The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released the final rule involving the Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Program. This rule clears up uncertainty about regulations concerning Medicare Part B enrollment and Medicare Part D integration, amongst other key points.
“This final rule expands on previous regulations concerning the PSHB Program and is intended to provide greater detail and clarity necessary to properly implement PSHB in 2025 and beyond. In particular, this final rule includes details on reconsideration of PSHB eligibility decisions, the Medicare Part B enrollment requirement, allocation of reserve credits, calendar year alignment of Government contribution requirements, financial reporting and actuarial calculations, premium payment prioritization from the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, and Medicare Part D integration.” OPM said in their final rule release.
NARFE’s comment letter in reaction to the prior proposed rule can be found here.
Currently with the final rule, OPM has confirmed the Medicare Part B enrollment requirement exception for certain survivor annuitants and more directly clarified their expectation of “equal or better” in regards to PSHB Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage when shown next to the corresponding PSHB drug coverage, both of which were strongly supported by NARFE.
However, OPM also affirmed their decision that Medicare-eligible Postal annuitants as well as their families will be automatically enrolled in their plan’s Medicare Part D prescription drug benefits. In the event that they choose to opt-out, those individuals would lose all prescription drug coverage under PSHB.
NARFE did not support this auto-enrollment/opt out provision in the interim decision, as they “believe in maintaining choice when considering healthcare coverage” but they “are hopeful that with the promise of “equal or better” coverage, Postal annuitants will be advantaged by this decision”.
The final rule’s effective date: October 24th, 2024
For further information, contact: Cameron Stokes, Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 936-2847 or Cameron.Stokes@opm.gov.
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