Reminder: No FEHB Self Plus One in 2015

Although a law enacted late in 2013 allows for the FEHB program to offer a self-plus one option, that choice will not be available until the election period for the 2016 plan year, OPM has reminded agencies. OPM earlier this year said it needs time to coordinate the change with the insurance carriers and agency payroll offices in order to be ready for the open season next year. In its latest guidance, it said they must have their payroll systems ready by next September 1 to accommodate the option in next year’s open season. Currently FEHB offers only two options, self plus one and self and family, with the latter charging the same premiums no matter how many family members are covered. That long has been a sore point for FEHB enrollees who have only one eligible family member—such as a couple with no eligible children or a single parent with one eligible child—who argue that they are subsidizing self and family enrollees with more eligible family members. OPM has not put out implementing rules even in proposed form, but policies in general are expected to mirror those under FEDVIP, which has a self plus one option. In FEDVIP, the second person has to be someone who would be eligible for coverage under the family option—excluding, for example, a domestic partner or a dependent parent. Premiums for the new FEHB option will fall between the two existing options for a plan, but exactly how they will stack up is still to be determined.