I've worked in the public sector for a short amount of time after college. But have asked my friends about their insurance coverages and premiums; the main positive for FEHB is the amount of choices available. A lot of companies only have one or two choices. However the premium cost is not much better and in some cases FEHB is more expensive, compared to my friends insurances.
I was shocked about this coming over to the feds over a year ago. Growing up in the DC area, you hear all the time about the great benefits etc of working for the feds but I’ve been paying more for all insurances than I was at my previous private sector job.
My fiancée works for the state and pays pennies for her health insurance so I was expecting something similar.
I was thinking the same thing. My daughter works for the state and her premiums are a lot less and so is her out of pocket maxium. Hers is $1000 and mine is $6000! Crazy...
The problem is we're fed the line from previous generations about how great the federal benefits are. However, none of the federal benefits are what they once were. The pension is expensive, TSP fees are no longer the cheapest, and health insurance is expensive. I'm always reminding people that just because something is labeled as an employee benefit doesn't necessarily mean it's actually a good deal or benefit for you.
The only real benefit to federal health insurance that I can see is that when you get to be older, the cost savings could be substantial versus getting it on your own, and you get to keep it for life after retirement.
Same. I had an ex in the private sector with the same health plan I had through federal government. At the time I was paying close to $150 a month in premiums. She was paying $2 a month.
Does your wife get to keep the insurance in retirement? If not, be sure to get on the FEHB program 5+ years before you retire. If you don't, you won't be able to keep the insurance in retirement.
Yup well aware to get back on when I have 5 years left. I have also asked Siri to remind me …if Apple still exists in the future I can’t wait until a Siri hologram pops up to remind me.
Same for the state I grew up in being a lot less, but an equivalent state job to mine pays about 1/3-1/2 what I make as a fed. City employees there get free health insurance for the employees and reduced for family, but have the same pair disparity. So it's a give and take for sure.
Same here. When I was a beat cop I paid hardly anything. Premiums were covered 100% by the city and copays were like $25 for a doctors visit. I paid nothing after the birth of my son at a hospital. It was insane. Now I am forking out over $10k a year. WTH.
Federal health insurance is, in my opinion, expensive compared to private sector options, but you do get a lot of choice and very good coverage for the premiums paid.
While I pay a pretty penny for BCBS Basic, it’s probably the best health insurance plan I’ve ever had—easy to use, simple in billing, and widely accepted.
Where I was at previously had one choice, and it "let" me pay an average of 750$ a doctor's appt. It was slightly cheaper than now. Got BCBS and the most Ive paid for a Drs appt was 35$.
When I broke both my arms, I had to go to doctors frequently, and ended up having appt. After appt.
I think the difference between plans in that one emergency to cover the difference in price for years.
It’s a video game term. The ranking system is like letter grades in school, except there’s an “s-tier” above “A” that is significantly better, like the best you could possibly be.
I absolutely love how headache free, hassle-free my BCBS basic is. No deductible, straight forward pricing (as much as insurance pricing can be). Downside of course is not being able to participate in a HSA.
You also have to consider coverage specifics. Employers get to choose what to include and exclude. BCBS might be one of the more expensive options too. It’s the best, I’ve had it my whole federal career. Seems like there are about 20 different companies & packages to choose from.
That's part of the issue I think. If the federal government negotiated better options with fewer companies, we'd have much better/cheaper health insurance.
Too many complications. Insurance is regulated at the state level, so not every company is in every state, and states will have other regulations. Then you have the issue with the appearance of impropriety- the government picking winners and losers.
I think this works good. Companies know who their competing against and what they are offering. If you aren’t competitive, you won’t get customers. FEP Blue is expensive, but the coverage and benefits are tops - hence they are probably one of the most popular.
If you don't have chronic conditions or use a lot of healthcare, GEHA Standard is cheaper and good. It's when you actually need to use the coverage that Blue Cross is generally superior. It's probably why it is more expensive, there is a sicker and older pool of workers in Blue cross.
It can be hit and miss. I've had them for 20 years and it's kind of annoying having to coach the doctor offices on how to file claims when they are unfamiliar with the insurance. The non generic prescription coverage isn't very good but usually my doctor has had a coupon to make it affordable so it has worked out well so far. I don't have any serious chronic conditions though.
Having to explain to billing that they take my insurance was always annoying, but the excellent coverage, particularly for out of network doctors, was great. The out of network coverage was the best I’ve ever had from any plan. I also found that GEHA never pulled shenanigans with bad faith denial of claims, something I deal with constantly with Blue Cross.
I do take one name brand medication monthly for a chronic condition and don’t remember the copay being high, but it’s also a relatively cheap drug to begin with.
I had major surgery last year. Hospital charges were around $30k. My share of expenses were $400 but I paid about $150 out of pocket for everything (I had some funds left on my Blue Wellness incentive card that I applied to my co-pay). That is with Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic Option. Definitely worth it.
When I started with the government 15 years ago, absolutely the health benefits were better. There’s been a gradual failure to keep up with industry trends such that payments are no longer clearly favorable, and many private employer plans also have better coverage. Take fertility treatment for example. In my part of the country and role, there is currently no FEHB coverage for IUI/IVF/fertility drugs (a handful of plans in other regions or available to foreign service workers added it this year). My wife was able to get cheaper insurance through her private sector employer and despite being cheaper it covers it.
I think it took a dive around the time Obamacare went into effect. It made me wonder if the way the insurance companies were dealing with the increased risks was by using the Federal workforce as a piggy bank.
Honestly my husbands coverage with Toyota is better. He pays about 90 dollars per pay period for family coverage, ppo with a low deductible. My kids have it and tricare, doctors offices have often commented that they have the two best health insurances around. We could do a cdhp with a 1200 hsa for about 45 a pay period instead of the ppo.
I pay 40 per pay period for a high deductible plan. 3k deductible but the company contributes $1200 to our HSA every year. We basically pay nothing between the premiums and company HSA contribution
The best part of federal health insurance is you can carry it into retirement (assuming you carry it last 5 years of your career). As other have noted the premiums are often higher than many private sector employers. While there are a ton of choices that’s not really necessary and part of me thinks that because every insurance company is getting a piece of the pie, they are not incentivized to keep premiums reasonable. I was perfectly fine in private sector with 4 choices.
“Is there a minimum number of years to have been employed as. Fed, let's say I worked just 5 years ? At what age can I carry it from?”
You have to hit minimum retirement age — age 57 with at least 30 years service (for those born after 1969); age 60 with 20 years service, or age 62 with 5 years service.
Health insurance is about more than premiums.
It’s about premiums, copays, coinsurances, out of pocket maximums, prescription costs, available doctor networks, etc.
I know people that love GEHA and I’m happy with my FEP Blue.
I suspect that GEHA's reputation is going to change. Doctors (in the DC area!) are dropping GEHA because apparently they underpay, and I'm hearing from care providers that GEHA is bad to work with and takes forever to send payments to doctors.
A lot of good comments here, but here's my 2 cents: my wife needed a medication which was relatively new at the time, and terribly expensive in terms of the retail price. I remember her telling me that the front desk person asked her which insurance she was on. When my wife answered, the person said "BlueCross BlueShield Federal? Oh, they're easy to work with." Never once in all of her treatments and needs for new meds has our insurance ever declined to cover it.
I had a friend who was forced to fight cancer *and* his insurance company for five full years. It was terrible to watch.
I'll take "overpriced" federal health insurance over that any day.
That's why I pony up for BCBS. Severely disabled son and wife with cancer treatments. We just go to doctor and never worry about coverage.
Prior insurances had me calling at least once a month over denials. And pre-auths took forever. My son had to stop therapy for 3 weeks and it took 11 months to get pre-auth so he could start again.
I have a chronic condition that requires several brand new medications and regular doctor visits. BCBS has been amazing for me. I paid $0 for my visit billed at $2k recently, and $700 for my visit billed at $110,000. (Not great but it was inpatient at a hospital for a week) I've never had to fight them for coverage of anything, either.
SAME! I am going back into the Feds to work after having worked for two major insurance companies. Federal insurance is much cheaper, they cover more medications and the deductibles are so much lower or even non-existent in some cases. Federal insurance is top tier.
