Postal service health benefits and the FEHBP

Your Turn

Postal service health benefits and the FEHBP

Insurance expert and author Walton Francis joins host Mike Causey to talk about how the pending Postal Service Reform Act, could affect the health care benefits of...

September 27, 2016 5:57 pm

2 min read

Will a proposed new separate health plan for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and retirees and their spouses and dependents prompt major changes for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program for all other federal employees?

A new study by the Heritage Foundation says a postal reform bill in Congress would mean extra costs for retirees in the federal health plan and for American taxpayers who subsidize about 75 percent of the premiums paid by postal workers.

What makes this report solid, in the eyes of many, is its author, Walton J. Francis. He’s well known to federal and postal workers and retirees as the editor of CHECKBOOK’s Guide to Federal Health Plans for Federal Employees & Annuitants.

The in-depth (14 page) report is entitled “Postal Service Health Benefits and FEHBP: The Urgent Case for Getting Reform Right.” The “reform” in the title stands for the pending Postal Service Reform Act (H.R. 5714) before Congress. Enactment of the plan, Francis says, would mean “shifting postal retirees’ primary health care coverage from the FEHBP to Medicare.”

So what’s in this reform package for you?

Today at 10 a.m. on our Your Turn radio show, host Mike Causey will talk with Francis about his report and the danger he believes is in the reform package for both postal and non-postal workers and for everyone in the FEHBP. If you have questions for Francis, please send them to Mike before showtime (that’s 10 a.m. EDT) at: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com or call us at 202-465-3080

If you can’t listen the show will be archived later today on the Your Turn page. You can listen live streaming at FederalNewsRadio.com or on 1500 AM in the Washington metro area. You can also dial 712-432-5393 during the show to listen live from any phone.

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