Weekend Update

The House and the Senate will be in session this week. The FEHBlog relies on the Hill's "closer look at
next week" column on its Floor Action site to stay on top of these activities.

The Hill reports that Sen. Tom Coburn (R Okla.) has sent a letter to the OPM Director asking for legal justification to support OPM's decision to cover seasonal firefighters under the FEHBP with an immediately effective interim final rule and for an assessment of the regulation's economic impact, its impact on federal worker premiums and the estimated 10-year cost to taxpayers."  The Senator added that the firefighters are to be commended for their service. Of course, OPM simply complied with the President's order.

Tomorrow, OPM will issue its annual Federal Register announcement identifying the states that are medically underserved areas for purposes of Section 8902(m)(2) of the FEHB Act. As OPM explains,If you live in a medically underserved area and are enrolled in a fee-for-service plan, "your plan must pay benefits up to its contractual limits, for covered health services provided by any medical practitioner properly licensed under applicable State law. The announcement discloses that "Alaska and Kentucky were designated as a Medically Underserved Area in 2012, but will not be so designated for 2013. South Carolina is being added as a Medically Underserved Area for the 2013 calendar year. (The Monday Federal Register becomes available on the preceding Saturday.)

Modern Healthcare reports that "Twenty-six states had adverse-event reporting systems in 2008 but hospitals reported few adverse events to the state systems, HHS' inspector general's office said in a new report (PDF)." The report blames the low rate on failure to identify rather failure to report. Modern Healthcare adds that half of the 2008 reports came from Pennsylvania which requires all adverse events to be reported regardless of severity.

The FEHBlog grew faint when he read that Standard and Poors reported that its health care costs index fell for the most recently reported month, May 2012, as compared to April 2012. "As measured by the S&P Healthcare Economic Commercial Index, healthcare costs covered by commercial insurance plans increased by 8.38% over the year ending May 2012, down from the +8.41% reported for April 2012. Growth rates in Medicare claim costs rose by 2.52%, according to the S&P Healthcare Economic Medicare Index, down from April’s +2.60%." The May 2012 index, however, remains higher than 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.