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Feds' brand-new dental, vision program is a hit

Dental, vision insurance program draws a crowd

Date published: 1/14/2007

THE Office of Personnel Management just reported that nearly 700,000 people have enrolled in the new Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program. This was federal workers' first opportunity to sign up for this new benefit, and the response was so overwhelming that OPM chose to extend the enrollment deadline.

Those who enrolled will be able to use pre-tax dollars to pay the premiums for vision and dental plans offered by a host of OPM-approved providers. Unlike some other federal employee insurance benefits, the entire dental and vision program must be financed through the premiums paid by federal workers--there is no government contribution.

After its first offering, the new dental-vision benefit plan appears to be a big success with federal workers. This is in contrast to the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program that OPM began in 2002.

The Government Accountability Office recently reviewed the Federal Long Care Insurance Program and reported that in its first three years only 214,000 individuals had enrolled. About 19 million people were eligible since it included all federal and postal employees and retirees, active and retired members of the military and the qualified relatives of these people.

The Long Term Care Insurance Program allows enrollees to pay a fixed monthly or biweekly premium to help defray the high out-of-pocket costs of assisted living or nursing home care. With an aging population and escalating long-term-care costs, the program's enrollment figures were expected to be higher.

The GAO determined that the premium's cost did not appear to be a factor since the new federal program typically offered lower premiums for similar benefits in comparison to private sector plans.

The focus then turned to the plan's marketing. The GAO discovered that about 60 percent of those most eligible to enroll could not be contacted because no centralized database of their home addresses was available. OPM did not have the data and felt it would be too burdensome to request it from other federal agencies. Despite this challenge, GAO estimated that about 40 percent of those eligible received a direct mailing.

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Date published: 1/14/2007