At Foxhall Surgical Associates, P.C. we pride ourselves on the emphasis we place on patient advocacy and patient education. In this spirit, we have encouraged Federal BlueCross BlueShield Standard Plan subscribers to take a closer look at the critical changes to their insurance plan for the 2009 calendar year.
We have compiled a list of resources for our Federal employee patients, including the letter our office initially sent to our patients with Federal BCBS. We hope this is useful in patients' research, assessment, and selection amongst the many available health insurance plans. We will post updates as they become available on the ongoing discussions.
Updates:
December 17, 2008 - Joe Davidson of the Washington Post's Federal Diary article Beating the Insurance Blues reports updates to the Federal BCBS policy. You can view the changes on the Federal Employee Benefit Plan website in the official 2009 Service Benefit Plan brochure.
December 5, 2008- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is now allowing agencies to accept belated Federal Employees Health Benefit changes through January 2009. You can read this announcement and attachment on the 2008 Benefits Administration Letters section of their website.
Resources:
Consumers' Checkbook - Guide to Health Plans for Federal Employees thoroughly analyzes all the Health Plans available to Federal Employees. It is available in an electronic format, or a hardcopy may be ordered from the Checkbook website. Author, Walton Francis, is a well respected economist and policy analyst, recognized as an expert in the analysis and evaluation of public programs.
The Washington Post Federal Diary - Joe Davidson has followed the controversy surrounding the drastic changes to the 2009 Federal Standard BlueCross BlueShield amendments in several articles.
Federal News Radio - Mike Causey has also been following the changes to Federal BCBS, and all broadcasts are available on the website. Namely:
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November 26, 2008- Health Plan Mysteries Solved broadcast when guest Walton Francis, principle author of the Consumers' Checkbook Health Plan Guide, discussed the changes made to the Federal BCBS plan as well as other plans available to federal employees
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December 5, 2008- OPM in the hotseat over health care
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December 9, 2008- Open Season: To Change Or Not To Change
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Note: Optimize other applicable search results by entering "Federal News Radio, Walton Francis" into your search engine.
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia hearing - December 3, 2008 a hearing titled "2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Benefit: What it means for Federal employees" was held. Links to all the testimony provided during the December 3, 2008 hearing are available as well as additional articles and updates at the Federal Workforce main page.
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Notably, Foxhall Surgical Associates, P.C. physician Dr. Peter Petrucci's testimonial on behalf of our Federal Standard BCBS patients may be viewed here.
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Also, Walton Francis of Consumers' Checkbook testified at the hearing which may be viewed here.
Foxhall Surgical Associates, P.C. notice to Federal BCBS patients - includes critical highlights in the drastically reduced coverage and increased premiums for Federal BCBS patients who utilize out-of-network providers. Mailed as a courtesy to all Federal Standard BCBS subscriber patients.