A little discussed aspect of the health care bills being debated in Congress is the new role for the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In brief, OPM would create a public option by expanding the current health care program that it administers for all federal employees.
The Heritage Foundation is sponsoring presentations by two former OPM Directors including my old boss Don Devine who headed OPM in the Reagan administration (1981-1985). See the details here.
No longer an umpire in the annual competition among private health plans vying for federal workers? business, OPM would become the official sponsor
of at least two national health plans that would compete against
private health plans in every state in the union. What impact would OPM
have on the nation?s health insurance markets? How much authority would
OPM have? What special regulatory powers would OPM exercise as the
sponsor of the federal government?s select insurance plans?
