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Washington, D.C. — Already working under a two-year pay freeze and facing potential increases in pension contributions, federal employees and retirees will see an average 3.5 percent increase in their health insurance premiums in 2012. The overall premium, including both employees and government contributions, increased 3.8 percent.

“While the increase is lower than we have seen in recent years, it is still a 3.5 percent average increase for 2012 on top of a 7.2 percent increase for enrollees in 2011,” said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. “As federal employees begin the second year of a two-year pay freeze, this premium increase is one more economic challenge for the federal workforce.”

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today announced the 2012 health care premiums for federal employees and retirees covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).

The premium increases will hit older workers under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) particularly hard since those workers were excluded from the Social Security payroll tax holiday provided to all other American workers in 2011 and are not slated for tax relief under the jobs bill being proposed by the administration for 2012. CSRS employees do not pay into and are not eligible for Social Security.

NTEU continues to work to bring program costs down by supporting legislation to reform the drug pricing process that drives up costs for federal employees. President Obama made a similar proposal earlier this month in the deficit plan he submitted to the Congressional super committee.

In the meantime, it is time for Congress to understand the financial burdens being placed on the federal workforce, President Kelley said.

“Too often, those on Capitol Hill like to pretend that federal employees are exempt from the struggling economy,” Kelley said. “This is just one more example that federal workers are facing the same challenges as their fellow Americans and cannot afford to be singled out and asked to sacrifice yet again, while the wealthiest of Americans continue to enjoy egregious tax loopholes.”

“Federal workers will have to absorb these increased costs with a frozen paycheck,” said Kelley. “It is unfair and inequitable to ask them to absorb further cuts to their paychecks in the form of proposed increased pension contributions while some in Congress continue to oppose any sacrifice by the wealthy and corporations.”

The NTEU leader also advised federal employees to carefully examine their health care options and rates on an annual basis and make informed decisions that best suit their family’s changing needs.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.