Federal Employee Health Insurance Options (buy, live, vs.)

[jm76]

Any federal employees have any positives and negatives they would care to share about their current health insurance coverage they have in NOVA?

I just received an offer that I'm planning on taking and my wife and I are trying to compare the 18 options available to the one we currently have through her job and I figured I'd see what others have to say about the different FedEmp options....So any feelings?

Thanks,
Jim

[zotmeister]

Most vision plans are terrible and you may be better of paying out of pocket at a local place to get exam and glasses. Most eye docs in the fed. system are linked to real crappy glasses manufacturers. I had my glasses redone three times and it still doesn't sit on the frame perfectly.

There are many medical plans to choose from. You really have to do your homework and visit their website and get ideas what you need or don't need...some let you see specialists without your primary doctor requesting a referral (which I have and like) and others are non HMO (PPO). Also, some plans are available only based on where you live...MD vs. VA or national (in case you do a lot of travel).

[ajzjmsmom]

Go to OPM.gov and there is an area under insurances for new hires, OPM has a pretty decent chart up showing all the different plans with comparisons as well as all the plans websites.

Our experience with vision has been completely different than Zotmeister. It has practically paid for itself this year.

[jm76]

Well, I've been surfing through the information at opm.gov and what I was hoping to get was peoples personally experience with different plans here in the NOVA area...Ie, if you have BCBS, Aetna, or such, do you like it and if so why or if not, why not?

As for eye insurance, we already know we'll be getting some sort of coverage because I usually need a new prescription every year and when you get glasses with all the features you can pay 600-800 without insurance (not including the frames) and ca 150 with insurance...

Thanks,
Jim

[bangorme]

It's very hard to advise you because everyone needs something different. Virtually everyone here is a Blue Cross preferred provider, so I've found the basic plan works well here. Maybe someone could give some feedback on the local HMO's. I believe Checkbook also rates the local HMO's. It's available at bookstores or by subscription. I found that very helpful.

[mdcrim]

We have MD IPA and have for years. I think it's a great plan. It also includes basic dental for cleanings, too, so you don't have to pay for the supplemental dental. And, as long as you get all your referrals and follow the rules, they are very easy to deal with. Bonus-no copays for kids until they hit 13 (?) or so.

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by bangorme

It's very hard to advise you because everyone needs something different. Virtually everyone here is a Blue Cross preferred provider, so I've found the basic plan works well here. Maybe someone could give some feedback on the local HMO's. I believe Checkbook also rates the local HMO's. It's available at bookstores or by subscription. I found that very helpful.

We too have BCBS basic and because most everyone is preferred it works well, it also offers coverage if you go out of state alot. Alot of HMO's only offer coverage out of state, for emergencies.

We had an HMO last year when we were here on our 6 month detail and it was a very tense 6 months, hoping noone got sick

[Mike From NIU]

To the OP: You might want to check out this older thread. As an update, I still have GEHA, and my impressions about it have not changed- I'm still satisfied. However, they just changed/expanded their provider list as of today (eliminated the GEHA stand-alone preferred provider list and now use UnitedHealthcare's nationwide list), so I will have to check and make sure all of our MDs are still in network.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ance-nova.html

[ChristineVA]

I do not take the government insurance as my husband's company provides free health insurance. Of all my coworkers, though, I would say that 90% of them use BCBS. A few use different ones for various other reasons.

Most buy supplemental dental even though some of the plans do cover a small portion of dental work under the health care insurance.

The vision services plans get VERY mixed reviews and I have found that most of my colleagues end up going without. I think it is something you can try for a year and see how it works for you.

My husband's company also offers free vision through VSP and I think they are excellent if you are getting glasses and having exams. In my opinion they pay out very little when going the contact lens route. My husband's VSP plan seems to be a bit better than what the government offers.

[Forehead]

We have BCBS Basic and supplement with GEHA Dental. We're happy. When we had our first child last year, I don't think our total out of pocket expenses for the entire hospital stay/care were more than $500 or so.