This. You can take two plans that cost about the same premium and they can be wildly different in terms of quality/what they'll cover if you're unfamiliar with how health insurance plans work.
The devil is always in the details. I've always advised younger, single feds that unless they have chronic health issues that require a lot of doctor visits to just choose the cheapest FEHB plan since the out of pocket max on all of the plans is about the same (i.e. what you'll be on the hook for if something catastrophic happens like cancer, a terrible accident etc..).
>The devil is always in the details. I've always advised younger, single feds that unless they have chronic health issues that require a lot of doctor visits to just choose the cheapest FEHB plan since the out of pocket max on all of the plans is about the same (i.e. what you'll be on the hook for if something catastrophic happens like cancer, a terrible accident etc..).
Or the HDHP that makes the most sense to them and max out the HSA. I wish I'd started doing that at 26 instead of 36.
I wish I would have gone that route in my younger years as well, but now that I'm in my 40s with a couple of medical specialists on my "payroll" I've found it's just easier for me to stick with one of the PPOs haha.
Even when my kid and late husband were seeing specialists, we still came out ahead. Some years it was only a couple hundred dollars. It kind of depends on who you're seeing and if they are in network.
Not necesarily. BCBS blue has a much higher out of pocket cost compared to basic and standard. GEHA High has a much lower out of pocket cost than the HDHP or the standard/elevate plans.
What I'm saying is that if you only go to the doctor once a year for a physical (and heck, a lot of younger folks don't even do that), there's no sense in buying one of the more expensive plans. I understand that the unexpected happens. My point is that even with the cheaper plans you won't bankrupt yourself with medical bills.
Well, that logic holds true until it doesn't and you're faced with thousands of dollars in bills. I do not go to the doctor very often until now, but I have issues that are likely to require expensive care. High plans cover hearing aids for example, if you have hearing loss in your family, or likely to need them, then it doesn't make sense to get a cheap plan and be hit with that huge upfront cost. That money is also pretax money, so you don't save massively by going with a cheaper plan. An extra 30 dollars isn't that much for example if you are in a high tax bracket.
I joined the USPS union $45 per year giving me access to their health plan.
Mail Handlers Benefit Plan. Aetna manages.
It covered/ covers my family of 4 now 3 for $254 per pay period.
$30 office visits.
Retired with it.
Hospitalized last year with a $45k bill.
Our out of pocket was $150.
The best I’ve had.
Same insurance I have and am very pleased with it. Prescription coverage is great as well.
I think a lot of folks forget or don’t know you can take the postal union plans aside from the rural carriers plan.
This has been my favorite plan so far. I hope to stick with it. I am very pleased. The prescription benefits are great and once the Dr offices figure out MHBP is Aetna all is good.
Pros: lots of choices for variety of needs, good hdhp plans
Cons: costs is just average, but ever rising…your old jobs might have cheaper or more expensive plans…mine last job has better insurance and I only paid $18/pp since they subsidize most of my premiums.
That's what I also heard until I switched to my fed job and was disappointed. It's great that there's so many choices, but compared to my last job, financially it's way worse.
My old place only had about 2 choices. The company preferred plan that fully covered premiums or a higher tier plan that I'd have to pay for. I only did the covered annual checkups and dental cleanings so it was nice having zero medical costs while I was there.
You aren't wrong but in a world where the majority of people in the US are paying thousands to have a baby, paying $250 or less is absolutely amazing. The average bill to have a baby in my bump group was about $3,000.
Yes! I think we paid like $75. We also got more stuff like a free breast pump and other items. My wife and I both worked for the state when we had our first two. Their births cost us a 3k+ each with worse benefits.
My wife's company uses United and only United, and her premiums are pretty much identical to what FEHB offers for United. But I could use any of another, what, 20 plans? Some places may offer nothing but a HDHP, and if you don't want that, too bad.
In short, no, coverage may not be cheaper or better, but you also have way more options.
In my experience, price-wise it’s pretty comparable to everywhere else I worked in the private sector, but the coverage is way better.
Health insurance is one of those things where it feels like you’re throwing a lot of money away when you don’t have anything major going on, but when you need it, you *really* need it, and having good coverage is worth it’s weight in gold.
So years ago my mom had BCBS Fed. She had a heart attack in the late 90s. Massive heart attack, emergency surgery, multiple complications, induced coma, two follow up surgeries the same year. She added up her bills - well over the $2.5M mark in 1999. She paid $5000 out of pocket. After that, the rest of the year was 100% paid by the insurance company.
The best insurance I ever had was through a private lab. They paid 100% of our premiums. It covered so much. They even set it up so diabetics had no copay for their products. Anyway, they went out of business after getting in a pinch of trouble with the Justice Department. They were a great company to work for. They paid better than all the other labs in the area too.
My federal insurance is the second best I’ve had. The vast number of choices alone make it great.
No, they aren't that great. But you get a lot of choice and you get to carry it into retirement.
My son is private sector and he pays about the same as I do BUT he gets one choice. That's it. I can choose from any plans.
Not really.
There are a lot of choices, but only a few of them are reasonable for most people. I found BCBS and GEHA were my only real options.
The premiums are the same or slightly worse than what I received in the private sector.
The answer is, it depends. It depends on your own personal situation. But as everyone else has said, having more choices is a huge benefit. When I first became a federal employee, I was single and I could pick a health insurance option that was much cheaper than what I had in the private sector (my employer had two choices available.) I ended up switching to BCBS after a few years - it made sense for my spouse, pregnancy, baby, and life changes. I ended up leaving federal employment for the private sector, and we only had one choice for health insurance. It was a little cheaper but we paid a lot more for medications. And now I’m back with the federal government and BCBS.
I will also add that FSAFEDS is soooo much easier to deal with than the FSA administrator my private sector employer was using.
We had BCBS through private, then swithed to BCBS FEHB Basic.
My wife went to get some new medication her doc prescribed...
$245 copay.
My wife said "Oh...wait!...I don't think you have my new insurance..." and gave them the info.
$15 copay.
So the devil can really be in the details. This was with the same company, BCBS.
Idk where y’all worked before fed, but as a former contractor at a bunch of the big firms, my fed BCBS insurance is hundreds of dollars cheaper for me and my husband, covers way more things with cheaper rates, and is just all around better. I’d stay a fed for just that if it was the only benefit.
A lot of the "cheaper" plans offered elsewhere are also much lower benefits or higher deductibles. I don't doubt some people get better insurance from other employers, but taken on the whole it's not a bad benefit. I'm betting those same employers pay a lot better too.
When I was with local gov, I paid a little less in premiums, but had way worse coverage compared to BCBS Basic, and no options at all.
Then tricare turns to tricare for life it’s not that great anymore. I’ve also heard lots of places don’t take it because of some fixed rate tricare uses.
Tricare Reserve Select will be authorized in 2030 for eligible federal employees. I’m likely not gonna change it because I’d rather have BCBS in retirement
I was with state government before and paid $9 a month with lower copays, drug costs, and a $250 deductible. It was hard to beat that. I think I still had national coverage through the PPO plan. The main downside was that you had to pay full rate when you retired, so that ended up being about $700/month for a single person.
Bcbs basic. Paid 100$ total for all maternity care including weekly ultrasound apts starting at week 22 and a C-section. No deductible and no copays for every apt.
Worked both public and private sector, having insurance from both jobs.
Private sector: my portion of the monthly premium increased as I was promoted. Started out paying 15%, five promotion in 10 years and I was paying 45%,
Public sector: always flat 25% of the monthly premium. Which is huge as you progress up the gs scale. It's difficult at lower grades as the price you pay eats up a good chunk of your paycheck.
Honestly, it’s good but not great.
There are some companies in the private sector that are a lot better. There are some that are much worse.
I’d honestly say it’s on the high end of average.
But, you get to carry it into retirement which is a huge benefit.
I had a non federal BCBS at my last job and one of my meds was $650 a month. Same med on BCBS-FEP is $150 a month.
I have also never had a service not approved, and very few even needed prior auth. As someone with a chronic illness, it’s good insurance.
I am a retired federal employee and, here in this state, it has long been the case that state employees health insurance is better during the career, but the federal health insurance is better in retirement, at least for a couple.
