage, causing persons with only one eligible family member to complain that they are in effect subsidizing—by paying the same family premium rates—those with multiple covered family members. The White House formally proposed adding such an option earlier this year although the idea was quickly set aside and the administration never released many key details of its idea. The most important of those is exactly who would be eligible as the “one.” The FEDVIP program has a self-plus-one option and requires that the additional person be someone who would be eligible for coverage under standard family eligibility. That excludes, for example, unmarried domestic partners (although children of such partners are eligible under both FEHB and FEDVIP, under a recent rules change). Creating a self-plus-one option in FEHB likely would be a lengthy process and it would not be available until the 2015 plan year at the earliest.