New Plan Choices May Appear-Or Not

In addition to various measures to hold down costs, OPM has been encouraging plans to offer non-traditional designs. The most significant plan innovation for 2003 was the American Postal Workers Union’s offering that combines a personal care account, a deductible after that account is spent, and then fee-for-service type coverage. The APWU plan is widely viewed as a possible precedent for other plans to follow, although it’s unclear whether other plans will follow suit, at least for the 2004 plan year. Other carriers might prefer to have the benefit of watching the APWU plan in operation for a few years before launching their own alternative structures. Enrollees also will be watching to see if the program has stabilized after years of plans-mostly health maintenance organizations–dropping out of the program or restricting their coverage areas. There was relatively little of that for plan year 2003 while several new plans joined and some previous ones expanded their coverage areas.