The law requires that the new plan have coverage terms paralleling FEHB offerings but with a separate premium pool. Image: Matt Gush/Shutterstock.com
OPM has said that it plans to issue as soon as April rules to govern the separate health insurance program to replace FEHB coverage starting in 2025 for Postal Service employees, retirees and family members under a law enacted last year.
The rules will ensure continuity of coverage and “enable enrollees access to more prescription drug coverage options and potential reduction in prescription drug costs for Medicare Part D eligible enrollees,” OPM said. They further will “enable use of a central enrollment portal that will reduce administrative burden for enrollment, ensure more accurate payment of plans, allow more frequent sharing of enrollment data with plans, and limit human error,” OPM said.
The notice was in the most recently posted “unified agenda” of rules that federal agencies have in progress. The rules on the new “Postal Service Health Benefits Program” are to be issued as interim final rules, meaning they will take effect without a notice and comment period—although later revisions would still be possible.
The law requires that the new plan have coverage terms paralleling FEHB offerings but with a separate premium pool and with future retirees required to enroll in Medicare parts B (physician and related services) and D (prescription drug benefits) when they are eligible, typically at age 65. The CBO has estimated that premium rates will be lower than in parallel FEHB plans, largely due to shifting more costs of retiree claims onto Medicare; about a quarter of postal retirees currently do not enroll in Part B, which becomes the primary payer for those who have both that and FEHB.
Also ahead, OPM said, are rules to finalize policies: expanding eligibility for the FEDVIP program to certain temporary, seasonal or intermittent employees; exempting employees from annual use or lose leave requirements if they could not use leave due to work needs related to a national emergency; and requiring agencies to publicly post findings of discrimination against employees and take disciplinary actions against those responsible.
House GOP Advances ‘Holman Rule,’ Backs Restrictions on Agency Spending
Ineligible Enrollees Adding to Cost of FEHB Premiums, Says GAO
Change in Direction on Employee Issues Ahead in New Congress
House Republicans Move to Revive Rule for Targeting Individual Federal Employees
January Raise Finalized, Will Range from 4.37 to 5.15 Percent
See also,
Decisions to Make about FEGLI after Retirement
Oversight of Federal Employment, Retirement Issues Ahead
The TSP 2022 Website and Unresolved Issues
The Process of Retiring: Check Your Agency’s Work