With the annual benefits open season affecting FEHB under way, a misunderstanding seems to be continuing in the federal workforce regarding Affordable Care Act insurance plans. So-called Obamacare has no impact on eligibility for FEHB coverage except that members of Congress and their personal staff must leave FEHB and get their health care through the exchanges (or from another source such as a spouse’s employment)—and, to keep the government contribution toward premiums, specifically from one plan offered in the District of Columbia. Other FEHB-eligible persons are unaffected; they could voluntarily leave for the exchanges but there are strong reasons not to, starting with the loss of the employer contribution toward health care, which is worth about 70 percent of the total premium cost in FEHB. Several other attractive features of FEHB also would be lost for those who left voluntarily: eligibility to continue it in retirement (generally, an individual must be under FEHB for the five years leading up to retirement to continue it), and eligibility of family members to continue it in the case of death in service. Those covered by FEHB will not be subject to the tax penalties under the ACA since all FEHB plans are deemed to provide the level of coverage needed to avoid those penalties. However, those who decline FEHB coverage (or are ineligible, for example many temporary employees) must have other qualifying coverage or else the penalty will apply.
