Weekend update / Miscellany

Govexec.com on Friday accurately reported that the Grassley amendment to demolish the FEHBP was modified by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus into a relatively harmless provision as noted in the FEHBlog early last week. Sen. Grassley wants to force FEHBP participants into the reform created health care exchanges, while Sen. Baucus's modified version permits FEHBP participants to join the exchanges. That's not likely because participants electing exchange coverage would not be receive a government contribution or a low income premium subsidy.

According to Govexec.com. Sen. Grassley is still pressing his original amendment but "[i]t is not clear, however, whether Grassley's proposal will receive a vote. Committee members filed more than 500 amendments to the bill, and the panel is unlikely to get to all of them during its markup, which is expected to continue next week." The Senate Finance Committee resumes its work on Tuesday. I do think that it's possible that the final bill could move Congress, but not federal and postal employees and annuitants, into the exchanges or (heaven forfend) the public plan option. Time will tell.

The Federal Times reports that on Friday, the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government in October, the first month of the new fiscal year 2010. The CR which is part of a legislative operations appropriations bill also provides financial relief to the Postal Service, which needs it, and reauthorizes the e-Verify program, among other things. The Senate needs to take up the measure by Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the consulting firm Mercer released a projection of 2010 cost increases for employer sponsored plans.

If employers made no changes to their employee medical plans in 2010, they would
see cost rise by nearly 9 percent. But, with more than half of all employers
experiencing layoffs over the past 12 months – and nearly a third anticipating
lay-offs still to come this year – doing nothing is not an option for most
employers. Preliminary survey findings released today by Mercer indicate that
respondents plan to shave three percentage points off their annual renewal rates
through a variety of cost-saving actions, holding overall cost growth to 5.9
percent next year

Speaking of which, OPM should be releasing 2010 FEHBP premiums soon.

The Joint Commission has created a website for its Center for Transforming Healthcare. Its current project is improving hand hygiene, a worthy objective as we confront flu season.