OPM official ducks lawmakers' call for better dental, vision benefits

Senior House lawmakers on Tuesday pressed the Office of Personnel Management to explore options for expanding federal workers' dental and vision health care benefits, but a senior OPM official said the agency has not yet looked into the issue and currently has no plans to do so.

Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., held a hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization to discuss the dental and vision benefits available to federal employees. Davis, the subcommittee chairwoman, introduced legislation (H.R. 3751) earlier this year that would compel OPM to examine ways to enhance those benefits.

"It is a black mark against the federal government that its current dental and vision offerings are so meager," she said.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., praised the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but said it needs to be updated and improved. FEHBP provides health care coverage for 8.3 million federal employees, retirees and their families.

"While dental benefits are currently available under most plans in the FEHBP, coverage is very limited," Tom Davis said. "In addition, vision care is only available through HMOs."

Abby Block, the OPM deputy associate director for Employee and Family Support Policy, told the subcommittee that the Bush administration has not taken a position on the legislation. While Block said she was willing to answer lawmakers' questions, she responded to almost every query by saying that the White House has not yet developed an opinion on expanding dental and vision benefits.

She said also that the administration has no time line in place for developing such a position.

When asked if federal employees actually want greater dental and vision benefits, Block said she could not speak for federal employees' desires. She also would not agree to conduct a survey to measure federal employees' opinion on the subject.

"I'm not in a position to promise we could do such a survey," Block said.

Jo Ann Davis' proposed resolution would require OPM to develop recommendations on federal dental and vision benefits by June 30, 2004. Block said that the Bush administration is opposed to any congressional requirements to make recommendations.