FederalDaily - May 22, 2007

GAO: Aging Workforce, Higher Costs Driving FEHBP Premiums

Average Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) premiums may have slowed from a peak of 12.9 percent for 2002 to 1.8 percent for 2007, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that higher healthcare costs—and a growing number of older enrollees—are driving FEHBP hikes in those plans with higher than average spikes. GAO outlined the factors impacting FEHBP premium increases in May 18 testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management and the Federal Workforce. GAO said officials the agency interviewed from most of the FEHBP plans with higher-than-average premium growth cited increases in the cost and utilization of services—as well as a high share of older enrollees and early retirees— as major drivers of hikes. From 2001 through 2005, the average age of enrollees across eight plans with higher-than-average premium growth increased by 2.7 years—compared with an average increase of 0.5 years across all FEHBP plans, the report noted. Programs with lower-than-average premium growth reported that from 2001 through 2005 the average age of enrollees decreased by 0.5 years. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d07873t.pdf

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AFGE: Senate Should Take Immediate Action on NSPS

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) urged the Senate to follow the House’s lead and pass legislation that would dismantle rules for DoD’s National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The House measure—placed into the FY 2008 defense authorization bill passed last week—would restore bargaining and appeal rights for civilian DoD employees, which were sharply curtailed in 2005 when DoD issued the new NSPS rules. The measure becomes more important in light of a new U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that reversed a lower-court decision that held that NSPS is illegal and potentially abusive. “In giving DoD the original authority to create a personnel system, Congress trusted the agency not to take advantage of that power,” AFGE National President John Gage said on May 18. “With (the) bill, the House said that DoD must be stopped and now is the time for the Senate to do the same.” To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=744

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Senators Demand Notification, Care for Sarin-Exposed Veterans

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Kit Bond, R-Mo., and John Rockefeller, D-W.V., on May 17 renewed their call for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and DoD to help Gulf War veterans exposed to dangerous sarin nerve gas in 1991. The senators point to two new DoD- and VA-funded studies which show a “significant association” between Gulf War illnesses and nerve agent exposure in Khamisiyah, Iraq in 1991, when an Iraqi arms depot was destroyed. Over 100,000 U.S. troops were exposed to the toxic agents, and the senators asked they be notified of the potential problems. However, the Pentagon said it still hasn’t decided whether to inform veterans about the possibility of a link between exposure and brain damage. “In light of these new and important studies, we believe that the VA and DoD should move forward with more research to find better and more effective treatments for the many thousands of ill Gulf War veterans,” the senators wrote. To see more, go to: http://bond.senate.gov/press_section/record.cfm?id=274543

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