On 10/5/09 10:34 AM, thunder wrote:
On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:04:26 -0400, tiny wrote:


Should we all get the same health care coverage and quality of
treatment that our legislators do?

We should have the same options and they should not have options we
have, that's the sneaky part when they are asked. They always say "we
will have the same options as you", but will not say if we will have the
same options as they do... watch carefully next time one is asked...

It's not just legislators, I believe it's all federal employees who have
that coverage. And, no, you will not get the same options as long as you
are depending on private business for your health insurance.


Virtually all federal employees/retirees are eligible for the FEHBP
program.

The federal government exerts close oversight over the program. There
are several hundred different plans available.

This, from wiki, is pretty accurate:

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) is a system of
"managed competition" through which employee health benefits are
provided to full-time permanent civilian government employees and
qualified retirees of the United States Government. The FEHBP allows
insurance companies and employee associations such as labor unions to
develop health, dental, and allied plans to be marketed to governmental
employees.

These plans are available to employees during an "open enrollment" once
probationary status has been passed by a new employee, during which time
the employee, if accepting enrollment, will be covered fully in any plan
he or she chooses without limitations regarding pre-existing conditions.
After the initial enrollment, changes can be made only upon a
"qualifying life event" such as marriage, divorce, adoption or birth of
a child, or change in employment status of a spouse, or during the
annual "open season," during which employees can enroll, disenroll, or
change from one plan to another. The exact dates of the open season
change from year to year, but are basically from the Monday of the
second full week in November through Monday, the second full week of
December.

Premiums vary from plan to plan and are paid in part by the employer
(the U. S. Government agency that the employee works for) and the
remainder by the employee: the employer pays an amount equal to 72
percent of the average plan premium for self-only or family coverage
(not to exceed 75 percent of the premium for the selected plan), and the
employee pays the rest. Certain employees (such as postal workers) have
a higher portion of their premiums paid as the result of collective
bargaining agreements.

Some plans, particularly the one offered by some employee unions such as
the National Association of Letter Carriers, and by the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Association on behalf of its member insurers, are
nationwide; others are regionally-available plans such as HMOs. The
FEHBP is open to members of United States Congress; in the 2004
presidential campaign, Senator John Kerry proposed opening enrollment in
this plan to all Americans.


--
Birther-Deather-Tenther-Teabagger:
Idiots All