SGR ‘pay for’ threatens to undermine healthcare of hundreds of thousands of federal government workers

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union representing government workers in virtually all functions of government. The government workers that AFGE represents are the vital threads of the fabric of American life, and we take seriously our responsibility to ensure that they are treated fairly and with dignity.

We are also one of the few nationally affiliated unions to have all of our 1,100 local organizations affiliated at the state level, which gives us a unique perspective and understanding of how federal public policy impacts hardworking Americans everyday. That is why, on behalf of 650,000 federal and DC workers nationwide, I am speaking out against a recent policy proposal by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that threatens to undermine the healthcare of our federal government workforce.

{mosads}Recently, as part of bipartisan discussions over the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), OPM is rumored to have put forth a major change to the Federal Employment Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) as a supposed cost-saving measure that would allow regional Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) to compete against national PPOs. OPM argues that this plan would save taxpayer dollars while providing consumers with more competition at lower cost. That is simply not true.

In this case, OPM assumes that regional PPOs will modernize the program; they will not. They will simply reallocate costs, resulting in negligible savings and an increase in premiums for national plans across the country.

Instead, if the federal government wants to cultivate competition on the local level that would benefit hardworking government employees across this country, a standard benefit package should be created that would require plans to compete on the basis of cost and quality. The current proposal would only create false competition by segmenting the market, leaving consumers at risk.

Even worse, according to various calculations by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) over the years, this proposal saves nothing, or could even cost the federal government money. At best, the Administration’s own figures confirm a low savings of only $71 million over 10 years, a number that is negligible compared to the potential negative impact on hardworking Americans and their families.

Government employees inspect the food we eat and the places we work, they protect our citizens from harm, maintain the safety of our nation’s borders, care for our nation’s veterans, serve as a vital link to Social Security recipients and keep the national defense systems prepared for any danger. They serve our nation as police officers, mechanics, lawyers, correctional officers, environmentalists, nurses and mine inspectors. They are our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. The members of Congress who serve our communities have a responsibility to put in place public policies that serve their best interests. This very clearly does not.

At AFGE, we understand the importance – and extraordinary difficulty – of developing responsible policies that put our country on a fiscally sustainable path. We also understand the importance of maintaining good healthcare plans with stable provider networks for our members. American government workers sacrifice to make ends meet while serving their country every day. It is on their behalf that I am asking members of Congress to reject this ill-advised plan and work together to develop policy solutions that work for all Americans.

Cox is president of AFGE.