Van Hollen, Connolly, Beyer Demand Delay of Enrollment Deadline Due to Drastic Insurance Premium Hikes for Some Federal Employees

Statement

Today Congressmen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Don Beyer (D-VA) demanded justification for outrageous premium increases and lack of adequate communication in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) and urged the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to extend the September 30th enrollment deadline. After a seven-year contract to oversee the program was awarded to the only bidder earlier this year, it was revealed that a total of 264,000 federal employees will face an average premium spike of 83 percent per month, with some seeing up to a 126 percent increase.

"Since this announcement was first made in July, we have not received acceptable answers for why changes in actuarial projections occurred so suddenly as to justify this dramatic premium hike, why the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) failed to provide advance notice of the impact of these projections to enrollees, and how OPM plans to improve oversight of the program to prevent sudden hikes in the future," the Members wrote in a letter to OPM Acting Director Beth F. Cobert. "As the enrollment deadline rapidly approaches, we have heard from many of our constituents who are angry, worried, and struggling to identify the best of several difficult options that are available to them.

They continued, "Given the lack of notice and short enrollment period, we believe it is appropriate to extend the deadline to allow our constituents more time to make a decision. Moreover, given that they face this decision through no fault of their own, they must be held harmless from any further rate increases during this process."

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