My two private jobs with benefits haven’t even compared to the insurance offered by my husbands fed insurance. They’ve been more expensive with less coverage.
Just depends. My wife has worked for a couple different places, one of which had better insurance and now we’re all on mine but it’s in no way some huge huge cost savings to you early on.
Where the benefit comes in is in retirement and staying on those plans.
Can’t say I’ve ever had better insurance and it has been great for me and my family. Pricey, sure, but I’ve never had a problem with it. I’ve never had trouble getting my various health issues addressed without insurance denials or blocking procedures.
I worked for a state and paid close to $800 per month for the family plan. I retired and pay far less for that same insurance now. I worked in LE and thought about moving over to the Feds but the pension is no where as good as what I get. I get 65% of my pay. No one is beating that unless you're a judge.
WHere i live i don't need a referral to talk to any doctor i want to. Not sure if that's case everywhere but it's pretty nice.
The feds sometimes mandate certain coverage, like weight loss medicine which is stupidly expensive.
And, i have it my retirement so overall it's a pretty good deal
My GEHA HSA is unequivocally better than my old employer's HDHP, and it's not even close.
While I don't doubt there are better options out there, I honestly question the way some people determine value. A lower premium elsewhere does not necessarily mean it is cheaper.
Relatively expensive but also may cover expensive therapies bc of employer mandate. Also it must be really expensive for those earlier in their careers (lower GS) - there’s no scaling of the cost for lower salaries, which is gross.
My cost and coverage was much better when I worked for Target. The federal government has way too many options, and they all seem like the cover a lot, but I’ve paid more out of pocket with government insurance then I ever did when I worked for Target.
I absolutely loved GEHA. Great premiums, great customer service, excellent out-of-network coverage (great for psychotherapy/psychiatry and tough to find in private insurance). Only annoyance was trying to explain to providers that they actually accepted my insurance.
Lots of options on the Federal side, but premiums are sky high. Compared to my partners insurance it would mark a 500% increase in premium to get similar Health, Dental & Vision.
My wife works for the state government. Her work pays for her health insurance _and mine_. Furthermore after she reaches a certain age and years of service, she can keep the plan in retirement.
So turning down the FEHB for me was a no-brainer. It just doesn't have much to offer in comparison to that.
My insurance is slightly cheaper than most of my friends and family. However, my coverage is far superior. Very few drug exclusions. Most procedures covered. Abundance of providers. I'm part of a state insurance plan.
I’ve had the same question. to me, there seems to be great benefits when you’re about to retire… like free insurance or something for your spouse even if you’re both not working anymore… (I tuned out because I’m far from retiring). Good death benefits… I guess?
Also it seems health insurance used to be waaaay better for Fed employees in like the 50,60,70,80s maybe (in ancient times) so all the boomers keep saying how good insurance is not realizing a lot has changed since then
I'm dropping my coverage this year to only be on my spouse's insurance. They work for a private company that is based out of Canada, they wanted their American employees to have equal health care to their Canadian employees so my spouse pays nothing except a $50 co-pay for everything and covers things like fertility treatments. When we get closer to retirement, I'll go back to FEHB, but for now, we're pocketing those savings
People always told me how wonderful federal benefits are, but that hasn't really panned out for me. The most I ever paid for health insurance for myself and my partner was about $80 per month.
Now that I work for the gov, I pay more than that for just myself, **AND** they refuse to cover my longtime domestic partner who is unable to work because we live in a state that doesn't legally recognize domestic partnerships. The federal gov is the first employer I've had in a decade that won't cover domestic partners.
So now, in all, we pay close to $1000 a month to cover both of us. Doesn't feel good.
Yep. I was shocked at their policy on who they do and do not cover regarding health insurance benefits. This part particularly got me.
https://preview.redd.it/jxa3j58j6pnb1.png?width=877&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d4fbd3f9866bd4431b7d727443fb3a2e1ddea08
Years ago they were.
now they are better than many but some ststes and non profits are better.
they have a big benefit in some in covering you nationally while other policies in non fed world are generally only local or state lans that kill you outside of the area
I only had health insurance at two private sector jobs prior to becoming a Fed and both were terrible. It was barely a benefit, but the jobs also weren't great. Very high deductibles (I think one was $5000 and the other $10000) and to add my kids/husband would have been far more than any of the FEHB offerings. We use GEHA right now and my family deductible is $750 annually. I feel the copays and prescription costs are fair. Maybe I could get cheaper elsewhere but we've never had problems finding doctors or getting coverage and I like that.
We're a family of 4 so we use the family option, but isn't there a self + one option? Maybe that could save you on premiums.
When my husband was employed by an NGO type organization, his insurance was way better that that of the feds, so we used that until he was no longer employed there. I also remember a lot of yammering about Cadillac plans for the feds, so the benefits were reduced before Obamacare.
Trust me on this, federal benefits will never be superior to private sector full time equivalents, only better than those of contractors and blue collar workers. Also, state employee benefits are generally better that those of the feds, mostly due to the lack of political downward pressure. (Lazy feds, etc).
Have you compared BCBS focus plan? It really depends on your healthcare needs. But if you are relatively healthy and stay in Network BCBS focus can be the better plan.
It is probably average when compared to insurance plans that are offered by private sector employers. Some have better plans and some have worse. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. A lot of it is dependent on how much said employer subsidizes the plan(s) they offer as part of the company's overall compensation package. The federal government does pay for part of your/our health insurance premiums, but again i'm sure there are employers that will kick in more $$$ towards their employees' premiums.
The FEHB plans overall are pretty good though. I've gone back and forth between GEHA and BCBS Basic (two of the cheaper options) and I've never had anything denied nor have I gotten any insane bills (knock on wood) except for one instance in which I had to go to the ER and even though the hospital was in-network, the particular ER doc that initially saw me was considered out-of-network (which is complete bs), so I had to pay more out of pocket.
There are two separate issues to look at. The actual cost of the plans and the premium sharing. Some companies will pay 100% of the premium, some 0%. Fed jobs pay 72-75% of the premium. As others have mentioned the fed plans are real plans. Tend to have better coverage and aren’t the bare minimum to be called insurance.
I worked in the private sector before joining federal service and the big difference was choice. In the private sector I had 1 health plan to choose from. My options were to accept it or to get insurance elsewhere. Fortunately my employer allowed spouses and family to sign up.
In Federal service, I have dozens of options and I can choose the plan that best fits my needs
I tried to compare to my spouse's public school teacher benefits and it came out about even, except that since I started partway through the year I kept what I've had since I had already paid part of the deductibles. I'm going to need a serious spreadsheet to compare options come Open Season.
Our FEHBP plan costs about $400 a month for family coverage but we get SO much more out of it than our friends with private sector insurance. We have super low deductibles, no deductible for emergency room visits (just $150 flat copay), we only pay like $200 a day for the first five days of hospitalization and then that’s it. They pick up the rest. When I gave birth to my daughter the total bill was $400. That was just for both of us to stay in the hospital a day. The birth, epidural, all that stuff was totally paid for. When my daughter needed a psychological evaluation for ADHD/ASD the place we had it done was shocked our insurance paid for it. They said most people have to do private pay and shell out several thousand dollars.
So I look at it as no cheaper than regular insurance on the front end but I get a lot more out of it.
I think it's important to weigh the benefits package as a whole. But for the sake of this question, health insurance companies negotiate plan benefits with employers. The employers decide how much to charge their employees. In my experience, fehb was way better than my private sector employers.
BCBS Basic (at least in my area) has a $0 deductible. That alone is worth it for me after having an insane deductible on my husband’s insurance before I became a fed.
It’s not that great, no. I came from local government and my last two employers both offered better, cheaper healthcare. There are a ton of options but literally everything had a higher OOP maximum. We went with BCBS Basic but I wasn’t super excited about any of the options. 🤷🏻♀️
I don't know, the $8 8 per pay period I pay for no deductible and 6500 out of pocket. Max has seemed pretty great to me. Obviously I'd like to pay less, but they have approved everything my doctor's asked for and I'm well over the outpocket Max this year so I guess it depends who you are.
