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Washington, D.C.—Passage of proposed Senate legislation to help make health insurance more affordable for federal employees “would go a long way” toward easing the government’s recruitment and retention problems, the leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers said today.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) urged passage of identical legislation introduced by Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes and Congressman Steny Hoyer, all Maryland Democrats that would increase the government’s share of Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) Program premiums from the present average of 72 percent to an average of 80 percent. That would bring the government’s share more in line with that paid by private employers.

The Mikulski-Sarbanes and Hoyer bills are similar to legislation they introduced in the last session of Congress. All three legislators have long supported issues of importance to federal employees, and each has emphasized the importance of affordable health care as an effective tool in government recruiting and retention efforts.

FEHB is the largest employer-sponsored health plan in the nation, covering some nine million federal employees, retirees and family members. In recent years, however, it has becoming increasingly unaffordable for growing numbers of federal workers, mainly because of sharply rising premiums. Sen. Mikulski noted that FEHB premiums are nearly 50 percent higher than they were just five years ago, adding that as many as 250,000 federal employees remain uninsured because they cannot afford the premiums.

Sen. Mikulski pointed out that increasing the government’s share of FEHB premiums would mean a savings for federal employees in Maryland of about $400 year for an individual and about $925 a year for a family.

Along with emphasizing the need for more competitive pay for federal employees, as well as additional family-friendly workplace policies that recognize the need to balance work and personal lives, President Kelley has been a leading critic of rising FEHB premiums for its adverse impact on agency recruitment and retention efforts.

The NTEU leader repeatedly has urged the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to use the vast marketing clout inherent in a health program the size of FEHB as a tool to hold down premium increases.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents more than 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments.