Congress will return to Capitol Hill later this week in an effort to resolve the FY 2019 appropriations issue that has created a partial government shutdown.  Here’s a link to the Week in Congress’s report on last week’s activities on Capitol Hill. The House passed a tax bill (HR 88) that would extend 2019’s suspension of the ACA’s onerous heath insurer tax beyond 2019 to the end of 2021. The bill would further delay the imposition of Cadillac tax by one year from the end of 2021 to the end of 2022. The ACA taxes anything that moves. It’s unlikely that the Senate do its bit by passing the bill in this Congress. The new Congress begins on January 3, 2019.

As the FEHBlog pointed out, these shutdowns do not materially impact the FEHBP because of OPM’s administration of the Program continues due to a 1% surcharge on FEHBP premiums. Speaking of premiums, OPM continues to make annuity payments during any shutdown. Half of FEHBP premiums are withheld from annuity payments. A 2013 OPM FEHBP carrier letter discusses how a full shutdown affects employee premiums payments. In this partial shutdown many large federal employers including the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services are funded through September 30, 2019, so their employees will continue to work and receive paychecks from which the FEHBP premiums are funded.

If you changed plans in the recent Open Season and you are an annuitant, your new coverage begins on January 1, 2019. If you are an active employee, your new coverage begins on January 6, 2019, which is the first day fo the first pay period in 2019.  In either case, if you are hospitalized on the first day on which you new coverage would begin, coverage under the predecessor plan continues until your are discharged up to 90 days of confinement under OPM’s regulations.

Jingle bells.