Who provides ins. coverage for federal employees?

[fencesitter]

If you work for the post office, FBI, state dept., all military branches, etc. Does the federal gov't contract private insurers or is it a federal health company?

[montanacowboy]

1. You have a choice of various companies

Blue Cross, Mail Handlers, etc. and they all have different premiums; Govt picks up part of the tab and you pay the rest of it just like in the private sector.

[fencesitter]

2. thanks!

That's a huge pool of insured. No wonder private insurance companies are against a single payer system. Of course the gov't can almost dictate to the insurers what their going to pay if the companies want that contract.

[elleng]

3. The Govt requires certain programs/things be covered,

may negotiate with the companies about details; the companies set their charges w/in the competitive marketplace (there are LOTS of players) and may negotiate with the Govt about this. Don't know how much 'dictation' occurs.

Yes, its a huge pool.

[CreekDog]

4. One of the ideas Obama campaigned on was the ability to be covered under the very good FEHB system

for currently uninsured individuals.

the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal Employee plan is the largest insurance group *in the world* since about half of all federal employees choose this PPO plan for their coverage and they pay 28% of premium with the government providing the other 72%.