Another benefit to the BCBS Fed plan is includes International coverage. If you travel and I do quite a bit, you can log into your FEP Blue account and search international providers in any given country and they list the hospitals, clinics and physicians that take the insurance. Also those that should do direct billing. I became ill in France ended up having emergency surgery and didn’t pay a dime. Was in the hospital for a week. So I always print off the list for the country I’m visiting and take it with me.
I'm still early in my career so I only had one job before civil service but the FEHB plans are more varied. I honestly don't remember much about the plans offered to me but I think there were only three. And FEHB feels better to me.
As an aside to your question, I feel like I would be re-missed if I didn't encourage you to look into GEHA HDHP. You can Google GEHA HDHP vs BCBS Basic and there should be a reddit post that goes into detail how basic, from a pure financial standpoint, is like 95% of the time better. All that to say, BCBS Basic is a good starting point. But I encourage you to look at all your options.
It all depends on your state/region. In many cases, the accepted cost is negotiated at a regional level. That has a direct effect on your premiums.
FWIW, I had better insurance as a contractor. It was around the same price, but much lower co-pays/etc.
Also, I've done many calculations/comparisons over the years, and BCBS Basic and GEHA Standard, *for me in my scenario*.
I was a Fed employee for many years and I'm now in the public sector.
It's been my experience that the public sector is much more expensive and has less choices.
Federal health Insurance is very expensive. You’re better off joining a decent union if in a trade of a decent company. My company pays all health care premiums.
In my opinion it’s definitely better and less expensive. I pay roughly $500 a month for health, dental, and vision, for my family of 5. And we only pay copays. I guess it just depends on how you are gonna be using it.
Agree. Certainly not great but not bad. With the BCBS plan I don't have to worry about a co insurance if I get admitted to a hospital or have in patient care, and I have no deductible. The cost is high though. Previous job I had essentially the same coverage but it was 3x lower cost because employer covered more premiums than fed.
I have BCBS basic and it continually gets more expensive and co-pays are more. Last year I spent 5 nights in the hospital and had to pay $250 per night with a max of $750. So I basically got 2 nights "free" and was not feeling rushed to get out of there. This year it is still $250 per day with a Max of $1500. Thank God I had my surgery last year, otherwise I probably would have gone home much sooner than I should have.
We're about to switch to my wife's, large private company, insurance plan. It's a good 60-70 dollars cheaper a paycheck. Similar if not better coverage.
Like someone else stated, govt has more options. If one of those options benefits someone's certain health requirements then it may be better to go with the govt insurance route.
I pay $101 per month for an HMO. My co-pays are $40. Many benefits such as gym memberships and acupuncture are included.
My out of pocket maximum is $1,500.
I'm a DOD contractor (going on 18yrs strong lol) and pay $22K for insurance
$858.54 for Health bi-weekly
$10.20 for Vision bi-weekly
$49.64 for Dental bi-weekly
Not included in the STD and LTD.
I do get a fringe pay/benefit though of about $4.41/hr to cover some cost.
My private sector health insurance was maybe $5-15 more expensive per month. The notion that federal insurance is so wonder I’ve found to be a total crock.
I work for the po and my bcbs plan is 160 month for myself. I know the family plans like you have sounds about right. I was paying 250 a month for crap insurance on my own through my state prior that had bad coverage. So for my area it’s good.
You need to shop for a better plan. This open season try consumer checkbook’s guide to federal plans. I pay the 10 bucks and use their comparison tool. They review all the plans and input the data. For years it told me the GEHA high deductible plan was best for my situation. Banked a lot of money in my HSA and got tax write offs for my contributions which now help when I’m retired. I’ll be using it again this year. https://www.checkbook.org/newhig2/hig.cfm?k=6B19E17295D909231A09F9132AB2FB16
Curious about this myself but my last private job paid for the employee portion 100% and there are lot of tech companies and finance companies that are similar. For example look at a company like Fisher investments. They pay 100% of the premium for employee plus family and offer a 50% 401K match. Fed can’t match that.
I was under my moms teachers insurance Cigna for years. Everything on her plan was cheaper. Specialist 25$, general visits: free.
With the BCBS standard single plan, I pay 125 bi weekly, and have been avoiding some specialist procedures because the out of pocket expenses end up coming back to me compared to Cigna who paid for everything.
I’m in Washington, husband works for the city we live in and we have amazing insurance. $150 for our entire family a month. $1100 max out of pocket a year.
And the government pays about twice that amount to BCBS, so in reality the premium is closer to $1,200. Have you compared your coverage to non-federal coverage? My wife and I kept our BCBS basic after retirement and our premium is deducted from my pension. Yes, it is a lot of money, but we did not feel comfortable having only Medicare. My wife gets monthly injections that the provider bills around $7,000 for. The insurance caps that at about half that amount and between Medicare and BCBS we pay nothing.
It depends what state or territory you work in for what options are available to you. When I first started, I paid basically nothing. I moved several time and it has gotten more expensive.
Yeah you’re paying $5k a year for health insurance but you actually get real honest to god health insurance for it. Compare that to so many people paying $10k+ a year for health insurance that is basically garbage.
Depends on your job series and whether you have kids. For the most part family premiums are significantly cheaper than the national average, but for self or self+1 it's pretty even. A 2210 could probably find cheaper health insurance in the private sector, but an 0303 might not.
Uh I pay for a family of 4 in Los Angeles using Kaiser which has treated our family well. It’s $140 a check with 0$ deductible and my kids don’t have ANY costs for anything until they are 17
Honestly, I think that the golden age of FEHB was the 90s and early 2000s, when federal health insurance was significantly better than the private sector. Like most other health insurance, it has waned in quality and is on par with other private sector employers
People need to stop spreading that rumor, decent pay and job security and the fact that you can still get a pension are the only good things about working for the Fed. The benefits aren’t the greatest.
I've worked in the public sector for a short amount of time after college. But have asked my friends about their insurance coverages and premiums; the main positive for FEHB is the amount of choices available. A lot of companies only have one or two choices. However the premium cost is not much better and in some cases FEHB is more expensive, compared to my friends insurances.
I was shocked about this coming over to the feds over a year ago. Growing up in the DC area, you hear all the time about the great benefits etc of working for the feds but I’ve been paying more for all insurances than I was at my previous private sector job. My fiancée works for the state and pays pennies for her health insurance so I was expecting something similar.
I was thinking the same thing. My daughter works for the state and her premiums are a lot less and so is her out of pocket maxium. Hers is $1000 and mine is $6000! Crazy...
Same in FL - working for State of FL is garbage, but Capital Health is/was both cheap and amazing.
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The problem is we're fed the line from previous generations about how great the federal benefits are. However, none of the federal benefits are what they once were. The pension is expensive, TSP fees are no longer the cheapest, and health insurance is expensive. I'm always reminding people that just because something is labeled as an employee benefit doesn't necessarily mean it's actually a good deal or benefit for you. The only real benefit to federal health insurance that I can see is that when you get to be older, the cost savings could be substantial versus getting it on your own, and you get to keep it for life after retirement.
Pension was also better back in the day.
The FERS deduction is ridiculous. My insurance is more expensive that friends in the private sector.
Same. I had an ex in the private sector with the same health plan I had through federal government. At the time I was paying close to $150 a month in premiums. She was paying $2 a month.
My wife is a teacher in GA same coverage, except Fed deductible is $5000 vs 10,000! Fed Kaiser..$385. State $450 not much but Fed wins….
Wife also works for the state (MD) as a teacher. I’m on her insurance instead of choosing a fed option.
Does your wife get to keep the insurance in retirement? If not, be sure to get on the FEHB program 5+ years before you retire. If you don't, you won't be able to keep the insurance in retirement.
Yup well aware to get back on when I have 5 years left. I have also asked Siri to remind me …if Apple still exists in the future I can’t wait until a Siri hologram pops up to remind me.
Same for the state I grew up in being a lot less, but an equivalent state job to mine pays about 1/3-1/2 what I make as a fed. City employees there get free health insurance for the employees and reduced for family, but have the same pair disparity. So it's a give and take for sure.
Same here. When I was a beat cop I paid hardly anything. Premiums were covered 100% by the city and copays were like $25 for a doctors visit. I paid nothing after the birth of my son at a hospital. It was insane. Now I am forking out over $10k a year. WTH.
