FEHB Premium Hikes in Line

The rise in Federal Employees Health Benefits program premiums in recent years has been in line with increases in other large employer-sponsored health insurance plans, the General Accounting Office has found. It said that in comparison to an average of large employers-those with at least 5,000 employees-and with the largest state employee health insurance program-the CalPERS system for employees of California-FEHB premiums increased at a lower rate in the first half of the 1990s and have increased at a slightly higher rate since then. GAO’s report (GAO-03-236) also noted that FEHB premium increases “were partially offset by some plans reducing benefits-mostly increased enrollee cost sharing-and some enrollees switching to plans with lower premiums.”