Fedweek

Those interested in the new self plus one option in the FEHB program that will be available for the 2016 plan year will have to elect to enroll in it, OPM has said. In a briefing to benefits officers, OPM stressed that FEHB enrollees with only one eligible family member will not be enrolled automatically, saying neither OPM nor employing agencies have authority to make such a change on their own. (It added, however, that there could be situations in which coverage on a child would be ordered by a court; further guidance on that issue is pending.) Many FEHB enrollees with family coverage but only one eligible family member have been eager for a self plus one option for years, based on the view that premiums will be lower than they currently are paying by being in a premium pool along with family enrollees with more eligible family members. OPM likewise assumes that premium rates for self plus one will fall between those of self only and self and family coverage, although it recently specified that those rates cannot exceed family rates, just in case they otherwise would work out to be higher than family rates. Some have speculated that might happen based on the view that self plus one enrollees on average will be older than the program-wide average, consisting mainly of couples with no children under the age 26 cutoff. Enrollments in FEHB self plus one will be available starting in the open season that will begin November 9. OPM also reiterated in its briefing that the second person would have to be someone eligible as a family member under long-standing policies that are not changing.