2/15/11:  OPM published notices in the Federal Register (on January 28 and February 3) that an open season period will be held for new enrollments in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) from April 4 through June 24. According to the notices, active employees and their spouses or same-sex domestic partners who are not currently enrolled in FLTCIP will be eligible to apply with abbreviated underwriting. According to OPM’s web site “abbreviated underwriting” involves a determination based on few health-related questions during an application process. Nonenrolled retirees and other qualified relatives can apply during open season or any time during the year, but they must undergo full underwriting, which involves sharing more medical information.

In the upcoming weeks OPM will be updating its web site and providing additional information to the agencies, and more details will be known then.  OPM is currently working with the Program Administrator — LTC Partners — to provide information to federal agencies including training materials and seminar content, in order to respond to potential enrollee questions.  The actual insurance will be provided by John Hancock Life & Health Insurance Company, through a contract with OPM. 

Many of you may remember NTEU’s discontent with how OPM handled the earlier long term care insurance program, particularly the misleading advertising of the inflation protection option. We testified before Congress and called for transparency in advertising the prices and benefits at that time. The new benefit design called, FLTCIP 2.0, came out on October 1, 2009, and new enrollees will be applying under this new version. We cannot stress enough the need to study the insurance options, cost, and benefits thoroughly, and speak with OHR employees at the SEC to receive answers to your questions if you are considering enrolling. 

Meanwhile, in the upcoming weeks you may visit OPM’s web site at http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc/ or go directly to the program’s site at http://www.ltcfeds.com/index.html for more information.  OPM plans to update these sites as we get closer to the Open Season period.