[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 21 (Monday, March 4, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S1422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MIKULSKI (for herself and Mr. Sarbanes):
  S. 1982. A bill to amend chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, 
to increase the Government contribution for Federal employee health 
insurance; to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Federal 
Employees Health Benefits Improvement Act of 2002 along with my 
colleague from Maryland, Senator Sarbanes. This bill would reduce the 
employee portion of premiums costs under the Federal Employee Health 
Benefits Plan.
  Our Federal employees work hard for the American people and they 
deserve quality benefits.
  What is the need for this legislation?
  Health insurance premiums for Federal employees and retirees rose an 
average of 13.3 percent this year. In contrast, wages rose by 4.77 
percent in the Washington-Baltimore area. This follows a 10.5 percent 
increase last year, and increases of greater than 9 percent for 2000 
and 1999. As a result, premiums are nearly 50 percent greater than they 
were just five years ago.
  The Federal program provides health insurance coverage to about 9 
million government workers, retirees and family members. More than 
800,000 of these workers live in the DC metro area.
  Health insurance costs are skyrocketing, and Federal employees are 
paying a greater share of their take home pay for health care each 
year. Currently, Federal employees pay anywhere between 28 percent to 
30 percent of premiums. In the private sector, other large employers 
pay at least 80 percent of premiums and employees pay 20 percent 
according to recent data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
  How would this bill help solve this problem?
  This bill would change the financing formula for Federal Employees 
Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Under this approach, the federal 
agencies would pay 80 percent of the weighted average for premiums. 
This would help reduce the out-of-pocket health care costs for federal 
employees and improve the affordability of FEHBP immensely.
  What would this mean to Federal employees?
  My bill would help improve the affordability of health care insurance 
for all 9 million. Currently, about 250,000 Federal employees do not 
have health insurance. Many of them cannot afford health care insurance 
at the current rates. My proposal would improve the affordability of 
health care insurance so that many of these workers would be able to 
afford coverage.
  Providing quality benefits for Federal employees is also an important 
tool in helping recruit and retain a high quality workforce and compete 
with the private sector and other state and local governments.
  This bill would have an enormous impact in my State, Maryland, but 
would also benefit Federal workers nationally. Under this proposal, the 
percent that a Federal employee pays in health insurance premiums would 
decline, putting more money into Federal employees pockets each pay 
period.
  This bill improves benefits for our hardworking Federal employees.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in expressing support for this bill.
                                 ______