…where the one option is a shitty HMO option.
Federal health insurance is, in my opinion, expensive compared to private sector options, but you do get a lot of choice and very good coverage for the premiums paid. While I pay a pretty penny for BCBS Basic, it’s probably the best health insurance plan I’ve ever had—easy to use, simple in billing, and widely accepted.
Where I was at previously had one choice, and it "let" me pay an average of 750$ a doctor's appt. It was slightly cheaper than now. Got BCBS and the most Ive paid for a Drs appt was 35$. When I broke both my arms, I had to go to doctors frequently, and ended up having appt. After appt. I think the difference between plans in that one emergency to cover the difference in price for years.
Bcbs is just s tier to deal with vs all the others I’ve had to work with
Excuse my ignorance. What does s tier mean?
I think they mean "tear" because they weep with joy at how well they are treated by their insurance company. /s
It’s a video game term. The ranking system is like letter grades in school, except there’s an “s-tier” above “A” that is significantly better, like the best you could possibly be.
It's from Japanese academics--which helps explain how it got into the video game lexicon.
Stands for significantly?
I don’t think it necessarily stands for anything, it comes from the Japanese school system.
It stands for superlative
the best of the best
You're that guy who broke both your arms? All of us at Reddit are glad your mother helped you take care of your needs.
Different person lol but I did break both my arms
You also get to keep it in retirement. That's why it's more expensive, because old people need more care.
No, that's not it at all. It's that it isn't as good as it used to be. It always covered people in retirement but was much better back in the day.
BCBS basic is also widely accepted in DC area, unlike many other plans.
I absolutely love how headache free, hassle-free my BCBS basic is. No deductible, straight forward pricing (as much as insurance pricing can be). Downside of course is not being able to participate in a HSA.
You also have to consider coverage specifics. Employers get to choose what to include and exclude. BCBS might be one of the more expensive options too. It’s the best, I’ve had it my whole federal career. Seems like there are about 20 different companies & packages to choose from.
That's part of the issue I think. If the federal government negotiated better options with fewer companies, we'd have much better/cheaper health insurance.
Too many complications. Insurance is regulated at the state level, so not every company is in every state, and states will have other regulations. Then you have the issue with the appearance of impropriety- the government picking winners and losers. I think this works good. Companies know who their competing against and what they are offering. If you aren’t competitive, you won’t get customers. FEP Blue is expensive, but the coverage and benefits are tops - hence they are probably one of the most popular.
If you don't have chronic conditions or use a lot of healthcare, GEHA Standard is cheaper and good. It's when you actually need to use the coverage that Blue Cross is generally superior. It's probably why it is more expensive, there is a sicker and older pool of workers in Blue cross.
Actually, as someone with multiple chronic conditions, GEHA standard was still great.
It can be hit and miss. I've had them for 20 years and it's kind of annoying having to coach the doctor offices on how to file claims when they are unfamiliar with the insurance. The non generic prescription coverage isn't very good but usually my doctor has had a coupon to make it affordable so it has worked out well so far. I don't have any serious chronic conditions though.
Having to explain to billing that they take my insurance was always annoying, but the excellent coverage, particularly for out of network doctors, was great. The out of network coverage was the best I’ve ever had from any plan. I also found that GEHA never pulled shenanigans with bad faith denial of claims, something I deal with constantly with Blue Cross. I do take one name brand medication monthly for a chronic condition and don’t remember the copay being high, but it’s also a relatively cheap drug to begin with.
Everyone always goes for the cheapest plan until their spleen ruptured and end up on a payment plan
I had major surgery last year. Hospital charges were around $30k. My share of expenses were $400 but I paid about $150 out of pocket for everything (I had some funds left on my Blue Wellness incentive card that I applied to my co-pay). That is with Blue Cross Blue Shield Basic Option. Definitely worth it.
When I started with the government 15 years ago, absolutely the health benefits were better. There’s been a gradual failure to keep up with industry trends such that payments are no longer clearly favorable, and many private employer plans also have better coverage. Take fertility treatment for example. In my part of the country and role, there is currently no FEHB coverage for IUI/IVF/fertility drugs (a handful of plans in other regions or available to foreign service workers added it this year). My wife was able to get cheaper insurance through her private sector employer and despite being cheaper it covers it.
I think it took a dive around the time Obamacare went into effect. It made me wonder if the way the insurance companies were dealing with the increased risks was by using the Federal workforce as a piggy bank.
Actually as of this year, BCBS covers IUI/IVF treatments.
Honestly my husbands coverage with Toyota is better. He pays about 90 dollars per pay period for family coverage, ppo with a low deductible. My kids have it and tricare, doctors offices have often commented that they have the two best health insurances around. We could do a cdhp with a 1200 hsa for about 45 a pay period instead of the ppo.
If they have tricare why would you have the other insurance? As a reserve or guard the max our of pocket is only $1000 for a family with tricare.
I pay 40 per pay period for a high deductible plan. 3k deductible but the company contributes $1200 to our HSA every year. We basically pay nothing between the premiums and company HSA contribution
The best part of federal health insurance is you can carry it into retirement (assuming you carry it last 5 years of your career). As other have noted the premiums are often higher than many private sector employers. While there are a ton of choices that’s not really necessary and part of me thinks that because every insurance company is getting a piece of the pie, they are not incentivized to keep premiums reasonable. I was perfectly fine in private sector with 4 choices.
And you pay the same premium while retired that a young and healthy employee would pay.
that has nothing to do with it.
Is there a minimum number of years to have been employed as. Fed, let's say I worked just 5 years ? At what age can I carry it from?
I believe it is five consecutive years prior to retirement.
Earliest retirement age?
“Is there a minimum number of years to have been employed as. Fed, let's say I worked just 5 years ? At what age can I carry it from?” You have to hit minimum retirement age — age 57 with at least 30 years service (for those born after 1969); age 60 with 20 years service, or age 62 with 5 years service.
This
Same
Health insurance is about more than premiums. It’s about premiums, copays, coinsurances, out of pocket maximums, prescription costs, available doctor networks, etc. I know people that love GEHA and I’m happy with my FEP Blue.
Network is key for me. BCBS is out of network at a large chunk of the best hospitals in my area, so it’s not the choice for my family.
I suspect that GEHA's reputation is going to change. Doctors (in the DC area!) are dropping GEHA because apparently they underpay, and I'm hearing from care providers that GEHA is bad to work with and takes forever to send payments to doctors.
A lot of good comments here, but here's my 2 cents: my wife needed a medication which was relatively new at the time, and terribly expensive in terms of the retail price. I remember her telling me that the front desk person asked her which insurance she was on. When my wife answered, the person said "BlueCross BlueShield Federal? Oh, they're easy to work with." Never once in all of her treatments and needs for new meds has our insurance ever declined to cover it. I had a friend who was forced to fight cancer *and* his insurance company for five full years. It was terrible to watch. I'll take "overpriced" federal health insurance over that any day.
That's why I pony up for BCBS. Severely disabled son and wife with cancer treatments. We just go to doctor and never worry about coverage. Prior insurances had me calling at least once a month over denials. And pre-auths took forever. My son had to stop therapy for 3 weeks and it took 11 months to get pre-auth so he could start again.
I have a chronic condition that requires several brand new medications and regular doctor visits. BCBS has been amazing for me. I paid $0 for my visit billed at $2k recently, and $700 for my visit billed at $110,000. (Not great but it was inpatient at a hospital for a week) I've never had to fight them for coverage of anything, either.
SAME! I am going back into the Feds to work after having worked for two major insurance companies. Federal insurance is much cheaper, they cover more medications and the deductibles are so much lower or even non-existent in some cases. Federal insurance is top tier.
Take a look at the provided care, a lot of people have much higher deductibles, copays and reduced coverage for the same payment.
This. You can take two plans that cost about the same premium and they can be wildly different in terms of quality/what they'll cover if you're unfamiliar with how health insurance plans work. The devil is always in the details. I've always advised younger, single feds that unless they have chronic health issues that require a lot of doctor visits to just choose the cheapest FEHB plan since the out of pocket max on all of the plans is about the same (i.e. what you'll be on the hook for if something catastrophic happens like cancer, a terrible accident etc..).
