Posted on 10/04/2010 12:27:26 PM PDT by freespirited
Health insurance premiums for federal workers will increase next year, but would have been higher if not for the government's bargaining power, the Obama administration's personnel chief said Monday.
The government announced Friday (without the fanfare of other years) that health care costs for federal workers will increase at a far greater rate than their pay next year, but still at rates less than the premiums of many private-sector workers.
Average increases for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program will be 7.2 percent, significantly more than the anticipated 1.4 percent pay raise in 2011.
"The rates are actually much lower than our counterparts in the private sector," Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry said Monday in his first comments about the rate increases. (Video of the exchange will be posted later.) "You also have to factor in that we're providing three [new] benefits this year, so we're increasing the benefits while our rate increase is lower than it is in the private sector." (OPM said Friday that premiums for private-sector plans are expected to rise between 8.9 percent and 10.5 percent.)
FEHBP for the first time will cover the children of enrollees up to age 26, will fully cover the costs of preventive care services and fully cover tobacco cessation classes, Berry said.
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
So we the Tax payers are ultimately picking up the difference between the 1.4% raise and the 7.2% increase. As well as the increases to our own premiums in the private sector.
For everything bad Obama’s answer is “Without ME it would have been far worse”.
there they go again.the re-hashed TARP/porkulus argument.
“it would have been even worse had we not _____ fill in the blank.”
Goes without saying, since it looks like federal workers aren't getting a pay increase next year. Nor should we.
IIRC taxpayers pick up 72% of the tab; employees pay the rest.
November elections are perfectly timed. Every placed I’ve ever worked had “open season” for health insurance in October/November. My guess is everyone will see a huge increase in premiums this year due to Obamacare. It will remind people what this bill actually did, increased costs.
Q: What would Obama have said if he had been captain of the Titanic?
A: Thanks to me, we only hit one iceberg!
Q: What would Obama have said if he had been captain of the Titanic?
A: Thanks to me, we only hit one iceberg!
I’m not positive, but I think it’s a 50/50 split. All I know is my husband’s premium is close to $600 a month, and looks like it is going higher.
I am dreading looking at my insurance package for next year, but the higher the premiums go, the more I will rail against the dems who made it happen.
“but would have been higher if not for the government’s bargaining power,”
Yeah right!
The monthly premium varies based upon which plan you choose and probably which state you live in. The Government contribution shoud be the same for you and I though:
Mine is $400/month (BCBS) which is 33%. The government pays the remaining 67%.
Here we have young people being pushed into the federal plan on their parents' policies and LO AND BEHOLD it's raising the price for everybody!
Note that federal policies already required insurers cover federal employees, retirees and dependents for "pre-existing conditions". We've been paying through the nose for that nonsense for years.
The real problem is the OPM director himself, and the other Obama appointees.
Obama has not been able to attract talent to his regime, so this is what we get.
Best bet is to have Obama simply fire all his appointees and leave those positions vacant. Career employees will be able to run things, and Fur Shur negotiate better deals for employee health care plans!
I am a retired USG employee with 36 years of service. The USG pays about 70% of the costs of health insurance. Mine is 72%.
Hubby says he thinks it’s about 60%. He is not technically Federal Government as it is traditionally viewed. He works for the Supreme Court - His ultimate boss is Chief Justice Roberts, not the president.
He says they have a few tweaks here and there that mark them as different. For instance, there have been a few times where they worked when OPM released everyone else and vice versa.
I pay $294.61 a month for high option, self and family plan. The USG pays $814.75 a month. That works out to 73.4% by the USG. The FEHB Program provides a Cadillac plan, which is why the federal unions lobbied to have them exempted from the new Obamacare tax on such plans--at least for awhile.
BCBS no longer has a high option, might want to check your plan. It’s been gone for over 2 years
And do retirees pay half or something? His premium is almost exactly that - 295 and some change on a biweekly schedule, rather than monthly
2010 Rate Information for the Foreign Service Benefit Plan
No, retirees pay the same price as when working, which is really a subsidy for those who are working since Medicare becomes the primary insurance.
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