Sixty-five health plans to drop federal enrollees

More than 50,000 federal employees, retirees and others enrolled in the Federal Employees' Health Benefits Program will have to switch health plans this fall because 65 plans have decided to stop covering federal employees next year.

In 1998, 350 health plans offered insurance under FEHBP. In 1999, only 285 plans will participate in the program. The Office of Personnel Management, which runs FEHBP, attributes the decline to shakeouts and consolidations in the health-care industry. OPM Director Janice Lachance said the decline had nothing to do with the Clinton Administration's mandate that FEHBP health plans comply with the President's Patients' Bill of Rights.

"I would like to make one point absolutely clear, because the question is bound to be asked," Lachance said in a statement. "Expanded benefits and increased patient protections did not account for attrition among plans. Not one of the departing plans cited these as factors. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of plans, covering in excess of 95 percent of the individuals in the FEHB program, implemented the patient protections contained in the Patients' Bill of Rights at no added cost. The overall effect of the Patients' Bill of Rights was negligible."

Enrollees whose plans are dropping out of the program must choose a new health insurance provider during the FEHBP open season, which runs from Nov. 9 to Dec. 14 this year.

One fee-for-service plan, the Beneficial Association of Capitol Employees, is dropping out of the FEHBP. It covers about 1,200 employees. Other major plans and the number of enrollees affected are listed below.