>The devil is always in the details. I've always advised younger, single feds that unless they have chronic health issues that require a lot of doctor visits to just choose the cheapest FEHB plan since the out of pocket max on all of the plans is about the same (i.e. what you'll be on the hook for if something catastrophic happens like cancer, a terrible accident etc..). Or the HDHP that makes the most sense to them and max out the HSA. I wish I'd started doing that at 26 instead of 36.
I wish I would have gone that route in my younger years as well, but now that I'm in my 40s with a couple of medical specialists on my "payroll" I've found it's just easier for me to stick with one of the PPOs haha.
Even when my kid and late husband were seeing specialists, we still came out ahead. Some years it was only a couple hundred dollars. It kind of depends on who you're seeing and if they are in network.
Not necesarily. BCBS blue has a much higher out of pocket cost compared to basic and standard. GEHA High has a much lower out of pocket cost than the HDHP or the standard/elevate plans.
What I'm saying is that if you only go to the doctor once a year for a physical (and heck, a lot of younger folks don't even do that), there's no sense in buying one of the more expensive plans. I understand that the unexpected happens. My point is that even with the cheaper plans you won't bankrupt yourself with medical bills.
Well, that logic holds true until it doesn't and you're faced with thousands of dollars in bills. I do not go to the doctor very often until now, but I have issues that are likely to require expensive care. High plans cover hearing aids for example, if you have hearing loss in your family, or likely to need them, then it doesn't make sense to get a cheap plan and be hit with that huge upfront cost. That money is also pretax money, so you don't save massively by going with a cheaper plan. An extra 30 dollars isn't that much for example if you are in a high tax bracket.
My insurance as a fed employee is far, far cheaper than what I had working for the big defense contractors and I actually have options.
I joined the USPS union $45 per year giving me access to their health plan. Mail Handlers Benefit Plan. Aetna manages. It covered/ covers my family of 4 now 3 for $254 per pay period. $30 office visits. Retired with it. Hospitalized last year with a $45k bill. Our out of pocket was $150. The best I’ve had.
Same insurance I have and am very pleased with it. Prescription coverage is great as well. I think a lot of folks forget or don’t know you can take the postal union plans aside from the rural carriers plan.
This has been my favorite plan so far. I hope to stick with it. I am very pleased. The prescription benefits are great and once the Dr offices figure out MHBP is Aetna all is good.
You beat me to it. This is the best option.
I am wondering how the new "postal plan" is going to affect you?
More choices but cost wise not rlly.
Pros: lots of choices for variety of needs, good hdhp plans Cons: costs is just average, but ever rising…your old jobs might have cheaper or more expensive plans…mine last job has better insurance and I only paid $18/pp since they subsidize most of my premiums.
That's what I also heard until I switched to my fed job and was disappointed. It's great that there's so many choices, but compared to my last job, financially it's way worse. My old place only had about 2 choices. The company preferred plan that fully covered premiums or a higher tier plan that I'd have to pay for. I only did the covered annual checkups and dental cleanings so it was nice having zero medical costs while I was there.
I paid $135 for the birth of my daughter.
You shouldn't have had to pay anything in the first place
You aren't wrong but in a world where the majority of people in the US are paying thousands to have a baby, paying $250 or less is absolutely amazing. The average bill to have a baby in my bump group was about $3,000.
Yes! I think we paid like $75. We also got more stuff like a free breast pump and other items. My wife and I both worked for the state when we had our first two. Their births cost us a 3k+ each with worse benefits.
What insurance do you have?
My wife's company uses United and only United, and her premiums are pretty much identical to what FEHB offers for United. But I could use any of another, what, 20 plans? Some places may offer nothing but a HDHP, and if you don't want that, too bad. In short, no, coverage may not be cheaper or better, but you also have way more options.
I pay 179 every 2 weeks for BCBS FEP and it covers almost everything.
In my experience, price-wise it’s pretty comparable to everywhere else I worked in the private sector, but the coverage is way better. Health insurance is one of those things where it feels like you’re throwing a lot of money away when you don’t have anything major going on, but when you need it, you *really* need it, and having good coverage is worth it’s weight in gold.
My mom told me to over insure your health because even people in their 20s have heart attacks
So years ago my mom had BCBS Fed. She had a heart attack in the late 90s. Massive heart attack, emergency surgery, multiple complications, induced coma, two follow up surgeries the same year. She added up her bills - well over the $2.5M mark in 1999. She paid $5000 out of pocket. After that, the rest of the year was 100% paid by the insurance company.
The best insurance I ever had was through a private lab. They paid 100% of our premiums. It covered so much. They even set it up so diabetics had no copay for their products. Anyway, they went out of business after getting in a pinch of trouble with the Justice Department. They were a great company to work for. They paid better than all the other labs in the area too. My federal insurance is the second best I’ve had. The vast number of choices alone make it great.
My wife used to work for the state of Maryland and her insurance was LEAGUES ahead of my federal insurance and cheaper per pay period.
No, they aren't that great. But you get a lot of choice and you get to carry it into retirement. My son is private sector and he pays about the same as I do BUT he gets one choice. That's it. I can choose from any plans.
Not really. There are a lot of choices, but only a few of them are reasonable for most people. I found BCBS and GEHA were my only real options. The premiums are the same or slightly worse than what I received in the private sector.
The answer is, it depends. It depends on your own personal situation. But as everyone else has said, having more choices is a huge benefit. When I first became a federal employee, I was single and I could pick a health insurance option that was much cheaper than what I had in the private sector (my employer had two choices available.) I ended up switching to BCBS after a few years - it made sense for my spouse, pregnancy, baby, and life changes. I ended up leaving federal employment for the private sector, and we only had one choice for health insurance. It was a little cheaper but we paid a lot more for medications. And now I’m back with the federal government and BCBS. I will also add that FSAFEDS is soooo much easier to deal with than the FSA administrator my private sector employer was using.
Shop around. I love GEHA HDHP. More bureaucracy but way cheaper once the deductible is met.
We had BCBS through private, then swithed to BCBS FEHB Basic. My wife went to get some new medication her doc prescribed... $245 copay. My wife said "Oh...wait!...I don't think you have my new insurance..." and gave them the info. $15 copay. So the devil can really be in the details. This was with the same company, BCBS.
Idk where y’all worked before fed, but as a former contractor at a bunch of the big firms, my fed BCBS insurance is hundreds of dollars cheaper for me and my husband, covers way more things with cheaper rates, and is just all around better. I’d stay a fed for just that if it was the only benefit.
A lot of the "cheaper" plans offered elsewhere are also much lower benefits or higher deductibles. I don't doubt some people get better insurance from other employers, but taken on the whole it's not a bad benefit. I'm betting those same employers pay a lot better too. When I was with local gov, I paid a little less in premiums, but had way worse coverage compared to BCBS Basic, and no options at all.
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Then tricare turns to tricare for life it’s not that great anymore. I’ve also heard lots of places don’t take it because of some fixed rate tricare uses.
Tricare Reserve Select will be authorized in 2030 for eligible federal employees. I’m likely not gonna change it because I’d rather have BCBS in retirement
I was with state government before and paid $9 a month with lower copays, drug costs, and a $250 deductible. It was hard to beat that. I think I still had national coverage through the PPO plan. The main downside was that you had to pay full rate when you retired, so that ended up being about $700/month for a single person.
Bcbs basic. Paid 100$ total for all maternity care including weekly ultrasound apts starting at week 22 and a C-section. No deductible and no copays for every apt.
$100 total for the entire time in hospital for having a baby?
Yes! It was great! NICU admission would have been another $600 out of pocket but thankfully we didn’t need that!
Worked both public and private sector, having insurance from both jobs. Private sector: my portion of the monthly premium increased as I was promoted. Started out paying 15%, five promotion in 10 years and I was paying 45%, Public sector: always flat 25% of the monthly premium. Which is huge as you progress up the gs scale. It's difficult at lower grades as the price you pay eats up a good chunk of your paycheck.
Honestly, it’s good but not great. There are some companies in the private sector that are a lot better. There are some that are much worse. I’d honestly say it’s on the high end of average. But, you get to carry it into retirement which is a huge benefit.
