FederalDaily - February 7, 2007

Costs for Some Retirees Draws NTEU Criticism

The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) was sharply critical of President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal, which the union said includes a plan to scale back the government’s contribution to healthcare premiums for new federal retirees with less than a decade of government service. Bush’s budget states the government will seek to “reduce the amount of the government contribution for new annuitants with fewer than 10 years of federal service,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley. Rather than slashing the government’s contribution, Kelley said, the Office of Personnel Management should be finding ways to make health insurance more affordable for federal employees, retirees and families covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan. “In a time of escalating healthcare costs, it is unconscionable for the administration to propose reducing the government’s share of health insurance premiums for any group of eligible federal employees or retirees,” said Kelley on Feb. 5. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org.

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Congressman Introduces Restroom Gender Parity Bill

Under a measure introduced in the House, some new public building projects that receive a minimum of $1.5 million in federal funding would have to provide twice as many women’s restrooms as men’s restrooms. Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., introduced HR 693, the Restroom Gender Parity in Federal Buildings Act of 2007, on Feb. 2. The two-to-one ratio would be enforced on future federal projects brought before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Towns said. In older venues in particular, the number of fixtures—total toilets and urinals in men’s rooms—often far outnumbers the total fixtures in women’s facilities. To see more, go to: www.house.gov/list/press/ny10_towns/restroom.html.

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NARFE Supports President’s Retirement Modernization, Not HSAs

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) praised a proposal by President Bush to modernize the federal retirement claims-process system contained in the president’s FY 2008 budget proposal released Feb. 5. However, NARFE President Margaret Baptiste expressed concern over other proposals in the spending blueprint, including a plan to expand Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). The Bush budget enlarges a proposal made in 2006 which would allow Blue Cross/Blue Shield to offer HSAs in the FEHBP by requiring the Indemnity Benefit Plan to offer the option, Baptiste said. NARFE noted that a 2006 Government Accountability Office report found HSAs tended to attract younger and wealthier FEHBP enrollees. “NARFE opposes HSAs because they could increase premiums for comprehensive plans since relatively healthy enrollees with higher incomes could be siphoned off into HSAs,” Baptiste said. NARFE was also worried over a proposal to reduce the share the government pays toward the FEHBP premiums of certain future federal retirees, she said.
To see more, go to: www.narfe.org/departments/hq/guest/articles.cfm?ID=1085.

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