Washington Watch
The NARFE Halftime Report: Legislative Accomplishments in the 117th Congress
T
hanks to the combined efforts of NARFE members, leaders and staff, NARFE’s advocacy efforts saw several wins in the first half of the 117th Congress. The following
are the highlights thus far, including safeguarding the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program, building support for repeal or reform of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), and celebrating NARFE’s centennial in Congress. PROTECTING FEDERAL HEALTH BENEFITS IN POSTAL BILLS
However, in response to NARFE’s advocacy, the leading Postal bill introduced in this Congress preserved choice for current Postal Service retirees, allowing them to decide whether to enroll in Medicare Part B or not—without the threat of losing health insurance benefits. • The new bill changed the structure of the Federal Employees Health Benefits
(FEHB) program, splitting Postal employees and most retirees into a separate risk pool. This change threatened to increase premiums for all federal employees and retirees. NARFE flagged this potential issue and pressed for actuarial analysis by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to measure the impact of the changes on FEHB premiums. In response to OPM’s analysis and NARFE’s concerns, Congress appeared poised, as of press time, to amend the bill to prevent unintended premium increases within FEHB.
• NARFE’s lobbying efforts led to significant changes in Postal bills, protecting the earned benefits of Postal Service retirees and preventing adverse impacts on federal employee NARFE CENTENNIAL and retiree premiums as a RECOGNIZED BY result of the bills. CONGRESS • Leading Postal bills from • NARFE’s centennial was previous Congresses mandated formally celebrated by the that all current Postal Service retirees enroll MARCH ACTION ALERT: URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE in Medicare Part B TO COSPONSOR WEP REFORM BILL or lose their earned Please join NARFE’s campaign calling on members of the House of federal retiree health Representatives to cosponsor the Public Servants Protection and benefits. This would Fairness Act, H.R. 2337, legislation to reform the Windfall Elimination have forced retirees to Provision (WEP). This long-standing, misguided provision reduces incur additional costs the Social Security benefits of nearly 2 million people nationwide. for the continued receipt of benefits, changing Use NARFE’s Legislative Action Center, located at www.narfe.org, to the agreement after personalize a message to your Representative requesting his or her retirement and setting cosponsorship of the bill. a dangerous precedent. 6
NARFE MAGAZINE MARCH 2022
