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Washington, D.C.—President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today took issue with a decision by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to limit to what it called “core groups” eligibility for enrollment in a new long-term care insurance program.

NTEU was in the forefront of groups pushing for the program for federal employees, retirees and their families, and Kelley called OPM’s decision “a disappointment,” particularly since there is no cost to taxpayers under the program as enrollees will pay the entire cost of premiums.

The NTEU president noted that even though Congress gave OPM discretion to broaden coverage eligibility, the agency said it would limit participation to groups specifically cited in the law establishing the program, a decision that omits from coverage grandparents, brothers and sisters, foster children and domestic partners.

“Apart from its basic unfairness,” Kelley said, “the OPM decision could prove to be costly in economic terms, since expanding the pool of eligible participants would have the effect of lowering costs for everyone.”

The NTEU president also chided OPM for its “unwillingness to take advantage of this opportunity to expand the range” of family-friendly benefits available to both current and prospective federal employees.

“Given its competition for quality workers with the private sector, and the government’s inability to attract and retain the people it needs, I would like to think that OPM would seek out and use every available tool to make government the employer of choice,” Kelley said.

NTEU is the largest independent union, representing 150,000 employees in 25 agencies and departments.