Many of you have asked me to once again put out this information as I have been doing for many years now. As promised, attached (below) is a spreadsheet that I created comparing the 2016 Office of Personal Management (OPM) Health Plan Rates. I received this information from this website:
https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/plan-information/premiums/2016/postal-ffs.pdf
As you will see in 2016 the APWU High Option Plan will cost you an additional:
- $25.49 per pay period or $662.74 per year for the Self Only Plan which is a 59.76% Increase over the 2015 rates.
- $83.26 per pay period or $2164.76 per year for the Self Plus Family Plan which is a staggering 79.14% Increase over the 2015 rates.
On the positive side, while the Consumer Driven is going up for APWU Members an additional:
- $1.13 per pay period or $29.38 per year for the Self Only Plan which is a 12.20% Increase over the 2015 rates.
- $4.09 per pay period or $106.34 per year for the Self Plus Family Plan which is a 19.63% Increase over the 2015 rates.
The rates on the Consumer Driven Health Plan cost:
- $43.11 and $51.94 per pay periods for the APWU Self Plan CDHP in Postal Categories 1 and 2 respectively.
- $103.46 and $124.65 per pay periods for the APWU Self Plus Family CDHP in Postal Categories 1 and 2 respectively.
So APWU members save much more money by utilizing the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan.
The question is: Why is the APWU High Option Plan rates going up 59.76% and 79.14% respectively? The most that any other plan (Blue Cross Blue Shield, NALC, and MHBP) listed in my spreadsheet is going up is 16.86% (Blue Cross Basic). The NALC High Option Plan is also run by Cigna yet their Self Plan is going down in 2016 by $2.22 per pay period or -3.53% and their Self Plus Family Plan is going up by $7.16 per pay period or 5.75%.
I have been enrolled in the APWU High Option Family Plan for about 4 years now and have been very pleased with the plan. However, with the drastic increase in the APWU High Option Plan, I along with many others will be forced to re-evaluate and consider other health plans.
What is going on here? Is there something I am missing?
Via Sam Wood www.swfloridaapwu.org
President – Southwest Florida Area Local / APWU
SWoodFla@aol.com