Federal Daily - May 14, 2008

Lawmakers Examine Duplicative Federal Retiree Drug Coverage

Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Danny Davis, D-Ill., are questioning the enrollment of 200,000 federal retirees under duplicative drug coverage, which they said may waste as much as $200 million a year on unnecessary healthcare premiums. Waxman is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In a May 12 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the lawmakers wanted to know why CMS and OPM have not coordinated these benefits. Under federal law, when retirees are covered by both Medicare Part D and Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) drug coverage, Medicare is supposed to serve as the primary payer and FEHBP coverage is supposed to serve as the secondary payer, the letter said. However, it turns out that in almost all cases, the additional Part D benefits are duplicative and unnecessary, the letter said. Without coordination between the two plans, “the retiree would be paying twice for the same coverage,” the letter said. “The enrollment of retirees in Medicare Part D when they already have equivalent or even more generous coverage under FEHBP results in substantial costs to beneficiaries and to taxpayers.”  To see more, go to: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1940

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Whistleblower Claims TSA Reneged on Security Promises

In a disclosure to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a whistleblower claims the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has reneged on promises to correct security lapses, and that TSA mismanagement has left aviation security weaker than prior to the 9/11 attacks. Aviation security expert Bodgan Dzakovic, a former leader of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) covert security team, filed the new OSC disclosure March 12, according to documents posted on the Web site of the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower advocacy group. The new filing is a follow-up to previous whistleblower complaints Dzakovic filed after the 9/11 attacks. In the interim, Dzakovic claims, TSA has canceled overseas covert aviation testing, broadened its advance warnings of “unannounced” tests and intensified the old FAA “reactive” approach to terrorists instead of adopting more active strategies. Dzakovic’s latest disclosure asks OSC to order the Department of Homeland Security to investigate a range of concerns, including TSA mismanagement, waste and abuse of authority. To see more, go to: www.whistleblower.org/content/press_detail.cfm?press_id=1370.

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DoD Names New NSPS Executive

DoD announced on May 11 that Brad Bunn has been named as the new National Security Personnel System (NSPS) program executive officer (PEO), replacing Mary Lacey. In a statement announcing the changeover, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England credited Lacey—who has accepted a position with DoD’s Missile Defense Agency—with leading “the most significant transformation of the civil service system in a generation.” England also cited Bunn’s extensive civilian human resources experience within DoD, and said Bunn “has been an integral leader for NSPS over the last four years.” Bunn has served as deputy PEO since 2004. To see more, go to: www.cpms.osd.mil/nsps/news.html.

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