TGIF

David Ermer–Uncategorized–

As far as the FEHBlog can tell, Dale Cabaniss has not yet taken the reins at OPM following her Senate confirmation on Wednesday. Yesterday, OPM acting Director Margaret Weichert, who deserves a lot of credit for handling two big government jobs for nearly one year, stated yesterday

I am pleased to announce that Ms. Dale Cabaniss received Senate confirmation yesterday to serve as the next Director of OPM. I want to extend my congratulations and best wishes to her as she begins her appointment here, and I have no doubt that she has the qualifications and vision to lead this agency into the future.

The OPM website still lists Ms. Weichert as the director. Perhaps the swearing in is happening this afternoon and if not it should happen early next week.

Mike Causey from the Federal News Network posted about the 2020 cost of living allowance (“COLA”) for federal annuitants. 

COLAs are based on the increase, if any, of urban living costs from the third quarter of the current year (July, August, September) over the Consumer Price index-W for the previous year’s third quarter, if any.With two months to go in the countdown the potential COLA now stands at around 1.6%. The August COLA will be announced later this month. The COLA for September will be made public Oct. 10.

The full and exact amount of the COLA depends on the increase or decrease in the CPI-W for the months of September and August. Millions of American retirees — Social Security, civil service and military — get a catch-up-with-inflation increase each January. In 2018 the COLA was 2.8% for retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and 2.0% for those retired under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) which replaced it.

FERS annuitants may be eligible for Medicare’s hold harmless rule  while CSRS annuitants cannot as their Medicare premiums are paid from their Federal annuity benefits, not from Social Security benefits.

Plan Sponsor reports that

U.S. employer-provided medical benefit costs are forecasted to rise 6.5% in 2020, outpacing general inflation by 3.8%, according to the 2020 Global Medical Trend Rates Report released by Aon plc.  The increase for U.S. employer-sponsored medical plans expected next year is due to a combination of higher costs for specialty drugs, moderate price increases for care and flat or decreasing health utilization.

OPM should be announcing the 2020 government contribution toward FEHB coverage later this month along with all of the FEHB plan premiums for 2020. 

Finally, on the public health front,

  • Route 50 discusses a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report on obesity rates in the U.S. 

The nine states where more than 35% of adults are obese are Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and West Virginia. Higher obesity levels are more concentrated in the South and Midwest, according to the CDC.

  • Last night, the CDC released its latest weekly report on the vaping disease crisis.