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Washington, D.C: -- The head of the nation's largest independent union of federal workers today emphasized the importance of federal government leadership in developing comprehensive, quality long-term health care plans with affordable group rates.
President Robert M. Tobias of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said in testimony submitted to the House Civil Service Subcommittee that "the market influence" of the government as the nation's largest employer makes it a key player in the growing attention to the need for long?term care. Tobias added that he regretted that neither NTEU nor any other federal or retiree organization was invited to appear the hearing.
NTEU represents more than 155,000 employees in 21 agencies and departments. Earlier this year, Tobias offered NTEU's support for an administration proposal that government make available to federal employees and their families private, long?term care insurance, along with a targeted $1,000 tax credit for people with long?term health care needs or for the families that care for them.
The administration's proposal, one of several under discussion in Congress, would give the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) the authority to negotiate the best policies it can with private insurance carriers, then offer these products to federal employees and retirees and their families at group rates.
That's a start, Tobias said, urging the Subcommittee "to explore the ways a government contribution toward these benefits can be accomplished" in ways similar to the methods by which the cost of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) is handled by both agencies and their employees.
That would accomplish two purposes, he said: first, it would send "a strong signal," especially to younger workers, that long?term care benefits "are worthy of their close consideration;" and, second, the widespread purchase of such long?term care insurance, in both the public and private sectors, should help ease the financial burden of such care currently shouldered by Medicaid.
"The budgetary savings inherent" in such a shift, Tobias said, could then "be used to offset the costs of purchasing long?term care insurance for employees who take on the additional expense."