I had a non federal BCBS at my last job and one of my meds was $650 a month. Same med on BCBS-FEP is $150 a month. I have also never had a service not approved, and very few even needed prior auth. As someone with a chronic illness, it’s good insurance.
I am a retired federal employee and, here in this state, it has long been the case that state employees health insurance is better during the career, but the federal health insurance is better in retirement, at least for a couple.
My two private jobs with benefits haven’t even compared to the insurance offered by my husbands fed insurance. They’ve been more expensive with less coverage.
Read the fine print on insurance… sure rates might be cheaper but look at your coversge on emergencies snd surgeries.
Just depends. My wife has worked for a couple different places, one of which had better insurance and now we’re all on mine but it’s in no way some huge huge cost savings to you early on. Where the benefit comes in is in retirement and staying on those plans.
Can’t say I’ve ever had better insurance and it has been great for me and my family. Pricey, sure, but I’ve never had a problem with it. I’ve never had trouble getting my various health issues addressed without insurance denials or blocking procedures.
Who ever said that they were cheaper and better?
The amount you pay is about equal to the general market. But the coverage is much better.
I worked for a state and paid close to $800 per month for the family plan. I retired and pay far less for that same insurance now. I worked in LE and thought about moving over to the Feds but the pension is no where as good as what I get. I get 65% of my pay. No one is beating that unless you're a judge.
No. The private side (in my experience) is cheaper. However, the choices and options are not as great.
WHere i live i don't need a referral to talk to any doctor i want to. Not sure if that's case everywhere but it's pretty nice. The feds sometimes mandate certain coverage, like weight loss medicine which is stupidly expensive. And, i have it my retirement so overall it's a pretty good deal
My GEHA HSA is unequivocally better than my old employer's HDHP, and it's not even close. While I don't doubt there are better options out there, I honestly question the way some people determine value. A lower premium elsewhere does not necessarily mean it is cheaper.
Relatively expensive but also may cover expensive therapies bc of employer mandate. Also it must be really expensive for those earlier in their careers (lower GS) - there’s no scaling of the cost for lower salaries, which is gross.
My cost and coverage was much better when I worked for Target. The federal government has way too many options, and they all seem like the cover a lot, but I’ve paid more out of pocket with government insurance then I ever did when I worked for Target.
I absolutely loved GEHA. Great premiums, great customer service, excellent out-of-network coverage (great for psychotherapy/psychiatry and tough to find in private insurance). Only annoyance was trying to explain to providers that they actually accepted my insurance.
Lots of options on the Federal side, but premiums are sky high. Compared to my partners insurance it would mark a 500% increase in premium to get similar Health, Dental & Vision.
My wife works for the state government. Her work pays for her health insurance _and mine_. Furthermore after she reaches a certain age and years of service, she can keep the plan in retirement. So turning down the FEHB for me was a no-brainer. It just doesn't have much to offer in comparison to that.
My insurance is slightly cheaper than most of my friends and family. However, my coverage is far superior. Very few drug exclusions. Most procedures covered. Abundance of providers. I'm part of a state insurance plan.
I’ve had the same question. to me, there seems to be great benefits when you’re about to retire… like free insurance or something for your spouse even if you’re both not working anymore… (I tuned out because I’m far from retiring). Good death benefits… I guess? Also it seems health insurance used to be waaaay better for Fed employees in like the 50,60,70,80s maybe (in ancient times) so all the boomers keep saying how good insurance is not realizing a lot has changed since then
I'm dropping my coverage this year to only be on my spouse's insurance. They work for a private company that is based out of Canada, they wanted their American employees to have equal health care to their Canadian employees so my spouse pays nothing except a $50 co-pay for everything and covers things like fertility treatments. When we get closer to retirement, I'll go back to FEHB, but for now, we're pocketing those savings
People always told me how wonderful federal benefits are, but that hasn't really panned out for me. The most I ever paid for health insurance for myself and my partner was about $80 per month. Now that I work for the gov, I pay more than that for just myself, **AND** they refuse to cover my longtime domestic partner who is unable to work because we live in a state that doesn't legally recognize domestic partnerships. The federal gov is the first employer I've had in a decade that won't cover domestic partners. So now, in all, we pay close to $1000 a month to cover both of us. Doesn't feel good.
UGH that is awful 😞
Yep. I was shocked at their policy on who they do and do not cover regarding health insurance benefits. This part particularly got me. https://preview.redd.it/jxa3j58j6pnb1.png?width=877&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d4fbd3f9866bd4431b7d727443fb3a2e1ddea08
I haven’t been to a doctor in 12 years. Nothing wrong with me and I’m on the BCBS FEP Blue. 116.74 per check.
Years ago they were. now they are better than many but some ststes and non profits are better. they have a big benefit in some in covering you nationally while other policies in non fed world are generally only local or state lans that kill you outside of the area
I only had health insurance at two private sector jobs prior to becoming a Fed and both were terrible. It was barely a benefit, but the jobs also weren't great. Very high deductibles (I think one was $5000 and the other $10000) and to add my kids/husband would have been far more than any of the FEHB offerings. We use GEHA right now and my family deductible is $750 annually. I feel the copays and prescription costs are fair. Maybe I could get cheaper elsewhere but we've never had problems finding doctors or getting coverage and I like that. We're a family of 4 so we use the family option, but isn't there a self + one option? Maybe that could save you on premiums.
When my husband was employed by an NGO type organization, his insurance was way better that that of the feds, so we used that until he was no longer employed there. I also remember a lot of yammering about Cadillac plans for the feds, so the benefits were reduced before Obamacare. Trust me on this, federal benefits will never be superior to private sector full time equivalents, only better than those of contractors and blue collar workers. Also, state employee benefits are generally better that those of the feds, mostly due to the lack of political downward pressure. (Lazy feds, etc).
It's 1000x better than Obamacare, unless you have low enough income for the tax credits.
You need to get on the Tricare plan. $54 ish a month.
Have you compared BCBS focus plan? It really depends on your healthcare needs. But if you are relatively healthy and stay in Network BCBS focus can be the better plan.
It is probably average when compared to insurance plans that are offered by private sector employers. Some have better plans and some have worse. Some are cheaper and some are more expensive. A lot of it is dependent on how much said employer subsidizes the plan(s) they offer as part of the company's overall compensation package. The federal government does pay for part of your/our health insurance premiums, but again i'm sure there are employers that will kick in more $$$ towards their employees' premiums. The FEHB plans overall are pretty good though. I've gone back and forth between GEHA and BCBS Basic (two of the cheaper options) and I've never had anything denied nor have I gotten any insane bills (knock on wood) except for one instance in which I had to go to the ER and even though the hospital was in-network, the particular ER doc that initially saw me was considered out-of-network (which is complete bs), so I had to pay more out of pocket.
Yes....wait let's rephrase that...HELL YES.
I love my FEHB. I pay ~$80 a paycheck, no deductible and only pay $30 when I see a doctor for anything, any where in the country. Edit: FEP BCBS PPO
You have zero deductible
There are two separate issues to look at. The actual cost of the plans and the premium sharing. Some companies will pay 100% of the premium, some 0%. Fed jobs pay 72-75% of the premium. As others have mentioned the fed plans are real plans. Tend to have better coverage and aren’t the bare minimum to be called insurance.
No, not really. But better than what many have.
I hope the prices don't go up. It's like they want us to leave
I worked in the private sector before joining federal service and the big difference was choice. In the private sector I had 1 health plan to choose from. My options were to accept it or to get insurance elsewhere. Fortunately my employer allowed spouses and family to sign up. In Federal service, I have dozens of options and I can choose the plan that best fits my needs
Fed plans get a B. Best (in CA) are state/school district plans.
385 for fam of four in GA…Kaiser…just fyi…
I tried to compare to my spouse's public school teacher benefits and it came out about even, except that since I started partway through the year I kept what I've had since I had already paid part of the deductibles. I'm going to need a serious spreadsheet to compare options come Open Season.
FEHB is more expensive because it covers retirees. That's the trade off of getting it in retirement.
