Return to Article: House approves new dental, vision benefits package
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7606
The fallacy I see with this plan is the involvement of OPM. Since when have they EVER had the best interests of government workers in mind? All they care about now is outsourcing government jobs and telling Dubya how "wonderfully" his privatization plan is working.
Even if this thing goes through, Kay Cole James will just end up making a quick phone call to an insurance company and say "OK, that price sounds good." You don't think OPM (of ALL agencies) will actually put any EFFORT into negotiating the best prices do you? How in the world can anyone have any confidence whatsoever in anything that has OPM's name attached to it? Can anyone answer that one for me?
DSR
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7469
Rep. Collins from Maine does not have a clue as to how much we Fed-employees pay out for health care as of 12-04. To say that we are giving Fed-employees additional dental care means nothing if the cost is astronomical. I believe taxpayers pay all of her benefits, and not one dime comes out of her pocket. I can not wait until 2008 when we can vote these Republicans out of office for good. Send her a copy of this statement if you want to.
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7464
Now it all boils down to how much it will cost us to be covered by these plans if we elect to use them. If OPM cannot negotiate a price well below what is already available through private insurance nothing has really been gained nor should it be boasted about as a new entitlement.
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7450
Why?
Not all teacher contracts are created equally in Pennsylvania. In my ex's school district, it will cost him nearly $800/month (for family) to carry his coverage in retirement. It will be around $300/month for self.
Incidently, his district is working without a contract. One of the issues is, the district wants the teachers to pay $15/pay for insurance pemiums. I would gladly pay $15/pay for their excellent coverage.
I probably will not get the new dental and vision benefits package, when it is offered by the government. Mailhandlers and GEHA had optional coverage and I found the coverage wasn't worth what the premiums cost.
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7445
We are at the opposite extreme from the 100% health care coverage benefits that public school teachers receive. They recently proposed that teachers in one town near me to contribute $180 a year and what an uproar of winers and complainers from the teachers! Naturally, it was voted down.
BTW, in Pennsylvania, retired teachers and their spouses continue to receive 100% health care coverage till they die.
Interesting that tax dollars are paying for all this too!
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7441
I agree it is about time, but OPM should take NONE of the credit; that goes to Senator Collins and others like her who have the backbone to stand up for us. Thank you, Senator! OPM, as I have said before, needs to stop letting the Health Care Providers lead them around by the nose. Is there one REAL BACKBONE in all of OPM? We should have had Dental and Vision care as part of our coverage from day one. I was shocked when this column reported earlier that an OPM person had said she did not know if Civil Servants would want Dental and vision benefits...the better to see how "clueless" you are in OPM! I am glad we have the coverage now; hopefully OPM will at least TRY to negotiate a decent package. I agree that it should be at NO EXTRA COST...as long as "king W" keeps "messing" with our pay raises; this year I lose money with the "raise" minus the Health Care INCREASE. Too bad "Ross the boss" was not on the ticket in NOV; enough Republicans could have "jumped ship" like in 1992, and Kerry could have slid in.
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7437
Many private employers pay part of the cost of dental or vision coverage. So while this is a positive step, federal employees still fare poorly when compared to employees of many large private employers with dental & vision coverage.
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7435
Ok, this is great, but does it apply to retirees, too? You don't suddenly stop needing vision and dental check-ups/work just because you retire. In fact, you usually need them more.
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7434
That is great news. The military has such a good dental program with United Concordia I have wondered why the Federal Government didn't have one too.
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7432
I'm curious to see how this new plan helps us. We can already get this with pre-tax dollars using our FSAs, for example. I can only hope that they're able to negotiate plans that cost half of what's available now with no waiting periods for major dental work. What bothers me is that non-government agencies pay part or all of the premiums for their employees, so I'm curious to see how this makes the government's benefit package comparable when the government isn't paying any of the premiums. I guess we'll just have to wait-and-see.
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7429
This will be better than nothing. It should have been given to us years ago. Why do we have to pay the full price for it??? Couldn't the government chip in a little for the benifits? It's a shame when criminals in our prisons and people on welfare have better coverage than those of us that help protect this great country of ours! They get it for free. Paid for by you and me. Why is that??
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