There are some recent articles showing that within the Federal government's workforce,11% of employees cannot afford the health plans offered to federal government employees. A list of the plan options is available on the Office of Personnel Management's website at http://www.opm.gov/INSURE/HEALTH/ (then click on current premium rates for health plans). There are currently THIRTY ONE PAGES of health benefits options available to employees. Premiums listed include the total amount and the amount charged to employees after THE GOVERNMENT PAYS 65% of the premiums.
In those articles sympathetic to the "uninsured", cases of individuals whose salaries are not high and who have coverage for themselves, discuss using other options such as Medicaid for their children. Further, the 11% number is not broken down to reflect those who opt out because their spouses have health insurance. Estimates in the general population are around 18% without insurance. Young adults represent around 13% of the population (according to some resources that you can search yourself) yet account for 30% of the uninsured non-elderly (under 65). So it's throwing out numbers but as we all scramble during benefits season the first thing to ask is...do you have 31 pages of options? Do you have your employer, in this case the government, contributing 65% to your premium payments? And has your employer worked to propose your ability to insure your young adult through the age of 25? (Bill proposed to cover Federal employee dependents through age 25).
The point isn't that low earning federal employees shouldn't have access to health insurance, the point IS that federal civilian employees have and have had and continue to have options that are far superior to average citizens and that focusing on the questionable number of 11% who include people who still get their own insurance but can't afford family insurance as examples of the problem with the program double dips. First off, if they have their own insurance as employees, they are not uninsured.
Second, in the example given in at least one article, the family of the employee was insured by Medicaid...also not uninsured.
Third, the article noted it did not consider those who opted out because their spouse had insurance...also not uninsured.
The "WE HAVE IT TOUGH" too argument is not persuasive. The FEHB program is far superior in terms of access (anyone who wants it can get it), affordability (see the chart), quality than anything available to ordinary citizens. These claims of poor us highlight the importance that we begin to actually see the FEHB program mirror the real world instead of using the false arguments to support more benefits such as coverage for dependents through the age of 25 off taxpayer backs as we struggle to insure our own young adults.