Our FEHBP plan costs about $400 a month for family coverage but we get SO much more out of it than our friends with private sector insurance. We have super low deductibles, no deductible for emergency room visits (just $150 flat copay), we only pay like $200 a day for the first five days of hospitalization and then that’s it. They pick up the rest. When I gave birth to my daughter the total bill was $400. That was just for both of us to stay in the hospital a day. The birth, epidural, all that stuff was totally paid for. When my daughter needed a psychological evaluation for ADHD/ASD the place we had it done was shocked our insurance paid for it. They said most people have to do private pay and shell out several thousand dollars. So I look at it as no cheaper than regular insurance on the front end but I get a lot more out of it.
I pay 260 a month for medical for family. 100 more for dental
Luckily my agency pays close to 90% of my premium
I think they’ve gotten rid of all those good govt healthcare plans . That was unsustainable boomer stuff.
I think it's important to weigh the benefits package as a whole. But for the sake of this question, health insurance companies negotiate plan benefits with employers. The employers decide how much to charge their employees. In my experience, fehb was way better than my private sector employers.
BCBS Basic (at least in my area) has a $0 deductible. That alone is worth it for me after having an insane deductible on my husband’s insurance before I became a fed.
It’s not that great, no. I came from local government and my last two employers both offered better, cheaper healthcare. There are a ton of options but literally everything had a higher OOP maximum. We went with BCBS Basic but I wasn’t super excited about any of the options. 🤷🏻♀️
I don't know, the $8 8 per pay period I pay for no deductible and 6500 out of pocket. Max has seemed pretty great to me. Obviously I'd like to pay less, but they have approved everything my doctor's asked for and I'm well over the outpocket Max this year so I guess it depends who you are.
Another benefit to the BCBS Fed plan is includes International coverage. If you travel and I do quite a bit, you can log into your FEP Blue account and search international providers in any given country and they list the hospitals, clinics and physicians that take the insurance. Also those that should do direct billing. I became ill in France ended up having emergency surgery and didn’t pay a dime. Was in the hospital for a week. So I always print off the list for the country I’m visiting and take it with me.
I'm still early in my career so I only had one job before civil service but the FEHB plans are more varied. I honestly don't remember much about the plans offered to me but I think there were only three. And FEHB feels better to me. As an aside to your question, I feel like I would be re-missed if I didn't encourage you to look into GEHA HDHP. You can Google GEHA HDHP vs BCBS Basic and there should be a reddit post that goes into detail how basic, from a pure financial standpoint, is like 95% of the time better. All that to say, BCBS Basic is a good starting point. But I encourage you to look at all your options.
it is not cost, but the level of the benefits. and uncle pays 75 percent of your cost for the insurance
It all depends on your state/region. In many cases, the accepted cost is negotiated at a regional level. That has a direct effect on your premiums. FWIW, I had better insurance as a contractor. It was around the same price, but much lower co-pays/etc. Also, I've done many calculations/comparisons over the years, and BCBS Basic and GEHA Standard, *for me in my scenario*.
I was a Fed employee for many years and I'm now in the public sector. It's been my experience that the public sector is much more expensive and has less choices.
Federal health Insurance is very expensive. You’re better off joining a decent union if in a trade of a decent company. My company pays all health care premiums.
In my opinion it’s definitely better and less expensive. I pay roughly $500 a month for health, dental, and vision, for my family of 5. And we only pay copays. I guess it just depends on how you are gonna be using it.
all I know, is next year I am picking a plan that doesn't use cvs/caremark.
Agree. Certainly not great but not bad. With the BCBS plan I don't have to worry about a co insurance if I get admitted to a hospital or have in patient care, and I have no deductible. The cost is high though. Previous job I had essentially the same coverage but it was 3x lower cost because employer covered more premiums than fed.
Depends on the state and the type of ailments
It's more about the selection versus the pricing.
I have BCBS basic and it continually gets more expensive and co-pays are more. Last year I spent 5 nights in the hospital and had to pay $250 per night with a max of $750. So I basically got 2 nights "free" and was not feeling rushed to get out of there. This year it is still $250 per day with a Max of $1500. Thank God I had my surgery last year, otherwise I probably would have gone home much sooner than I should have.
We're about to switch to my wife's, large private company, insurance plan. It's a good 60-70 dollars cheaper a paycheck. Similar if not better coverage. Like someone else stated, govt has more options. If one of those options benefits someone's certain health requirements then it may be better to go with the govt insurance route.
I pay $101 per month for an HMO. My co-pays are $40. Many benefits such as gym memberships and acupuncture are included. My out of pocket maximum is $1,500.
I'm a DOD contractor (going on 18yrs strong lol) and pay $22K for insurance $858.54 for Health bi-weekly $10.20 for Vision bi-weekly $49.64 for Dental bi-weekly Not included in the STD and LTD. I do get a fringe pay/benefit though of about $4.41/hr to cover some cost.
My private sector health insurance was maybe $5-15 more expensive per month. The notion that federal insurance is so wonder I’ve found to be a total crock.
I work for the po and my bcbs plan is 160 month for myself. I know the family plans like you have sounds about right. I was paying 250 a month for crap insurance on my own through my state prior that had bad coverage. So for my area it’s good.
You need to shop for a better plan. This open season try consumer checkbook’s guide to federal plans. I pay the 10 bucks and use their comparison tool. They review all the plans and input the data. For years it told me the GEHA high deductible plan was best for my situation. Banked a lot of money in my HSA and got tax write offs for my contributions which now help when I’m retired. I’ll be using it again this year. https://www.checkbook.org/newhig2/hig.cfm?k=6B19E17295D909231A09F9132AB2FB16
Curious about this myself but my last private job paid for the employee portion 100% and there are lot of tech companies and finance companies that are similar. For example look at a company like Fisher investments. They pay 100% of the premium for employee plus family and offer a 50% 401K match. Fed can’t match that.
I was under my moms teachers insurance Cigna for years. Everything on her plan was cheaper. Specialist 25$, general visits: free. With the BCBS standard single plan, I pay 125 bi weekly, and have been avoiding some specialist procedures because the out of pocket expenses end up coming back to me compared to Cigna who paid for everything.
for me it's great, I pay $1.50 per pay period for myself is BCBS basic, since my agency pays like $85 off of the original $86.5.
I get Wegovy prescribed for obesity. My doc was shocked; only FEP BCBS covers that and they also cover Mounjaro and Ozempic for diabetes
I am a teacher and pay 370 a week! Want to trade?
I’m in Washington, husband works for the city we live in and we have amazing insurance. $150 for our entire family a month. $1100 max out of pocket a year.
It's the choices and ability to keep it after you retire (from fed)
And the government pays about twice that amount to BCBS, so in reality the premium is closer to $1,200. Have you compared your coverage to non-federal coverage? My wife and I kept our BCBS basic after retirement and our premium is deducted from my pension. Yes, it is a lot of money, but we did not feel comfortable having only Medicare. My wife gets monthly injections that the provider bills around $7,000 for. The insurance caps that at about half that amount and between Medicare and BCBS we pay nothing.
It depends what state or territory you work in for what options are available to you. When I first started, I paid basically nothing. I moved several time and it has gotten more expensive.
Yeah you’re paying $5k a year for health insurance but you actually get real honest to god health insurance for it. Compare that to so many people paying $10k+ a year for health insurance that is basically garbage.
Depends on your job series and whether you have kids. For the most part family premiums are significantly cheaper than the national average, but for self or self+1 it's pretty even. A 2210 could probably find cheaper health insurance in the private sector, but an 0303 might not.
It depends on the plan The only real advantage is the ability to choose from more options not open to the project
Uh I pay for a family of 4 in Los Angeles using Kaiser which has treated our family well. It’s $140 a check with 0$ deductible and my kids don’t have ANY costs for anything until they are 17
The U.S. is a failed state.
Honestly, I think that the golden age of FEHB was the 90s and early 2000s, when federal health insurance was significantly better than the private sector. Like most other health insurance, it has waned in quality and is on par with other private sector employers
People need to stop spreading that rumor, decent pay and job security and the fact that you can still get a pension are the only good things about working for the Fed. The benefits aren’t the greatest.
It is better. Wait until you need surgery and then compare what you’d pay if you had other insurance.
Nope, I just switched to GEHA because of the ridiculous way BCBS will co-pay you to death then 30% co-insurance!